How to Think Like a Christian About Abortion

Abortion is terrible thing that happens way too often. That is an understatement. One abortion would be way too many. But it is not helpful to simply make a statement like 'I am opposed to abortion,' or 'Abortion is morally wrong.' One needs to consider what abortion is and what it means about life.

Abortion has become a political issue (in the church and out of the church), but it should not be. It is an issue about the values that individuals and cultures hold. Our society (21st Century USA) believes that an individual has the right to end a pregnancy for any reason. When it becomes a political discussion an appeal is made on behalf of women's health and safety, abuse, neglect and rape, as well as the potential disabilities that a baby might have. In practice, however, inconvenience, gender selection and personal preference are more often the reasons for terminating a pregnancy.

Many Christians have sided with the pro-choice faction when discussing certain abortion cases. They would say that a woman should be allowed to have an abortion if she was raped, or if her health is in danger. These same Christians are adamantly opposed to abortions of the second category. No one should be allowed an abortion for the purpose of gender selection, they say.

My question is, why are some abortions acceptable and some are not? If a pregnancy is a gift from God, and if a new baby is a child of God, why should we abort any children? Do we have the right to determine that a mother's health and life are more valuable than that of their unborn child? I say no! If abortion is wrong, it is wrong. There should not be exceptions. Killing is killing. Murder is murder.

There are some implications to our current national position on abortion.

• When we approve of abortion we increase the value we put on ourselves. We are endorsing the view that the individual is the most important in any situation when we allow an individual the 'freedom' to choose abortion. In Christian terms, this self-exaltation, whether or not it accompanies an abortion, is a sin. If this is true, abortion is merely a symptom of a deeper kind of sin.
• When we approve of abortion we decrease the value that we put on life in general. If we can eliminate a life before it is born it means that it is insignificant to us.
• When we approve of abortion we move down a slope toward voluntary euthanasia (think Jack Kevorkian) and ultimately to active elimination of the elderly, sick, handicapped and inconvenient. If this sounds familiar remember Hitler and the 3rd Reich.