I am pro-life. I am not a pro-life militant. Here is why. I don’t understand the purpose. When a pro-life advocate stands outside the Planned
Parenthood bearing signs filled with flames and promises of hell, what
exactly is accomplished? If an
eighteen year old chooses to terminate her pregnancy and then walks out into a
parking lot filled with screaming pro-life militant Christians holding signs,
do you think it is at all possible that you might be the reason why she puts a
pistol against her temple and pulls the trigger? Do you think this hasn't already happened?
At her most vulnerable moment, when she needs an encouraging word the most, she will instead receive a cold shoulder and looks of disgust. We, as Christians, have become known for this. This is not how we were called to react!
“A 2006 study by New
Zealand researcher David M. Fergusson in the Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, which controlled for a prior history of depression and anxiety and
suicidal ideation (wanting to take one’s own life or thinking about suicide),
found that 27 percent to 50 percent of women after abortion reported suicidal
ideation. Mr. Fergusson found that the risk of suicide was three times greater
for women who aborted than for women who delivered." Furthermore, “…last September, a
meta-analysis in the British Journal of Psychiatry found an 81 percent
increased risk of mental trauma after abortion.” http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/20/disclosing-the-abortion-suicide-association/#ixzz2KT9NU0so.
Don’t confuse my defense of these women as a missing link in my
“pro-life armor.” My concern lies
in the approach I see deployed by fellow Christians. I sincerely don’t get it. How are we not wrapping these women in our arms while
peppering them with words of comfort and love? As cliche as it seems, I ask myself what Jesus would have done. I don't think He'd be picketing the Planned Parenthood. I think He might change her life through a meeting at the well further down the road (John 4:4-26).
Furthermore, how can a man
thrust his opinion of birth control on a woman he does not know? I picture this in my mind
sometimes. I imagine a distraught
woman walking through a parking lot filled with a group of picketers that
include male participants. I
imagine the men condemning this woman for not saving the life of her unborn
child. They call her a hell-bound
fornicator and warn her to repent of her evil ways or suffer the consequences
from God because He’s pissed.
Do these men know that she had been brutally raped by her own father
(for years) and was carrying his child?
I think the chances are pretty good that none of these “good Christian
men” have a solitary clue what it is like to be a female who has been raped,
beaten, and sodomized by a member of their own family (or anyone for that
matter).
The common reply from my Christian brothers and sisters is that “at
least we are telling them about Christ.
Even if the truth is hard to hear.” Sorry, that is the biggest copout ever. I would argue that you are a spoiled
milk poured down the throats of those seek to quench a critical thirst.
Radical change can occur through pro-life advocates without the use of fire and brimstone tactics. You might be the one and only representation of Christ that these women ever see. Don't make it a meeting filled with hate.
(Let me clarify. I am a pro-life advocate who feels that the termination of a pregnancy due to "the future convenience of the mother" is unacceptable. I also feel that abortions due to "abnormalities within the fetus" are wrong. A child is not an inconvenience. A child is a gift. Any parent will tell you this. I struggle, however, with cases of abortion revolving around rape, incest, and life-threatening complications for the mother. It is important for me to indicate that I don't feel as though I have the right to voice my opinion toward anyone in these circumstances. I am not qualified).
Thanks for listening.
Steven
