Some Thoughts on Abortion (Yes, against. I am.)
It seems to The Equuschick that many of the debates surrounding abortion center around determining when life begins precisely. But as far as The Equuschick is concerned, her stance against abortion stems from the fact that the debate is not even settled yet. And yet abortion is still legally permitted to go on.
As an individual who believes that all life is God-breathed and that human life is created in God's image, The Equuschick believes that life does indeed begin at conception. But she will be the first to admit that her position could not be proved either legally or scientifically.
Neither, however, could you legally or scientifically prove otherwise. It remains an open question and yet, the American culture as a whole seems to have decided that since we don't know we might as well risk it.
But what are we risking? What's the gamble? The very thing we gamble is something that we all ought to be able to agree has at the very least the potential to become a human life. And as stated, The Equuschick believes much more than that. But that's The Equuschick. She's not asking you to go that far if your worldview won't take you there. But if your worldview has any respect for human life at all, you ought at least to question the wisdom of the gamble.
We do not know about the current status of that which we're gambling, and neither frankly do we know the future. An abortion indicates that one's knowledge of the future is certain enough to risk the loss of a potential innocent human life. Aside from the disturbing philosophical implications, that's a little arrogant.
Recently, the son and daughter-in-law of a couple form our local congregation was told their child would be born with such serious birth defects that survival outside the womb was impossible. They had all the tests done, they consulted several doctors and it seemed certain. Set in stone. One would think, then, that the logical thing to do was abort.
But they didn't. They prayed, congregations world-wide prayed. And their baby was born just a week or two later as a healthy and stable baby as likely to live a long and happy life as any other baby.
Now, you could be saying if you don't like The Equuschick's worldview, all that doesn't prove that there was a God listening to the prayers. The tests could have been wrong all along. It was just a fluke.
The Equuschick, while as an individual believing those prayers were answered, would not try to prove this to you if you were disinclined to accept that. This is not a post about prayer. This a post about abortion.
So it could have been a fluke. So? Flukes happen.
It doesn't matter why or how that baby was born just fine when all the doctors and all the tests guaranteed otherwise. What matters is that it happened. That it happens at all, and that it could happen again, and that to choose to close the door to all other options and all other possible endings to a potential (for the sake of the argument) human story with an abortion is one terrifying gamble. The stakes are just too high.
You may say, well what about capital punishment? What about war casualties?
First and foremost, to compare the deaths of able-bodied and consenting adults with voices and choices of their own to a medical procedure that ends the life of a potential human without a voice or a choice of its own is bit like apples and oranges.
Capital punishment is a grave and terrifying responsibility, yet it is generally and legally recognized as such while abortion is taken very lightly by comparision.
A sentence of capital punishment is never passed on a minor, and when it is passed on a legal adult it is passed only by a jury and a court of law that's been given what we all agree ought to be some pretty strong and serious evidence for the guilt of the individual. Sometimes mistakes happen, and The Equuschick acknowledges this as the tragic and fearsome thing it is.
This is not necessarily to recommend capital punishment, but rather to illustrate how in the end it is a very different situation than wide-spread, legalized abortion. You don't need a jury or any other legal counsel or a court of law or some pretty strong evidence for the "guilt" of this unborn being for an abortion. You just walk into an abortion clinic and you get one. No questions asked.
And war remains itself on a completely different plane that abortion or capital punishment. Wars are fought by adult and able-bodied men and women who chose for themselves and have the option of conscientious objection.
Again, war is taken seriously. Capital punishment is taken seriously.
And only abortion is taken lightly. We gamble on what we all agree to be a potential present and innocent life and we gamble our future and no one blinks an eye.
If you are not a bit concerned, than The Equuschick can simply question what respect for life you have at all.