Aug 24 2008
Why Is Abortion Still An Issue?
A comment I wrote on the last thread that I thought I’d elevate:
Abortion is still an issue because it is legalized murder. You believe that life begins at conception, then abortion ends that life. That is one reason why certain forms of birth control are avoided by my wife and me as well, because even the pill will occasionally end the life of a recently conceived embryo (baby).
You bring up several different issues, all of which are non-sequiters to the abortion is murder issue.
Abortion is a legalized holocaust of the unborn. Forty million babies have been legally slaughtered by a doctor and their own parents. Forty MILLION. Thousands of babies have died by the hands of a licensed doctor since this post was made.
And it needs to stop.
There are places in the world and there have been times past where a ruling class or those who rise up to rule decide that a class of persons has fewer human rights than others, and has carried out genocide against that class of persons. It happened recently in Rwanda, it happened in Stalin’s Russia, and it happens RIGHT NOW in the USA.
If my neighbor has a gun to my head, I really don’t think debates over whether his clothes match matter much, and likewise as long as this horrible atrocity continues in our nation I don’t think there is any other issue that compares in proportion.
And the only way it will stop is if we stop voting into office those who refuse to use that power to stop it.
Masterfully stated!
The interesting thing here, is that I do not disagree with you. I find abortion to be one of the saddest thing that a person could possibly do and like I said, I am thankful I have never walked in the shoes of a woman who had an unwanted pregnancy. I do not know how old you are, but you must be of childbearing age, whereas I am not. I grew up in a time where there was no birth control. I personally know a woman who got pregnant in high school. Her father took her to Puerto Rico for an abortion. How petrified must she have been. She came home and was in the hospital for over two weeks because she almost bled to death. I worked with another woman who was a student at Bradley at the time, who also got pregnant and then went to Mexico for an abortion. She ended up in intensive care at Methodist Hospital, again almost bleeding to death.. To this day she has never been able to get pregnant again. Some may say that is her karma since she murdered her first child, but I don’t believe that is a fair judgement. The interesting thing in both of these examples is that the men in each case went on as if nothing had happened in their lives, both continuing their educations and having a family and children.
There was a doctor who had a back alley office on Main Street here in Peoria who practically butchered women giving them abortions.
The fact remains, sad as it is, there will always be unwanted pregnancies and there will always be women who seek an abortion and are obviously willing to put their lives on the line to not be pregnant. The desperation and humiliation they feel must be overwhelming and my heart goes out to them. I cannot begin to imagine their pain.
What would you do with these 40 million unwanted babies? How many children have you adopted? How many pregnant teenagers have you taken into your home and promised to care for them, educate them and care for their babies? Are there 40 million families willing to do that? If so, stand up and be counted.
Instead of killing doctors and standing outside of abortion clinics with pictures of fetuses, offer help and love.
In a perfect world, there would be no unwanted pregnancies, but we do not live in a perfect world.
You correctly note that birth control pills can end the life of an embryo. And if an embryo is not an early human being, what is it?
OSF and the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, with the unique help of OSF Corporate ethicist Joe Piccione, worked out a policy in the early 90’s that is called “limited private practice”. This policy allows OSF physicians to write oral contraceptives in their OSF offices. This policy says that while the OSF physician is writing the prescription for birth control pills he/she is not really an OSF physician. This is the firewall that OSF has created to separate themselves from this act that is in direct opposition to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
I guess with OSF’s ability to leap over hurdles such as birth control, they can easily turn their backs on Haitian kids who they have operated in the past.
John A. Carroll, M.D.
I apologize if I am off track here, but there are a couple of things that have struck me regarding some of the comments and I could not help but put in my two cents.
First of all I am all for a woman’s right to choose. With the exception of rape or molestation, the woman had a choice months before she gets to an abortion clinic. She has the right to choose to engage in sexual activity or not. She has the right to choose a partner who is responsible or not. She has the right to choose to only have sex with a man she would be willing to have a child with or not. If these were choices being carefully weighed and thoughtfully considered would there be 40 million “unwanted” pregnancies?
Secondly, I do not see the correlation between wanted and unwanted pregnancies when it comes to this issue. Does only wanted life count? I know that much of the debate surrounds when is it life, and I am sure that my belief is clear, and that belief has been solidified with each pregnancy. At about eight weeks into my pregnancy I had an ultrasound. During this ultrasound I was able to both see and hear the baby’s heart beating. Just because this life is dependant on me for survival doesn’t make it less of a life. Actually, it makes it my responsibility to care for, because I am commanded to by my Savior, not just because I want to because I am the child’s mother. The original post was about Matthew 25, and when it comes to the least of these, are there many who could be considered as much as these? These unborn children who rely on us to care for them? Protect them? Feed them?
Finally is the idea that women are going to choose to end the life of their children whether it is legal or not. Of course they are. But that is not the basis for whether something should be legal or not; whether something is right or not. People are going to drive faster than the speed limit, so why impose one? No matter what the law, someone is going to break it, that doesn’t provide a reason or foundation to just live and let live. It really is as simple as my rights end where someone else’s begin.
The point that I am making is that women will always seek abortions. They have since the beginning of time. You can’t stop it. They are willing to put their lives at risk to do it. You can force them to dress in a burka, you can put them in the middle of a soccer field and cut off their heads, but they will always seek an abortion, legal or illegal, if that is what they want. And in this day and age for a woman to have to go to a back alley abortionist or to another country where their life is at stake, it is unspeakable.
My daughter lived in a hut with no running water and no electricity in Togo, West Africa for over two years. When the president of that country died over 40,000 people fled on foot to Ghana and Benin to escape being murdered and hacked to death in their homes. This was just 3 years ago. Did anyone from the United States go over there and put an end to this killing. NO! Did you even read about it in your paper? It barely made the news.
We do not live in a perfect world. I wish to God we did. None of these atrocities would be taking place.
Lori, Swede,
The fact that people will continue to seek abortions is not good reason to allow them. It’s a very slippery slope to stand on when creating any laws. Laws are made to dictate people’s behavior, not the other way around.
Hi James,
Good post!
What are your thoughts on ectopic pregnancy now that this has become an issue amongst Christians? Some are saying that surgically treating a woman in order to protect her life and prevent catastrophic damage and even death is abortion or the murdering of the baby which has basically no chance of survival. Tubal pregnancies, which are the most common, have no chance of survival. The other sorts of ectopics have a very, very low survival rate, too (almost NONE survive).
The only reason why the death rate has gone down for women who have ectopic pregnancies is because we treat them before it turns into a life-threatening situation. If you look at underdeveloped countries, the rate of death from ectopics is much higher because surgery is not readily available.
Hi Corrie:
Upon what scientific study do you base the conclusion that tubals have “no chance of survival?”
What attempts have been made to save those children that have been unsuccessful?
I ask that because doctors once said that babies couldn’t survive outside the womb earlier than a certain number of weeks. Some doctors used to say that the baby wasn’t really human at conception.
I firmly believe that, even in the case of a tubal pregnancy, there is a way to save the child without unnecessarily risking the life of the mother. We have not yet discovered it, and it may be in the time of my grandchildren that it is finally figured out. What I do know is that we will never discover it until we stop believing that the child *cannot* be saved.
My wife and I have discussed this at length. Should she become pregnant with a tubal, we would search high and low to find a pro-life doctor who is willing to try *something* rather than willfully kill the child.
Of course this is a knotty issue. Doctors tell their patients daily “there’s nothing else that can be done.” And patients believe them, and follow their advice. And we need to treat with grace those who have done so. Even doctors who have not yet questioned the status quo should be treated with grace in this, but it is time to start questioning it.
When Roe v. Wade was passed, it was passed dishonestly, and in a time where ultrasound technology was just coming about. Today we need to say that the life of every child is important and do what we can to save every one, rather than marking some and saying they cannot be saved.
This is not an easy issue, and it may be that I am wrong. But like those who are unsure when life begins, we need to err on the side of saving all the lives possible, rather than falling short because it is hard.