The 3 Most Popular Questions I Get Asked About Abortion

Throughout my years teaching at a local christian school, I would take a few minutes of class time each week to debrief with my students about what they heard in our Wednesday chapel services. Most weeks they didn't have much to say, but no one prepared me for the Sanctity of Life Chapel, which generally took place once a year, highlighting God's value for life in the womb. Once we returned to class I didn't even have to ask before my students were asking questions about abortion, firing off talking points they obviously heard on TikTok, and sharing their opinions, which were becoming more passionate by minute. It dawned on me that this was perhaps the first time many of these kids had actually said things they had heard or thought on the subject out loud. Needless to say, from that year on, any time abortion came up in a chapel I pushed all my lesson plans for the day to the side.

THE WORD

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Psalm 127:3

As uncomfortable as those kinds of conversations may be for many, I was thrilled to have them in my classroom. They're happening in courtrooms, on political platforms, in comment sections online, and on university campuses, and therefore should be happening in the Church as well. But when it comes to the Church we tend to be timid, mostly because we don't know how to untether them from the politics of our day. I want to be clear, I am Pro-Life but not because I belong to a political party (I don't), and not because it fits nicely within "cultural christianity" (which I'm not a fan of), but rather because I believe the scriptures are clear on this issue.

That's not to say there isn't nuance. It's reasonable that people become so impassioned about it and it is deeply personal to so many. So, as our Church is embarking on our Love Life Adoption Week (you can learn more about this organization and what they do here) I felt the need to sit down today and share how I personally navigate some of the more difficult questions when it comes to abortion.

Before we jump in, let me first just say, if you have had an abortion or have played a role in an abortion in any way, there is grace found in Jesus for you. His love for you is matchless. Know that my aim in writing is not to condemn or pronounce judgement. Jesus talked about divorce, lust, adultery, and a multitude of other sins that easily make people uncomfortable. But not addressing the sin perpetuates the sin. God says in Hosea 4:6 that people are "destroyed for a lack of knowledge." Meaning what we don't know not only CAN but WILL hurt us. So, as you read this today, know that my heart is to be as close as possible to the heart of the Father, who lovingly brings us into alignment with His will through His Word.

THE 3 MOST COMMON QUESTIONS I GET ASKED ABOUT ABORTION

1. When is it considered life?

Scripture is relentless at calling what's in the womb life. David says that God "knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139) God tells the prophet Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." (Jer. 1) It's a repeated anthem throughout the entire Bible: Isaiah 49:5, Psalm 22:10, Galatians 1:15, the list goes on. To say that what is in the womb ISN'T considered a human life is to deny reality and to deny scripture.

But the question still stands: At what point exactly does it become life? Secular reasoning has tried to label what is in the womb as a "fetus," as if to say the egg turns into a fetus which turns into a baby. Therefore what we're aborting is not human life, but rather a fetus... at least that's the idea.

If that line of reasoning were true in any way, the word fetus would just be another classification for a stage of life, such as infant, toddler, adolescent, teenager, etc. and not a classification of a different organism altogether. It might be beneficial to know "fetus" is a latin word that means offspring... which is just another way of saying baby. The fact that we attempt to call it something other than a baby proves that we know what we're doing is inhumane. There are at least a few on the pro-choice side who will admit that it's a baby, but they are few and far between, because it doesn't tend to be a good look.

When you look up the etymology of the word fetus, I think it's interesting to see that it was hardly ever used until around the 1960s. Any ideas as what could have happened at that time to cause such a spike? I think

you get what I'm saying. With the legalization of abortion, also came an alternative label we could use for what's in the womb to refrain from calling it what it truly is: a baby.

Hitler convinced a nation to commit genocide only by first convincing them that Jews were less than human. America's ugly history in the enslaving of Africans only happened by way of believing darker skin somehow made them less than human. It's a disgusting lie that has been perpetuated in some way over and over again; Cambodia in the 70s, Rwanda in the 90s, and now in the abortion clinics of our day.

If a Mars rover were to discover a tiny cell in the dirt on the planet's surface, "LIFE FOUND ON MARS" would be in the headlines for weeks to come. But if you put the same-sized cell in the womb of a woman, it's somehow no longer considered life. The reality is, life begins at conception.

Try as we may, we can't separate a conversation about life in the womb from a conversation about sexual ethics and morality. Whatever is living grows and has the ability to reproduce. The baby in the womb is a direct byproduct of two people coming together to create life. As human beings we are incapable of procreating anything other than human life. That's why I think it's vitally important that we have healthy conversations about sex within our homes and within our church communities.

It should tell us something when there are only seven countries in the entire world who allow abortions after 20 weeks. Even most of Europe, considered to include the most progressive and liberal countries, doesn't allow abortions after 20 weeks because of the amount of development in the womb. Of those seven countries we find America joined by nations such as China and North Korea. As beautiful as the culture and the people are, the governmental systems of these nations are just not a club I want to belong to.

2. What about rape victims or women whose lives are at risk?

This is without a doubt the most difficult and impassioned question that arises almost immediately every time. It should go without saying the Bible condemns rape, with the old testament law even calling for the death penalty in response to this crime.

I think any woman who has ever had to endure such a brutal crime against her very person needs to feel heard, seen, loved, and cared for, especially by those in the faith who bear the name of Christ. I think we, as the Church, have to do some serious reflection as to why women in these situations think to run to a clinic first rather than our buildings and services. Perhaps it's for fear of judgement or criticism, which we have to own and do better about.

That being said, I think it's also tragic that these women are being used as poster-children for the cause of legalized abortion. Rape victims account for less than 1% of those who get an abortion. To bring up this situation as a major factor in the abortion argument is no different than to say immigrants shouldn't be allowed in our country because of the crimes committed by a few. I personally find it exploitative to take women in such a horrible situation and use them this way.

That being said, these are still very real cases. This actually happens to real women and it's always easier for us to say what someone should do when it's not our daughter, our friend, or ourselves. This is where it is vitally important to understand a larger picture of God's redemption.

Our society is fast-moving from post-modern to post-christian. One of the marks of that is the rejection of objective truth. The anthem of our day is to embrace "your truth" and to stay "true to yourself." The logic (or lack thereof) is that what is true for you may not be true for me and therefore what is true in one situation may not be true in another. That's extremely dangerous and, might I add, wrong logic.

That's the kind of ideology that leads someone to believe they are justified in cheating on a spouse, stealing someone else's property, or even ending someone else's life. When we reject the reality of God we reject the reality of His coming judgement. I will not be judged according to my truth, I'll be judged according to His... which is the only truth there is. If we believe His commandments to be true, one of which is to not murder, then it stands to be true in every situation or circumstance.

When we justify abortion, even in the case of something so tragic and heinous as rape, we are placing ourselves in the judgement seat and saying we have the right to choose what is good and evil. That fruit in the garden of Genesis 3 gave us exactly that, a knowledge to reject God's moral law and to think we can choose our own. If we abort that baby in the womb of a rape victim it would be the only crime in the world for which an innocent party is sentenced to the death penalty.

The hope of Christ is that He can bring good from any situation. I believe there are many things that happen in life that are not the WILL of God but that can certainly become the WORK of God. He promises to work ALL THINGS for the good of those who love and trust Him (Romans 8:28) and I believe that still stands true even in these tragic cases.

This is not easy to accept, I completely understand, and I'm very sympathetic to those in these situations, but if tomorrow all abortions were illegal, with the exception of rape cases, we would celebrate the fact that 99% of abortions would cease.

As far as childbirth putting the mother's life at risk, I have far less to say. Suppose you were to stumble upon a car wreck and two people are bleeding out; the clock is ticking, both are close to death and you only have time to save one. By choosing to give medical attention to one of them you would not be killing the other. No one would accuse you or charge you of "murdering" that passenger. On the contrary, everyone would say you saved someone's life. I see it the same way in these situations. Once again, statistically, these cases bear little weight to the conversation as a whole, but when they do occur I believe we're talking about something separate from abortion.

3. Why speak about this at all if it doesn't concern you?

I'll be the first to admit that the Church has a history of attempting to push its beliefs and practices on non-believers. It's not our place tell people how to live their lives and what they should be doing in their personal relationships. Paul even said in 1 Corinthians 5:12 that it was not his job as an apostle (spiritual leader in the Church) to judge those outside of the Church, but rather those inside. So, I understand when it comes to expressing my beliefs on abortion how it can be perceived as just another Christian trying to make everyone do "christian things."

However, I think some of what is perceived as the Church "being judgmental" is simply the Church preaching the gospel. The good news of redemption in Christ starts with the bad news of separation from God. We must know we are in need of a savior before we can be saved.

But in the particular case of abortion, my personal stance is motivated very little by how much "sin" is involved. Smoking marijuana, having sex outside of marriage, divorce in many cases - there are a ton of socially acceptable practices today in our culture that the Bible defines as sin. What makes abortion different is that it effects innocent life.

The law is in place to protect innocent people. If someone wants to drink to the point of getting drunk, there's no law against that, they're free to do so. It's legal, though unbiblical. But at the moment they get behind the wheel of a car, it becomes illegal. Why? Because you put the lives of others in danger. Drunk driving is illegal because it threatens the well-being of the innocent. I see abortion in the same way. Having casual, pre-marital, or extra-marital sex is legal and though my faith informs me that it displeases God I believe people should still have the freedom and choice to do so. But at the point that someone's sexual activity threatens the life of the innocent, I believe there should be laws in place to prevent that.

The fact that I am a Christian certainly informs my outlook and influences my values, but it's not the sole purpose for seeing abortion as a preventable tragedy and sin. Some would say a man shouldn't weigh-in on this subject at all but I'm assuming you wouldn't have made it this far if you truly believed that. It should also be noted that statistically there are more women who claim to be pro-life than men. Regardless, I'm all for listening to all sides and all people.

CONCLUSION

Abortion is often labeled a women's rights issue, a healthcare issue, or a political issue in an attempt to make it more complex than it really is. At its core, this is not complicated. 64 million babies have been killed within our nation over the past several decades mostly in the name of convenience.

We see entire generations of babies being wiped out in the Bible as well. When God sent Moses on the earth as an infant, Pharaoh commanded that all Egyptian midwives kill Hebrew babies as they were emerging from the womb. When Jesus was coming to the world, King Herod decreed the slaughtering of all babies in Bethlehem and the surrounding area.

The enemy FIGHTS THE MOST what he FEARS THE MOST. We have to ask ourselves, what is the Lord releasing on the earth in this hour that the enemy is fighting so hard to stop? Whatever it is, I say YES to it. I want to be on the right side of history, and I want to be on the side that chooses life. That being said, I believe that makes me responsible for helping those who choose life as well.

"Whoever has the Son has life" - 1 John 5:12)