This Isn't a Debate

I watched an undercover video today that sickened me.  In the video a Planned Parenthood doctor is filmed talking about harvesting the body parts of babies in order to sell them.  She speaks with such ease about how doctors get livers, legs, heads and other parts from children being aborted. The video is terrifying and utterly disgusting but one that I think you should watch, so follow this link and click on the video.

When are we going to stop treating abortion like a debate?  When are we going to stop viewing the pro-life versus pro-choice movements as two equals?  When are we going to look at this the same way that slavery was eventually viewed?  When are we going to look back and be in horror that one human could do that to another?

In 2012 there were an estimated 40-50 million abortions worldwide (source). In 2008 there were 1,200,000 abortions performed in the United States and 98% of them were done for elective reasons.  In my state of Iowa in 2008 there were 134,730 babies aborted and only 4 of those procedures were done because the mother was in danger. (Source)

When are we going to stop thinking that this is a debate?

This isn't a debate!

Christians, this is an affront to God.  This is a grave sin and we can't keep talking like it's a debate.  We can't keep offering pro-choice positions like they're simply opinions.  There is not a reasonable person in the world that has a pro-slavery "opinion" and if someone did post on Facebook that they were pro-slavery we would know they were crazy instantly.  Abortion for elective purposes is no different.  I'm against aborting a baby for any reason, but I'll allow that there is room for debate when the mother's life is in jeopardy, but the killing of babies for convenience sake is morally wrong without any debate.

So, what do we do?

First, stop treating this like a debate.  If you are pro-life you have the moral high ground in the same way someone who is anti-murder or an abolitionist does.  Don't buy into the faulty logic that every discussion involves two equal ideas.  Some ideas are wrong.

Second, we must love women who have had an abortion.  Abortion is wrong but having one's baby aborted does not label a woman.  Women who have had abortions, and sadly there are some in my own family who have, are not bad people.  There probably were many reasons that she felt that an abortion made sense.  While she was wrong to have had her baby's life ended, we must not ruin the life of another by dehumanizing her.  Love these women because economical, social, relational and all other sorts of pressures may have driven her to that point and she needs mercy from that... mercy that you can help extend.

Third, we must pray for and advocate for the end of abortion.  Like William Wilberforce who prayed and advocated for decades for England to end the slave trade, we too must be persistent.  This doesn't mean that we must be vigilantes.  We must work like Wilberforce did within the systems of government and the law to end abortion.  This is done primarily through prayer.  It may also be by supporting organizations that offer women in difficult situations alternatives to abortions.  It could be by adopting.  It can be done by voting.  There are many ways to end abortion and we must do something.

This is not a debate.  Killing babies is wrong and we cannot let it continue by standing idly by.  Pray for the end of abortion and stop treating it like a debate today.