This is part of a series. Part one. Part two.
The question that is inevitably raised at this point is whether or not a Christian should support abortion. This is an important question because, if the answer is yes, then it raises a delimma regarding one's support of Planned Parenthood. Since Planned Parenthood doesn't fit the qualifications that have been established for an organization a Christian should support, how does one handle the fact that, if abortion is acceptable to a Christian, Planned Parenthood offers them at a lower cost, benefiting more people? This is a non-issue if abortion is unacceptable from a Christian perspective.
To begin with, there are the arguments stated in the comments section to part one. The Bible lays out pretty clearly that it would be better for someone never to have been born than to experience the evils and suffering of this life. Since ending a pregnancy prevents a child from being born into a life of suffering, the argument goes, sometimes abortion is the most loving thing someone can do, and the lesser of two evils in some instances. This, coupled with the law in Numbers about accusing a woman of adultry, it can become even more clear that God condones abortion in some instances for the protection of the unborn child in particular.
The problem comes to this line of thinking, though, when one considers the fact that all people are made in God's image and that God was the one who personally put them together in the womb. This adds a sacredness to life that goes beyond merely the physical connection between mom and child in the womb. It adds an obvious spiritual dimension. Who are we to stand in the way of what God is creating, after all?
As a result, there is no way to make a completely consistent, biblically sound case for either a pro-life or pro-choice stance. Both sides have proof texts to back their stance, and strong interpretive history in their favor. When an issue like this arises, and there are many within the biblical text, one must step outside proof texts and look for an overall ethic. As Christians, this must be primarily influenced by Jesus.
Jesus calls humankind to a higher love ethic than even the Hebrew Scriptures. The Christian is called to go beyond the law, and adhere to an ethic of love. One must love God and neighbor. And this neighbor love is to be the same kind of love that one shows for themself. This love goes beyond simply defending and protecting others to actually, in some way, becoming what we want to save.
As one considers this higher ethic of love, one does run into a bit of a delimma, though. On the one hand, to completely devote oneself to defending the life of the unborn leaves the mother out of the equation. What if carrying the baby will kill the mother is one of the questions that arises. On the other hand, to devote oneself to defending a woman's right to choose ignores the plain reality that the child in the womb is also one of God's children. Who in their right mind, after all, would advocate the death of one child to save another?
Since one can't consistently choose one side or another, the truth has to lie somewhere in the middle. Both moms and babies must be defended with equal veracity. From a worldly perspective, the bill that, in part, defunds Planned Parenthood does just that. On the one hand, it acknowledges the reality that an unborn child is a person and grants it protection by removing funding from a group that pushes for the end of these lives (a simple Google search will bring up ample proof) and sets strong limits and penalties on abortion. On the other hand, it protects the moms by adding a medical emergency, rape, and incest clause making those the only legal reasons for an abortion.
From a Christian perspective, though, why doesn't a bill like this seek to truly protect both? A consistently pro-life stance requires us to consider, especially with medical emergencies, why more isn't being done to actually save both lives? Why does the medical establishment seek the easy way out? Christians should be pushing for more to be done into research leading to procedures that can save both mom and baby in medical emergencies from ectopic pregnancies to simply pregnancies that go wrong. If they aren't, then the question from the beginning comes back to the foreground: What right does the Christian have to support a bill like HB1210? Or should they even be supporting it in the first place?
Comments