[Update: as of June 26, 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned for its faulty logic and lazy jurisprudence. Looking back now on this 50 year span of my life where our country promoted abortion - 60 million lives lost - it's heartbreaking to wonder how many millions of wonderful families and societal contributions are forever lost because of poor decisions. Ideas have consequences, bad ideas have victims.]
Original blog text 3/30/18
One of the pragmatic people who logically concluded that some babies (or their families) might be better off "not being born" for reasons that included the "health of the mother."
Pragmatic and logical - that's how I saw it. Sincerely so. Looking back, looking in the mirror, it's better to say I was self-absorbed and breathtakingly uninformed - on many levels. I take full responsibility.
We got what we advocated, all us pragmatic, open minded people - the ability to choose. It's proved a devastatingly slippery slope. Choosing for the "health of the mother," quickly became choosing "for the convenience of the mother or other involved parties," and eventually "for any reason, at any time."
And now 54 million babies have been "pragmatized" in this fashion. In the USA.
My heart breaks for any mother or father who now regrets or was coerced or mislead into their decision - and Christians owe them love and support to recover, through Jesus' mercy and Grace. I offer my prayers up for anyone hurting as they read this now.
Personally, I woke up to the disturbing truth about 10 million babies after Roe v. Wade. I was an adult "cultural" Christian. A God believing church-attender who had begun writing gospel music. Searching for material, I started reading the bible more earnestly. Soon I was no longer uninformed, having read Jeremiah 1:5
In fact, I was without excuse, having read Romans 1:20 (As any Christian is...without excuse..if they counsel others against God's plan for life. Luke 17:1-2)
Not long after I got that biblical wake up call, I saw the ultrasound of our own daughter. It was a transcendent, electrifying movie moment when all my past college debates and snarky "pro-lifer" jibes went rocketing in front of my eyes. I blurted out to my wife on the drive back home..."how could anyone see these images and not believe it's a baby?" How indeed. At the local pregnancy center we now fund and support, there is an almost 100% decision for birth after seeing an ultrasound. Any surprise that Planned Parenthood doesn't invest tax dollars in ultrasounds? They are without excuse...
Just a ways down the slippery slope is Down Syndrome. Pragmatic, logical people - governments - are now advocating a no-survivor policy. They will then be "Down's-free" zones. This has been reported as a "courageous" stance.
My buddy Jake is a black belt. He loves orange soda, prefers a hug over a handshake, has a mischievous sense of humor and is just one of the guys when we all hang out together on league night. I enjoy spending time with him and his loving, supportive family. He has Down Syndrome.
(Iceland has thus become a no-Jake-or-his-family zone. Somebody explain this to Icelanders, for Christ's sake.) In this current cultural debate - I find myself labeled as unconscionably intolerant - because I have matured past cold-blooded pragmatist to become chromosome-blind to Jake and his family.
One statistic I read suggests that more than100 million adult women are "missing" in other countries, because they got gender selected out of the womb in hopes of a boy baby on the next round. This is heartbreaking for everyone involved - including coerced, mislead and victimized parents who fight against it and are overpowered by others.
The other shoe has also dropped...now some countries who had "assisted suicide" laws have begun to advocate "proactive euthanasia" -- since it can be both "humane" and pragmatically expedient in economically troubling times.
That's made the slope slippery on BOTH sides of the womb.
The same cold logic that converted Roe v Wade to 1 million deaths per year (more than cancer, more than heart disease) for the "health of the mother" will soon be trained on "what's best for the health of 80-somethings." We know how that math will progress, thanks to abortion's test case. Ironically, it's just in time for the 20-something activists of the Roe v. Wade era to come under similar scrutiny for their own aging process and euthanasia.
None of it seems as complicated to me as it used to - I simply go with God on this topic. And it leaves me somewhat embarrassed for how intolerant I was of the early "pro-lifers" who had simply articulated an objectively informed, biblical worldview: "Let the babies live."
"And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Cor 6:10
Every life is precious. Let's let God determine the outcomes. We've proved ourselves unworthy to take his place.
What do you believe?
