"I have set before you today life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live."-Deuteronomy 30:19
On June 30, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Hobby Lobby founders David and Barbara Green. They had petitioned the high court to allow them an exception to the Obamacare mandate with regard to four "potentially life-terminating drugs." As Christians running a family business, being forced to provide these drugs to their employees would be a direct violation of their First Amendment rights and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which is a federal law. In the aftermath, many decried the fact that such a ruling infringed on a woman's right to choose what to do with her body. However, this argument ignores the fact that these drugs are still available. The ruling didn't make the drugs illegal, it just made it so that Hobby Lobby and other companies like it won't be forced into paying for them.
I am both pro-life and pro-choice. How is that possible? It all depends on what the choices are. Most of the time pro-choice means a choice between allowing the baby to live and aborting it, but that's not the way I view the choices. Prior to the baby's conception, its parents have the choice to have sex or not. For unmarried people, which comprise many of those who wish to abort their children, abstaining from sex is the best way to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. But what about married couples that just don't want or can't afford a child? They can choose to use protection to prevent an unwanted pregnancy.
After the child is conceived, there is still a choice: keeping the child or putting it up for adoption. By the time a woman is pregnant, the first choice has already been made. The baby should not suffer the consequences of its parents making the wrong choice to begin with. Now if a married couple's protection breaks, or if a girl is raped, then they didn't make that first choice. That doesn't change the choices at this stage though. I understand that in the case of rape, the girl or woman is already feeling horrible. A man forced her into doing something she didn't want to do, and as she is starting to heal from the ordeal, she is hit with the blow that she is carrying that man's child. However, the baby had nothing to do with the choices made by its father. A much better response to this scenario would be a forced castration of the man in question and putting the baby up for adoption. That way the baby would grow up in a loving family, and the man would never again be able to force a girl or woman into a pregnancy she never asked for.
Now for some women, this post comes too late. They have already made the decision to abort a child, and now they feel horrible. They wish everyday that they had made a different choice. They may not be able to have children now that they want them, or they are always marking milestones their children would have had if they had chosen life. They are probably also ridiculed by people who call themselves Christians, yet tell them that they are going to Hell because they killed an innocent human being. Unfortunately, this happens too often, even though it is the exact opposite of how Christians should respond. No one is too far gone for God's grace, even those who have had an abortion. The right to have an abortion is portrayed as such a great, freeing choice for women that the women in question may not have realized the truth about it until it was too late.
The two videos that follow are songs that talk about the saddening reality of abortion, but also promise forgiveness for those who have already had one. If you know someone facing a pregnancy she didn't plan for, help her to make the courageous decision to choose life, whatever that may entail. If you know someone who has had an abortion in the past, help her to know that forgiveness can be found in Christ. No one is too far gone to not be forgiven, and offering forgiveness can be the greatest thing you ever do for her.
Kathy Troccoli-"A Baby's Prayer"
On June 30, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Hobby Lobby founders David and Barbara Green. They had petitioned the high court to allow them an exception to the Obamacare mandate with regard to four "potentially life-terminating drugs." As Christians running a family business, being forced to provide these drugs to their employees would be a direct violation of their First Amendment rights and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which is a federal law. In the aftermath, many decried the fact that such a ruling infringed on a woman's right to choose what to do with her body. However, this argument ignores the fact that these drugs are still available. The ruling didn't make the drugs illegal, it just made it so that Hobby Lobby and other companies like it won't be forced into paying for them.
I am both pro-life and pro-choice. How is that possible? It all depends on what the choices are. Most of the time pro-choice means a choice between allowing the baby to live and aborting it, but that's not the way I view the choices. Prior to the baby's conception, its parents have the choice to have sex or not. For unmarried people, which comprise many of those who wish to abort their children, abstaining from sex is the best way to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. But what about married couples that just don't want or can't afford a child? They can choose to use protection to prevent an unwanted pregnancy.
After the child is conceived, there is still a choice: keeping the child or putting it up for adoption. By the time a woman is pregnant, the first choice has already been made. The baby should not suffer the consequences of its parents making the wrong choice to begin with. Now if a married couple's protection breaks, or if a girl is raped, then they didn't make that first choice. That doesn't change the choices at this stage though. I understand that in the case of rape, the girl or woman is already feeling horrible. A man forced her into doing something she didn't want to do, and as she is starting to heal from the ordeal, she is hit with the blow that she is carrying that man's child. However, the baby had nothing to do with the choices made by its father. A much better response to this scenario would be a forced castration of the man in question and putting the baby up for adoption. That way the baby would grow up in a loving family, and the man would never again be able to force a girl or woman into a pregnancy she never asked for.
Now for some women, this post comes too late. They have already made the decision to abort a child, and now they feel horrible. They wish everyday that they had made a different choice. They may not be able to have children now that they want them, or they are always marking milestones their children would have had if they had chosen life. They are probably also ridiculed by people who call themselves Christians, yet tell them that they are going to Hell because they killed an innocent human being. Unfortunately, this happens too often, even though it is the exact opposite of how Christians should respond. No one is too far gone for God's grace, even those who have had an abortion. The right to have an abortion is portrayed as such a great, freeing choice for women that the women in question may not have realized the truth about it until it was too late.
The two videos that follow are songs that talk about the saddening reality of abortion, but also promise forgiveness for those who have already had one. If you know someone facing a pregnancy she didn't plan for, help her to make the courageous decision to choose life, whatever that may entail. If you know someone who has had an abortion in the past, help her to know that forgiveness can be found in Christ. No one is too far gone to not be forgiven, and offering forgiveness can be the greatest thing you ever do for her.
Kathy Troccoli-"A Baby's Prayer"
Barlowgirl-"Tears Fall"
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