Starting Out Heavy

Brace yourselves, this is where I start stepping on toes and "offend" people. Listen. We're all entitled to our opinions, but that doesn't mean every opinion is right. I have the freedom of speech just as much as anyone else in this country does. I will start and end with this: expressing something as wrong is not "hate speech". If my child was running into the middle of the road, I'm going to stop them. Does that mean I hate my child? Anybody would say no. I love my child so much that I don't want to see them hurt or doing something that is wrong. Love speech is the ability to speak up about truth because you care for the other people enough to see the consequences of such actions. (And by the way, I don't have a child.)

In saying this, I also have to bring up the fair point that there are Christians out there who ruin the name of Christian. They are hateful and judgmental, and I often equate them to the Pharisees in the Bible. Who was Jesus? He was someone who ate and fellowshipped with the lowest people. He truly loved them and showed it by first spending time with them and second telling the truth fueled by love.

So what's the controversial topic I'm going to discuss: abortion. Again, this was a topic I always knew as wrong, but couldn't give anyone substantial or biblical reasons why it was. I've discovered many things during my study in God's Word. But before I began processing through words this important topic. I think it's also important to mention a few things. Maybe you have had an abortion in your life. The last thing I want to do is throw hate on you. There is forgiveness and grace available to you if you seek it.

God values life. If you don't believe me, check out these verses: Psalm 139:13-16, John 3:16, Genesis 9:6, Exodus 20:13, Psalm 127:3-5, Jeremiah 1:5, Deuteronomy 27:25, Exodus 21:22, and Proverbs 6:16-19. Just within these verses, we can see God's heart is for each person. He creatively made each person carefully within the womb and cares for their life. In the old testament, God desired to keep babies in the womb safe by creating a law that punished anyone harming a pregnant woman causing the baby to die. One of the things the Lord hates is hands that shed innocent blood. Babies could almost be categorized as the most innocent. No doubt in my mind that God's desire is to protect the unborn. This point is only going to resonate with those who are saved. People who do not know God are not going to care what His viewpoint is.

"My body, My choice."

I am really tired of hearing this as a reason for abortion. The idea is because the unborn baby depends on the mother's body to live, that automatically means the child is part of the body. Then a mother has four arms, two hearts, two brains, 20 toes, and 20 fingers. This argument is relatively new and I suggest that dependency does not equal unity. A baby out of the womb is still as dependent on the mother and father for the needs he or she has as a baby inside. I have read the argument that a fetus at a young age is not able to live alone in the world and survive. The truth stands for a fully developed baby outside the womb. That baby cannot live alone and survive. It doesn't know how to feed itself or provide shelter. The shock and anger that is promoted in society when a woman drinks and smokes while pregnant is real. How is murdering that baby different? If it's her body then she has a right to drink or smoke while pregnant too.

"The baby would have to grow up under difficult circumstances."

Two things I would ask here: what are your views on suicide and do you know how many famous individuals rose up from difficult home situations? Suicide typically reflects an individual who feels their life is too hard to endure anymore. I am not for suicide at all. I don't think that's a solution, and it makes me so sad to hear. Then why is this a good excuse to end the life of a baby? Dare I say that people who use this reasoning for abortion and are not okay with suicide seem to be hypocritical. Further, what the child could be capable of is not in anyone's ability to decide except that child. Yes, life may be hard, but I have no reason to not believe that that child could rise to success. If you don't think it's possible, I dare you to look at the life of these famous people: Jim Carrey, Oprah, Eminem, Leonardo Dicaprio, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Edgar Allen Poe, Ella Fitzgerald, and Marilyn Monroe. What if their mothers had decided life would be too hard for them? Now think about all the babies who will never have the chance to change the world.

"If you're against abortion, then don't have one."

This is like saying, "If you're against child abuse, then don't abuse children." It's a given! People who are against child abuse, myself included, are going to take a stand against abusing children. We are not just going to sit back and let what happens happen. Likewise, I'm against abortion. I can't just sit back and not say anything. I have the freedom of speech and to stand for what I believe is a worthy cause. 

Does a fetus have rights?

I read an interesting article detailing different soundbites that are used between pro-choicers and pro-lifers. The article was solely pro-choice but nonetheless was interesting. They mention that not everything is equal. We fight in the states for equality between race and sex, but apparently, in this article, fetuses do not have equal rights. It says that there is justifiable and reasonable discrimination. They mention that the level of rights depends on the consciousness of a human being. Fetuses are preconsciousness, therefore, they should not have the same rights as others. Another thought they introduced is that the fetus does not have a right to be there in the woman's body. All I can think of when I hear this is, "That fetus didn't have a choice." I may be able to understand this one more for someone who was raped, but someone who had sex knowing there is a chance for pregnancy cannot in their right mind say, "This baby has no right to be here." You knew the consequences of sex. Every choice has a consequence. That baby didn't have the choice of being in the womb, why does it have to suffer a useless consequence. 

Okay, this was a long post, but this is something that I have been passionate about for so long. I have done the research and I can more firmly say I know why I believe what I believe. I said this at the beginning and I'll say it again: I am not hating on anyone who has had an abortion or believes abortion is right. Most people who will read this are not going to change their mind just over the things I said. My reason for posting this is to better understand for myself why I believe abortion is wrong.