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| "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb." - Psalm 139:13-15 |
It’s been an emotional and interesting thing having such a rise in the abortion conversation as I’m pregnant and sit weekly at a local pregnancy resource center mentoring girls and women. So many thoughts and emotions as I scroll my feeds, watch the news, and engage in conversations. I even had to take a breather from scrolling my feeds and seeing all the news. I’m carrying a baby as I type this. I feel her wiggles and squirms. She kicks like crazy if anything happens to rest on my tummy near where she is. The value of life in the womb is personal for me. I also believe, as Psalm 139 says above, that God has created wonderfully each precious and marvelous life (and yes that includes precious babies such as those diagnosed with down syndrome). I’m broken over any life unjustly taken. But every woman who has had or considered having an abortion is not like the caricatures we see getting likes and views in the media celebrating with outlandish statements and cheers. I would venture to say many (if not most) are struggling, hurting, and often deceived. I've sat and wept with some of them as we talked and prayed. So please, can we please stop calling and inferring that all of these women are selfish murderers?
We have a culture where many medical professionals (not all so this is not something the medical community is 100% in agreement on) advise patients that abortion is a morally acceptable safe medical procedure with minimal side effects. Our laws tell people it is legal and therefore not wrong. What an example of there being “a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Proverbs 16:25).” Many women are being deceived by those we are taught to trust during a very vulnerable time in their lives. Some are even being pressured or forced to do something they don't really want to by abusive men and angry family members. Get angry at the people celebrating and especially those who profit from abortion. Pray for God to change the laws and the minds and hearts of those perpetuating it all. Support pro-life efforts aimed at helping the poor, supporting moms and dads, assisting families with special needs, and caring for those in need of adoption or foster care. Please also have compassion for those who have been deceived or hurt and are living with the consequences of it all. Pray for and help those struggling with what decision to make as the world debates around them. We should absolutely grieve the life lost. Oh how I grieve the lives lost. But for those of us who follow Jesus, we must also have compassion for those who are harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). Abortion is evil, but those entangled in it’s web of deceit are not the enemy.
For clarity's sake, I'm not calling circumstances evil dealing with ectopic pregnancies and other health situations where parents and doctors have to make impossible life saving decisions. I also want to be clear that I'm not saying we paint something that is dark as light. Abortion and all of the issues around it are terrible, heartbreaking, and honestly quite overwhelming to think about addressing (i.e. lack of access to proper healthcare in rural and impoverished communities, high costs of adoption, an overextended foster care system, sexual abuse, cycles of poor decision making, poverty, lack of healthy sex and relationship education, and so on). We should certainly include these things in our conversations and seek solutions that don't include taking a life. And as we discuss and take action, before we go casting stones let's pause and examine our own hearts. Let us never forget that all of us have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious standard, but “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are (Romans 3:22 NLT).” Satan is the author of lies and none of us have been perfect in never falling prey to his deceptions. As a hymn I love says, “Our sins they are many, His mercy is more.” I pray that in our anger, even righteous justified anger, we don’t cease to be extenders of the mercy we have so richly and undeservingly received.