As fundamental in the USA as the freedom of speech, freedom of choice is an essential part of Christianity. It goes back to Eve and Adam, who chose to offer and eat the forbidden fruit; and by their own free will, both were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. It is our option, as Christians, to choose to do the right thing or not. However, we can never forget the right of an unborn child to a life with dignity.
When abortion is discussed, how we define a child is often in debate. Some believe that once the sperm enters the ovum the creation is a human child; God has granted life and from there on it is sacred. Medicine however has determined that a child’s life must be viable and essential organs must be operational to consider the life growing inside a parent a human life. That is why they may accept to eliminate embryos growing inside a womb up until the twelfth week of pregnancy.
Both positions have valid arguments that are by no means absolute. If conception of life is in itself sacred the question arises as to which life on Earth is not; how can we determine which life forms are more or less sacred? We must not forget that not too long ago the Catholic Church had decided that the black race produced less sacred beings than other human races. Also, we can question science to understand why in an eight week fetus organs are all formed and functioning, yet it takes four more weeks to consider it human. Is it because by then the baby can smile?
Parallel to moral and philosophical issues are statistical facts, such as nearly half of the pregnancies in the USA are unwanted, of those, four out of ten are terminated by an abortion. It’s important to know that half of the women getting abortions are under the age of 25 and 54 % of them had used contraception. Although disconcerting the news, that teenagers who publicly pledge not to have premarital sex are just as likely as any other of their friends to engage in sexual activity, is real.
Even though we chose to be sexually active, only about half of the time do women want to be pregnant as a result. When we intend and wish to terminate the unwanted lives in our wombs we have sinned as Christians, regardless of our actions thereafter. When we bring an unwanted child into this world with no means of being responsible for our baby’s life, we lay the burden of our errors upon society for them to decide of its fate.Could we allow mothers to wrestle with their own consciences while we consider the 37% of aborted lives that could have become African-American children and the 34% that would be of Hispanic descent? How does society face the long-term issues of educating and taking care of that burden unloaded by irresponsible the parents? So far, the record for underprivileged minorities hasn’t been bright; but there are exceptions. What a difference a committed mother and supportive grandparents can make, even when the father is absent from the picture. President Obama may have his own opinion on that subject.Let us return to the question of unwanted pregnancies. Once again, to examine the question of choice: the free will to do what is right or wrong. Not an absence of possibilities that lets others decide they know best what we should do with our lives, our bodies and who, by denying us the possibility of choice, limit our opportunities for growth and taking responsibility –sometimes eternal-- for our own mistakes. Keep in mind, God didn’t remove the forbidden trees, au contraire; he pointed them out to Eve.Facts on Induced Abortion In the United States www.guttmacher.org, July/2008http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.pdf
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