Generally I try to be pretty neutral on election year issues. I have my positions and those that know me know where I stand. However, in the last two months I and other Pro-Life supporters have been called everything under the sun and I feel that somethings must be said. The final straw was found this week in an editorial I read on CNN.com that attempted to convince me that if I wanted abortions to decline, then I needed to support the expansion of the social safety net. Obviously the discussion has gotten of the track.
The heart of the abortion debate is not a "war on women" or the "insensitivty of men to women's needs." The heart of the debate is not "are you gonna pay to support these children that are born to mother's who don't want them." The heart of the debate isn't even about being a Republican or a Democrat. The heart of the debate is personal responsiblity.
In the last fifty years of American society abortion is the leading cause of death. Not cancer, heart disease, or drunk driving but abortion. There is no scientific argument that is available to claim that life begins at any point other than conception. Whether you believe that a fetus is human or not is a matter of worldview, but the argument about whether or not it is alive has been settled by science from the beginning.
Thus, by choosing to engage in sexual activity, a woman and a man have chosen to create a life. Now the matter of personal responsiblity comes into play. Abortion offers people the opportunity to erase the consequence of their previous choice. Rather than have to live with, handle, and face the results of their actions, abortion allows one to simply take a mulligan and eliminate the consequence.
This mentality has demonstrated itself in all areas of American society. Men, who refuse to support the child they helped to create, often run from their responsiblities to their children. Children often exhibit bad behavior without facing the consequence of that action. No fault divorces often dissolve families not because of abuse or neglect but because of preference and desire. Celebrities often engage in public destructive behavior without ever facing the negative results of those activities. By eliminating the consequences of our choices we also eliminate personal responsiblity from the equation. Instead the mantra of the day becomes "Don't I deserve to be happy?"
Abortion is a symptom of the unwillingness to accept the consequences of our choices. We would rather kill the life of the unborn rather than accept the consequences of the choices we have made.
"What about rape, incest, and the life of the mother?" Rape and incest are terrible crimes. No rapist should ever have parental rights. Incest that is the result of abuse is rape and should be classified the same way. In these cases, the women who are victims of crimes should be given medical care by the state and offered the option of keeping the child as many of them do, or placing the child up for a fast track adoption.
The Bible often offers the use of deadly force as a means of defending ones on life. In the case of a medical emergency the termination of the unborn is reasonable in order to save the life of the mother. This should never be a first option nor an easy one, but is a necessary exemption.
Choices have consequences. We, as a people, seem to have forgotten that. As a result, we have lost personal responsibility. Many believe that the government should be responsible for our well being. Others believe that the churches and society should be responsible for our well being. However, the only person who is responsible for your well being is you.
Let us stop trying to eliminate the consequences of our choices and let us begin to rebuild the personal responsiblity that we called to carry. Only then will the choices we make become better choices with better consequences.
God Bless
