I’m going to pause in my walk through the history of women’s suffrage to discuss a current day civil rights issue which is often thrown into the category of women’s rights: abortion. Recently, many states have passed laws either to expand abortion or to restrict it. It has become a topic which fills my newsfeed daily, and which I feel a pressing need to speak out about.
In today’s world, we have access to technology that can not only verify the heartbeat of the fetus in the womb but take 3-D pictures of her that can be printed and framed. We have NICU units dedicated to saving the lives of prematurely born babies, as long as they are wanted by their parents. We know what babies look like all the way from conception to birth, at every month of pregnancy. We know that abortion is killing a baby. There is no way we can live in this modern age of science and deny this fact.
In today’s world, we have access to technology that can not only verify the heartbeat of the fetus in the womb but take 3-D pictures of her that can be printed and framed. We have NICU units dedicated to saving the lives of prematurely born babies, as long as they are wanted by their parents. We know what babies look like all the way from conception to birth, at every month of pregnancy. We know that abortion is killing a baby. There is no way we can live in this modern age of science and deny this fact.
Because the baby cannot live independently outside of the nurturing body of his mother until all the systems are fully developed, it is left to the mother to decide if she wants this child to live. If she doesn’t, she can have the pregnancy terminated, the baby aborted, the life inside her ended.
By the time a woman is of age to reproduce, she knows how babies are conceived. It’s no secret that having sex creates a risk of pregnancy. We live in a culture that wants to embrace science yet wants the freedom to perform reproductive acts without consequences. Yes, there are rare instances of a woman conceiving as a result of rape, but most abortions performed are the result of consensual intercourse.
The real underlying question isn’t whether the “fetus” is a clump of cells or a human life, it’s a question of whether that life has value. Does the life of the unborn matter? When we begin to decide which lives have value and which do not based on convenience, economics, or some other criteria, we are on a slippery slope. And we’re already rolling downhill, folks. Now there are laws allowing assisted suicide, starvation of mentally ill patients, and the murdering of babies who survive abortion procedures. The value of life is no longer universally accepted. It’s become a matter of subjective opinion.
By the time a woman is of age to reproduce, she knows how babies are conceived. It’s no secret that having sex creates a risk of pregnancy. We live in a culture that wants to embrace science yet wants the freedom to perform reproductive acts without consequences. Yes, there are rare instances of a woman conceiving as a result of rape, but most abortions performed are the result of consensual intercourse.
The real underlying question isn’t whether the “fetus” is a clump of cells or a human life, it’s a question of whether that life has value. Does the life of the unborn matter? When we begin to decide which lives have value and which do not based on convenience, economics, or some other criteria, we are on a slippery slope. And we’re already rolling downhill, folks. Now there are laws allowing assisted suicide, starvation of mentally ill patients, and the murdering of babies who survive abortion procedures. The value of life is no longer universally accepted. It’s become a matter of subjective opinion.
Have we seen something like this happen before? I’m currently writing the next novel in my series, which is set during the era of WW2. As I research the Holocaust, I’m appalled by the frightening similarities I see in the mentality behind the genocide. Certain people decided which lives mattered. Action T4 approved the death of children with disabilities and was a precursor to the wholesale extermination of the Jews, and anyone else Hitler didn’t like or who opposed his regime.
If one man had the idea to kill a ton of people, we would call him a serial killer. One man, acting alone, could never have successfully murdered almost 85 million people. A little at a time, the division between groups of differing people widened while at the same time, life was devalued, and then his plan was set into action. And the masses not only allowed it to happen, they participated in it.
Getting back to women’s rights and Alice Paul, let’s consider a basic scientific fact: if abortion was a matter of a woman’s choice, it would be herself she killed and not a separate human life. That fragile, vulnerable person inside her isn’t choosing to die, death is being chosen for him or her.
Alice Paul was not only a powerful force in gaining women the right to vote, she continued her work after the 19th Amendment passed, working to achieve the Equal Rights Amendment. Yet she—a respected and renowned voice for women’s rights—believed “Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.”
Although Alice Paul and Elizabeth Cady Stanton disagreed on methods of achieving the right to vote, they did agree on this topic. Elizabeth Cady Stanton aptly said, “When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.”
The famous advocate for women’s rights, Susan B. Anthony, referred to abortion as "child murder."
And all these women didn’t have access to the same knowledge of human growth and development that we do. There were no ultrasounds, sonograms, or fetal photography.
How can we, who know so much, be so desensitized to the reality that abortion is exactly what Susan B. Anthony called it?
If one man had the idea to kill a ton of people, we would call him a serial killer. One man, acting alone, could never have successfully murdered almost 85 million people. A little at a time, the division between groups of differing people widened while at the same time, life was devalued, and then his plan was set into action. And the masses not only allowed it to happen, they participated in it.
Getting back to women’s rights and Alice Paul, let’s consider a basic scientific fact: if abortion was a matter of a woman’s choice, it would be herself she killed and not a separate human life. That fragile, vulnerable person inside her isn’t choosing to die, death is being chosen for him or her.
Alice Paul was not only a powerful force in gaining women the right to vote, she continued her work after the 19th Amendment passed, working to achieve the Equal Rights Amendment. Yet she—a respected and renowned voice for women’s rights—believed “Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.”
Although Alice Paul and Elizabeth Cady Stanton disagreed on methods of achieving the right to vote, they did agree on this topic. Elizabeth Cady Stanton aptly said, “When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.”
The famous advocate for women’s rights, Susan B. Anthony, referred to abortion as "child murder."
And all these women didn’t have access to the same knowledge of human growth and development that we do. There were no ultrasounds, sonograms, or fetal photography.
How can we, who know so much, be so desensitized to the reality that abortion is exactly what Susan B. Anthony called it?
Having said all that, if you have ever had an abortion, I'm not condemning you. I know many women carry great guilt and shame for having made such a decision. If you have, there is hope for healing and forgiveness. I want to be clear in my passionate belief that babies' lives matter, but I want to be equally clear that God is willing to forgive anyone who repents of any sin. That is the beauty of the gospel.
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