Straight Talk About Abortion

I’m gonna get right to it.

There was this prophet of God named Jeremiah who had a rough go of it since pretty much everyone he warned of God’s punishment for their idol worship completely ignored him. From my estimation, he did not have an easy life by any stretch of the imagination. Yet God said this about him: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” –Jeremiah 1:5

GOD created every microscopic cell in Jeremiah’s body and twisted his DNA to perfectly create this prophetic specimen. GOD set Jeremiah apart way before he emerged from his mother’s womb. Clearly GOD gave him purpose and a destiny. I have no doubt that this is the story for your life and mine as well.

Let’s take it a little further. Scripture states that God created our inmost being as we were being fashioned together inside of our mother’s uterus. He made us in the “secret place”, weaving all of our intricate parts together, seeing it all clearly, magnified to His eye, even as we were not yet fully developed. He devised a plan for each one of His image bearers. We truly are “fearfully and wonderfully made”.  I’m not making this stuff up. It’s right there in Psalm 139.

But there are multitudes of babies who will not live out that destiny and purpose because this murderous practice we like to soften with words like “choice” has hardened our hearts. We’ve sadly arrived to where we can align ourselves with those who boldly celebrate this atrocity leveled against the preborn.

Let me be clear to anyone who has the guts to read this. I am not interested in the politics. Can we for once put that aside? I am speaking of tiny human beings created in the image of our God. Can we agree that since the conception of ultrasound, we are no longer in the dark about whether or not this is simply a clump of cells? Find the courage to remove any bias and observe the growth and development of a baby hidden in the secret place of the mother’s womb. Fascinating as it is, clearly revealing a perfectly formed human being (be it ever so small) the abortion numbers continue to reveal death totals of those whose voices will never be heard. And we turn our heads.

I wonder how acceptable it would be if I told you my beloved pet dog was pregnant, but I made the choice to destroy the potential pups. Depending on the size, this would be done by sucking the puppies out with a vacuum-type machine, or burning them with a caustic chemical to create cardiac arrest for the puppies in utero, or if it was a late term decision the veterinarian would jab a sharp object into their little necks, crushing their skulls, then removing the contents from the mother dog? I hope this sickened you. It should.

Abortion became legal in 1973 and up till now at least 64 million babies have lost their lives in the United States alone since. We wonder why there is so much unrest. For every baby aborted, there is a woman who is also a victim….a potential mother who believed the lie that she had a choice based on what her needs were at the time. And whether she was aware of it or not, she will be profoundly affected by that decision.

January 17, 2021 was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, instituted by Ronald Regan on January 22, 1984.  I’d like to honor those who are on the front lines of this battle for life. One particular ministry dedicated to rescuing these preborn victims, educating women to make a truly informed decision, mentoring those who choose to keep their babies, along with helping post-abortive women find healing is called Not Forgotten Ministries located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Big on love and dedicated to helping women heal (I haven’t met a woman yet who didn’t regret her abortion or one who regretted keeping her baby) this ministry goes the extra mile to give honor to babies who were denied the chance to live outside the womb. Tori Shaw is the founder and she had the opportunity to tell the effects of her choice, while Leah Outten chose a different path. Please check out this short, yet creative and powerful video to depict the 2 paths: https://www.liveaction.org/news/woman-chose-abortion-open-adoption-hope-healing/

I’m aware of the array of reasons why a woman would choose abortion. But please let’s stop sanitizing it. It’s violence at its worst because the victim has absolutely no means to defend herself/himself. This practice has cheapened the very gift of life as a throwaway entity. No wonder our nation (world?) is replete with depression, anxiety, suicide, and violence. If we continue to embrace this type of killing, we’ll also have little regard for the humans we share this planet with, including ourselves.

There’s not enough space here for all the scripture pointing to God’s hand in creating and purposing us in the womb. But if you happen to be a Christian and an abortion advocate, or simply support the practice, I implore you to please consider your stance, educate yourself on the statistics and how a declining population actually hurts a nation, and ask the Lord if this aligns with His Spirit and His perfect will for humankind.

“This is what the LORD says– he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.” –Isaiah 44:2