My Body, My Choice, Given for You
A leaked document from the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court, indicates the draft majority opinion of the nine member court is to strike down Roe. v. Wade.
Prior to the Roe. v. Wade ruling in 1973, each State was able to make their own laws regarding the legality of abortion; if struck down, it would not end the practice of abortion but would return the decision to each individual State.
If this comes to fruition, it would be a day of tremendous celebration and a major step towards granting equal human rights to all humans in the United States.
I want to invite you to join me in praying for each individual Justice of the Supreme Court that the Lord would fill them with wisdom and courage to defend the right to life for every human being by reversing Roe. vs. Wade.
Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer, and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
As you may be having conversations with friends and co-workers on this, here are a few things to keep in mind as a Christian:
Christian’s are pro-life because God is pro-life. Christ made the greatest, most loving sacrifice of all not to preserve His freedom, happiness, or pleasure, but to give life to those hopelessly headed for death. Our Lord Jesus’ words and actions “my body given for you” is love incarnate. We hear these words every week during the institution of the Lord’s Supper and receive them in faith as words spoken by Jesus to each of us individually. Upon receiving His body and blood we then go out into the world to live in like manner, “my body broken for you.”
Christians care about children because God cares about the children. Practicing Christian families are 250% more likely to adopt than the average US household (5% vs. 2%).
Christians care about mothers because God cares about mothers. In Texas alone there are 20x the number of Christian woman’s advocacy institutions for mothers than Planned Parenthood institutions.
Christians care about human rights because God cares about human rights, the most basic being life. Listening to Public Radio this week, I’ve heard a list of illogical arguments of why aborting children in the womb should be legal:
“It’s my body therefore I can do with it what I want.” The problem with this statement is that it’s simply not true. The baby is their own unique person with their own unique DNA, heart, lungs, brain, and personality. They are no more your body than a toddler is your body because they live in your home. Conceiving a child is an incredible privilege and responsibility.
“If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a national sacrament.” Two things: First, this argument does not deal with the core question - is the unborn child a human being deserving of the right to life? If so, then it doesn’t matter how many men want it, it still doesn’t make it right. This argument is pure pragmatism. Let’s use that line of reasoning for a moment, if woman should be given the right to choose to end their child’s life, why can’t the father of the child choose to end that child’s life too? Why is it that only the mother gets to make that choice? Doesn’t seem very “fair.” Furthermore, if the father did want to abort the baby but cannot force the mother to do so, why does he still have to make child support payments? Shouldn’t he have a “choice”? The whole line of reasoning is flawed. We should not make decisions on questions of morality based on pragmatism but rather based on what is right and wrong. It doesn’t matter what men “want,” what matters is what is “morally right.”
“Pro-life supporters don’t care about women.” Again, blatantly false statement. Pro-life supports are incredibly engaged in supporting women. In Texas alone there are far more Christian entities with the express purpose of supporting mothers than non-Christian entities with that goal. See a past blog post for examples of this. Why is that? Why is it that those that make up a minority of the population and to fund their own social programs to help woman, offer exponentially more support to the mothers they supposedly don’t care about? It’s an untrue statement and one we need to uproot.
“Pro-life supporters are racist.” 60% of abortions are carried out against non-white unborn humans. Said another way, 60% of the children that have their life forcefully taken from them are black, brown, and yellow. Being pro-life is being pro-minority. Who else is standing up for those unborn minority children? Be their voice!
“You can’t control what I do with my child.” Actually, yes, society does have laws in place to protect children from being beaten, starved, and abused by their parents. Freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want, but the ability to do what is right. Whether it’s easy or not, once a child is conceived, that mother and father take on responsibilities to that new human being or hand those responsibilities to someone who can fulfill them. In the United States, thousands of couples are eagerly awaiting to adopt children. If someone is unable to care for their child, let’s help them fulfill their dream of having a child.
“Abortion should be my choice.” Taking another human beings life is not a choice you can have. What choice you do have is whether you have sex or not. That is a choice each person makes. No one wants to get in a car accident while intoxicated, but when it happens, they are still responsible for it. The point of course is don’t drink and drive if you don’t want to be responsible for a DWI. If you choose to have sex, know that it brings responsibilities with it. Privileges always bring responsibilities. What about rape and incest? According to the Guttmacher Institute, 1% of women obtain an abortion because they became pregnant through rape, and less than 0.5% do so because of incest. Still a human being deserving of the basic right to life.
Finally, the gospel means “good news.” If you are reading this, have had an abortion or supported someone in having an abortion, and regret that decision, Christ offers forgiveness. Being a Christian does not mean we are perfect or have perfect past stories (let me assure you, we don’t!), rather, being a Christian is about acknowledging we are imperfect (what God calls sin) and that our only hope is the love and forgiveness God freely offers to us in Christ Jesus. If you regret a past decision, feel guilt or shame from it, bring it to God. Give it to Him. Ask Him for forgiveness and then believe His promise that says, “if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). Pro-Life supporters do not stand in an “I’m better than you” position but rather “Jesus offers us all forgiveness” and “let’s give every human, regardless of age, equal human rights to life.”
Join me in praying for Roe. v. Wade to be overturned.
Pastor Matthew Ballmann
5/6/22