A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
If men were the ones who got pregnant, abortion wouldn’t be an issue. Historically, men who are not doctors have never fully understood pregnancy. The possible complications of a pregnancy are enormous. Since most men have no clue how complicated and life threatening even a successful pregnancy is, men should stay out of the abortion debate. Somebody decided that a heartbeat determines whether or not a person is alive. I know of people who are on life support. Their heart is beating, but their brain is dead. I don’t think that a heartbeat should be the only indicator that a fetus is alive. Sociologically, a person doesn’t exist until he or she is born. The baby exists when he or she is outside of the womb, gets feet and finger prints, is recognized by a birth certificate, and receives nurturing attention from caring adults. Biblically, the body isn’t alive until it has a spirit. I ask the question, “When does the baby receive her or his spirit?” since biblically, the spirit is the real person. The body is simply the physical house we live in. If we don’t know when a fetus receives its spirit, then we can’t determine when life begins even after conception takes place.
Since miscarriages occur, those who insist that life begins at conception, should have an answer as to why life ends by miscarriage. They should have a response as to why babies die in the uterus. If a pregnancy doesn’t get far enough along to preserve the baby in an incubator, premature birth, then the fetus is doomed. We should let doctors determine when a pregnancy is too far along for an abortion. Women are more accountable to their Creator than they are to men, then they are to human laws. Women have the God given right to determine what should happen in and to their own bodies. Men exercise that right over their own bodies. Simply in the interest of equal treatment, women should have the same right. A lot of people haven’t realized that a miscarriage or death in the uterus forces people to make a choice, the woman or the unborn fetus. The antiabortionists choose the unborn over the woman who is already here and has a life and may have a significant other and, more often than not, has family members and friends. The significant other, the family and friends will opt to save the life of the mother. Excuse my crassness, but the fetus has to go. Therefore, there should be exceptions for the life of the mother, not just physically, but also emotionally as well. Why should a woman or girl go through a pregnancy that’s the result of incest or rape? Doesn’t that victimize her twice? The emotional life of the woman or girl should be considered as well. To those who believe that abortion is a sin, let’s be clear. God lets people sin, otherwise we wouldn’t have crime. My experience with God is that God allows and helps people make difficult decisions. The decision a woman with a difficult pregnancy may have to make is tough. The law should allow for tough decisions concerning pregnancy, even abortion. Let God be the Judge. To those who don’t want women ending a pregnancy just because they don’t want to be single and pregnant, which may be an emotional and mental issue for many women as well, my mother told me one day, “Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good.” State legislators should listen to my mother.