A Yoruba proverb says, "Beheading is not a valid treatment for headache!"
The practice whereby societies kill their own offspring is not strange. Both the Bible and secular history afford us adequate glimpses of such evil. And it continues right up to the present time. As condemnable as this is in general, it pales significantly when compared with the new dimension now adopted globally, especially in the West (with China holding the fort for the East). This is the wilful snuffing out of life of unborn babies and traumatically ejecting them out of their mothers' wombs. Technically, this is known as induced abortion, to differentiate it from miscarriage which is termed spontaneous abortion. Nonetheless, whenever the word abortion is used without any qualification, it always refers to man-induced abortion which is the subject of this post.
Strangely, abortion is supposed to be an evidence of civilisation - a liberal civilisation that is being shored up by a coalition of of government, Liberal advocacy groups, certain sections of the pharmaceutical industry and a sizeable segment of practitioners in the healthcare sector, especially the Planned Parenthood, preying on the society-imposed difficulties of a gullible populace. This is the world of abortion, the multi-billion dollar industry that has killed over 1.3 billion babies all over the world since 1980. It also accounts for the death of 13 million babies yearly in China alone consequent on the one-child-per-family policy.
How did things get so bad? Obviously, it would not have been without causes. And such causes, seldom include coercion (except in China). It is often said that numerous circumstances contributed to this sorry state of affairs but the overriding cause is a failure to recognise that abortion is wrong. Tragically wrong.
Here's why:
1. It is based on a wrong premise
The central rallying word of abortionists is "choice". Now, choice in itself is not a bad thing. It gives us power of options. But such a power must necessarily be limited by a need to respect the rights of others, such as the right of unborn babies to life.
Also, no options can be claimed beyond the realms of authority as determined by ownership and sovereignty. The popular teaching given to today's woman that she "owns" her body can only be correct in the relative sense that every human being is a custodian of the physical body in his/her possession. The truth is that God is the absolute owner of our bodies which He prepared uniquely for each person and allotted individually to us as stewards. Proper stewardship demands that we use the body in accordance with the will of the real Owner rather than according to our own will.
In addition, as there is no right of ownership or control that we may claim over any property that covers murder, murdering legally-invited guests residing in the womb cannot be justified on account of overpopulation or any other reason. We cannot "choose" to kill, even if it is done in the privacy of our wombs.
2. It is murder
We can now better see the real nature of abortion as murder. That the fetus is a human being is no longer debatable. What the Bible clearly declared thousands of years ago, has now been meticulously proven by true science.
Right from conception, a unique human individual is formed with the full compliment of the homo sapiens genetic makeup. All that happens after conception is development and manifestation of what has already been set genetically. Legally, many societies rightly recognise the membership of the unborn baby in the society, and some cultures go as far as giving them names and some other rights and privileges as the rest of the society. Whatever the level of societal enlightenment, no one can deny the scientific evidence that every foetus has his/her fingerprint set. This is unique to each person and will never be duplicated or reused in the human race, regardless of whether the baby is aborted or permitted to live by his/her parents. By issuing the fingerprint, God has already given each foetus a phenotypical barcode declaring him/her as a bona-fide member of humanity. The fingerprint can be detected as early as the second month.
At the spiritual level, the humanity of the foetus is excellently demonstrated by the grace of God in anointing John the Baptist to fill him with the Holy Spirit right inside the mother's womb. Now, without any controversy, only human beings can be filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1: 15). Angels may be anointed and spiritually gifted, and brute animals may be inspired to see into the spiritual realm and even speak (Numbers 22: 22-28), but only human beings can be filled with the Holy Spirit.
With the current overwhelming evidence about the full humanity of the foetus, it is obvious that any continuing notion of the foetus as "sub-human" or "potentially human" can only be made under demonic influence and/or deliberate defiance against God's will.
3. It is needless
A very pathetic characteristic of abortion is that it has no tangible or compelling reason for its performance. It is always a needless operation. And this makes it very wrong. To be sure, there are numerous excuses put forward as justification by its proponents. But in the final analysis, none of such reasons is really a genuine reason for its performance. Let's look at the major ones:
By far the most popular reason why people abort their children is "no reason at all". This is seen in such statements as "I'm not ready now.", It's not convenient", "If I can do it, why not?", etc. All these, again, demonstrate our warped notion of liberty - yielding to every impulse towards hedonism and lack of responsibility.
Other excuses are more logical and may even attract some sympathy. They belong to three categories:
- Endangered health of mother, such as heart or kidney problems;
- Undesirable or diseased foetus, such as Down's Syndrome or wrong sex;
- Unacceptable source of pregnancy, such as rape, incest, or adultery.
Much has been said about these "rational" excuses and they are usually the reason why many pious individuals sometimes concede to some level of abortion. We must however realise that their obvious appeal to the human heart is not a qualifying criterion for the will of God. They all run foul of one or more of the following errors:
(a) A belief that the foetus is not human. No one would consider killing of an accepted human being as the solution to any of the three categories mentioned above. For example, killing off a troublesome toddler because his pranks are making the mum's blood pressure rise.
(b) Accepting the humanity of the foetus but believing that murder is legitimate if done for the convenience of the murderer. Such as aborting the child conceived in fornication to afford the parents the convenience of a "white" wedding.
(c) Punishing the child for the offence of the parent, e.g. aborting the product of rape or if the father has absconded.
4. It is avoidable
Even if some of the excuses given are acceptable to some people, or even valid (which they are not), the truth is that abortion is never the only option. Actually, it is always the worst option as a solution the the identified problem. At every stage of the reproductive process where the thought of not having a child is entertained, there is always another path to tread which is better than abortion.
Abstinence
Thus, the unmarried girl who claims not to be ready for pregnancy or child-rearing has the appropriate option of sexual abstinence. This option never fails, especially since no new messiah is to be born of a virgin.
Contraceptives
But many people are unable to abstain from sex for reasons ranging from marital duties in the case of pious married women to sheer promiscuity in the case of fornicators and adulterers. Rather than conceive a baby and kill him, thus addiing iniquity to iniquity, it is better to prevent pregnancy to start with. There are many sinless methods of contraception that do not involve the early killing of embryos.
Adoption
If all else fail, the option of carrying the baby to term and giving him/her up for adoption is an excellent way of demonstrating whatever level of humanity is still left in you. This is the least act of love you can show to a fellow human being who is also a product of your body. Give him a chance at life - and for love.
LINGERING QUESTIONS ABOUT HEALTH
In health-related cases, it is important to recognise two situations and handle them appropriately.
Sickness of mother or child
The first is where mother's health is poor and it is presumed that removal of the baby is the solution OR the baby himself is deformed or sick from the womb and there is the thought of saving him from his "misery" by killing him pre-emptively. The summary answer is first come to terms with the truth that the foetus is a human being, then handle the case as it is handled for human beings. (E.g. a sick or deformed teenager is not intentionally killed as a "treatment" for his/her deformity.) A Yoruba proverb says, "Beheading is not a valid treatment for headache!" Let the doctor do his utmost to treat a sick mother or baby, but such treatment cannot include the killing of the innocent child who is not the disease. The physician is a care-giver, not a judge cum executioner.
When the conception is the mother's disease
The situation is different if the very conception disease (as opposed to a sick foetus). Such cases include trophoblastic diseases and ectopic pregnancy. These constitute the ailment the mother is being treated for and therefore, until the Lord leads humanity to better ways of treatment, removal of the disease currently means removal of the foetus in its abnormal state.
5. It comes with horrendous costs
Pro-abortion people typically downplay the great costs associated with the evil. The truth however is that abortion is associated with enormous costs to the individual and the society at large. This spans medical, economic, moral and cultural dimensions.
Of course, the loss of innocent lives is the most obvious cost of abortion. The dimension of this is so enormous that it can only be described as genocide. China currently aborts over 13 million babies every year while the US tops 1 million yearly. Globally, some 1.3 billion abortions were committed between 1980 and 2013. This level of murder is not justifiable. These human lives are precious before God.
Medically, abortion is associated with physical costs. Even in the most advanced nations, great problems are still encountered both physically and emotionally. These vary from common ones like abdominal pains and cramps with vomiting, to severe ones like trauma, infections and even death albeit more pronounced under conditions of poor skills.
Economically, the cost is first borne by the aborting mother herself in direct procedure fees and associated expenses. Beyond the personal level, the economic cost of aborted babies is staggering. This is both in terms of missed contribution to production as well as the reduced market volume (consumer population) occasioned by their absence. These societal costs have been estimated to be in order of tens of trillions of dollars in the US alone.
Perhaps the sorriest cost of abortion is its huge contribution to societal decadence. People raised in an environment of such unabashed irresponsibility toward the fruit of their wombs have both compromised their posterity and will also end in spiritual insensitivity and moral lasciviousness, presenting their physical members as instruments of unrighteousness.
Yet, as the modern society slides down the cesspit of decadence, it still has the arrogance to pride itself with so-called knowledge and liberty. But this society is not free at all - but in bondage. Bondage of sin under the power of darkness.
Let the killing stop.
