The Case Aginst Abortion

Often times, the topic of Abortion is discussed in a purely political context. Terminating a pregnancy is often articulated in the context of "A Woman's Choice". Dissenters to the practice of abortion are often labeled using the complementary "Pro-Life," or the impliedly derogatory "Anti-Choice." Proponents of abortion lean on the Roe vs. Wade decision from 1973, in arguing that the Due Process Clause in the 14th Amendment and the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, entitled a woman to the "right to privacy" in terminating her pregnancy. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the reasoned opinion that supported a woman's right to have an abortion, making Roe vs. Wade one of the landmark cases of this country's judicial and political history. When considering the term "Abortion" does not not appear in the Constitution, proponents point to the evolution to America's social and political landscape over the past century to be more "enlightened" as to the superior intellectual and social qualities of mankind.

But a woman's right to "Choose" to end her pregnancy has far greater implications than those presented in the political sphere. Women in the present day can choose to a large extent: what career she will pursue; her husband (Some women will argue a thinning herd of marry-able men makes this option one of semantics); where she will live; her friends; what form of contraceptive she will use (I'm not advocating this option or a trying to imply biblical approval; but am simply elaborating on the "choices" a woman can make); and her eternal fate. It is true that women do not enjoy complete equality with men, but this examination is not one of comparing secular roles and liberties. It is an examination of mankind's role in the creation process, and a woman's God ordained role as the catalyst for all human life. So the central issue of choice is not really one of life and freedom, but is really a question of whether God's gift of life to us supercedes His gift of free will to us.

You see, God is the author of life. In the book of Genesis, Chapter 1, one witnesses The Holy, Living, Thinking, Reasoning God proclaim in v.26 "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..."

He thought about doing it, then He did it:

"v.27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

God created man and woman, and gave them the gift of life. Not only the ability to live and grow, but to create others like them.

Now, it is true he also gave this same gift to the beasts of the animal kingdom. But like the seasons, the cycle of life within the animal kingdom is really one similar to an automatic timer. The animals have an internal clock that governs their need and desire to procreate and perpetuate life in their individual species. Human on the otherhand, have more autonomy. Besides, it is we who were created in God's image.

The gift of life God gave man is special for another reason. Not only do we have the ability to take part in the creation process, when a husband and wife express their love and attraction for each other through sexual intercourse. But, when man and woman unite in physical intimacy protected within the bounds of marriage, God is also present. He sanctions the union of a man and his wife in their intimacy. What is even more mind-blowing, He communes with the unseen, but fully alive fetus as it grows in the inner most parts of the woman's body. In Psalms 139, King David laments how God's delight in us begins even as we grow in our mother's wombs:

"13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.'

Even in our mother's wombs, God knows us and communes with us. With that in mind, what conclusion would a rational person come to, as it relates to God's opinion on the issue of abortion?
It is true, the political opportunists in our country have used the issue of abortion as a wedge issue in national politics, to create division and obtain a political advantage. But God is not a politician, and when Christ was here on Earth, He seemed to go to great lengths to avoid political debates altogether.

Instead God is the loving Parent who gives His precious children a gift, in the hope we use it with the respect and reverence one should have given the magnitude of of the gift's power.

So, with that in mind, how does God feel about the topic of abortion? Does He nod in affirmative approval? Shrug His shoulders in preoccupied indifference? Or does he cry inconsolably as the cycle of life He gifted to His children, comes to a violent end?