Do you hear the abortion war cry?

Do you hear the abortion war cry, the offbeat drums luring women to the polls this year?

And that’s the major focus for some women this election year, with little concern about the major issues of inflation, immigration, economy, safety and border concerns, among others. The tendency is to overlook a candidate’s past performance record. Abortion rights, that’s all that counts some think.

There are many opinions. How does one come to a logical conclusion on questionable issues?

Many believe abortion is acceptable in cases of rape, incest or health of the child or mother. But those statistics are low on the scale of reasons to abort. According to an early Guttmacher Institute study, one of the top reasons women gave for their abortion decision stated that they did not want an interruption of their education and career goals. Other reasons, as expected, involved poverty level, low income, not ready for motherhood, or they already had other children and did not want more.

The research noted that more than one-third of their interview respondents had considered adoption but some concluded that it was a morally unconscionable option, claiming ‘giving one’s child away is wrong.’  Does that mean riddance of the baby in the womb was acceptable but gifting that infant to a childless couple was wrong?

 A few questions need better answers before voting in this election.

1. If there are supposedly legitimate reasons to have an abortion, are there also illegitimate reasons?

2. Would regret and guilt haunt me forever, never silenced?  A lifetime of mental anguish?

3. If having an abortion to erase a mistake, where do I go from there? Will I join others who admit to three or four abortions?

4. According to a CDC report in 2020 (the last year for which the CDC has information), six women died during a legal abortion. Can I take that chance?  Guttmacher’s last report on number of legal abortions in 2020 totaled more than 930,000, nearly the population of San Francisco! 

5.  What does God think about abortion?

Shakespeare’s character, Hamlet, pondered life itself, asking, “to be or not to be, that is the question.”  A baby in the womb cannot ask that question. It prompts me to add a suffix to the oft-quoted line, “to be-lieve or not to be-lieve,” that is the question.

The real reason for an abortion requires serious evaluation.  Are certain influencers saying that abortion is quite acceptable and the correct choice for any reason? Is it murder, as many believe?

Others believe the embryo is not a human life at conception, therefore abortion is not murder. Yet biblical scripture affirms the prophet, Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart.” (Jeremiah 1:5, NIV)   

Israel’s King David penned a favorite Psalm, paraphrased here: “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb … I am fearfully and wonderfully made. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body” (Psalm 139:13-16 NIV), That is where belief (or not) comes into one’s truth.

Are biblical writings believable? Wikipedia reports that the Bible, unlike any other manuscript, is by far, the best-selling book of all time, with five billion copies sold to date. A prophet of old, Isaiah, predicted centuries ago. “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8 NIV). So far, Isaiah wins. The Bible still stands.

There are many opinions for any argument one chooses to believe. Biblical history relates God’s view of infants and the sanctity of life, even though the word, abortion, is not stated per se in scripture. But an off-shoot, cult-like religion required infant sacrifices to Molech, their god of choice. The cult rebelled against the Israelite’s established faith in the God-given commandments and laws of order for civilized humanity. But then, Israel’s true God instructed the Israelites to abstain from such a practice, for using human babies as a sacrificial offering was an offense to God (Leviticus 20:1-8 NIV). 

That is a huge clue of God’s opinion whether a child is in the womb or alive and well. There were those in ancient civilization who chose to go their own way and believe a false rhetoric. Are we simply replacing Molech, the ancient, false god of choice for a modern version? Are babies now being sacrificed to the gods of pleasure, convenience, leisure, income advantage, or even gods of fear? Do we relate at all?

The Ten Commandments are still recognized today as relevant to right living, including the command, “do not commit murder.” An abortionist would try to convince one that an embryo is not a human yet; therefore, abortion is not murder. But scripture contradicts otherwise. Some embryologists claim the fetus is a small human at fertilization.

The question remains. Have abortions become the modern god of choice in today’s culture?

Some would say there’s no correlation to history. That’s where my Shakespearean re-phrased line becomes relevant. To be-lieve or not to be-lieve, that is the question. The sanctity of life is worth considering. To believe that a God-given life is truly holy and precious is to control one’s own body with diligence in order to avoid negative, far-reaching consequences.