This is a BIG excuse for abortion. It is emblazoned on signs and rolls off the tongue like oil. It is emotionally compelling. It seems to be the perfect and right justification for abortion. Even many staunch ProLifers will let this one go without opposition.
But what would I say as an abolitionist?
What does God say?
Come, and let us reason together.
First, we live in a cursed world because of mankind's sin. Ever since the rebellion and fall in the garden of Eden, death and corruption has been present in the creation. Sadly, part of the curse includes pain and sorrow being involved in the joyous process of pregnancy and childbirth. Death is now a possibility, not only in being with child, but also when traveling, eating, sleeping, working, playing, and inactivity under any other normal conditions (for those who need to be reminded, pregnancy is a normal condition).
"My doctor says that I will die if I have this baby!" I have heard these words spill out of the mouths of hundreds of women walking into an abortion mill to have their preborn child murdered! (I wonder who taught them that this is an acceptable excuse to abuse their child to death?)
Something to remember: 1. Because of many advances in medicine and technology, it is more rare to die in pregnancy or in giving birth than in centuries past! 2. A doctor may say that a woman will die if she carries her baby, but the doctor doesn't know that. Many physicians will say "This will (or could) kill you, or affect your health," in order to cover their own backs from liability.
No matter what a doctor knows, a doctor does not know everything! A doctor is not God!
But God is God.
He knows what will happen.
He is the One Who grants conception to every human.
He is the One Who gives every breath you take.
He is the One Who knows when it is time for all to die.
There have been many accounts where it appeared to the natural eye like death was inevitable, but God worked and allowed the person to live. Why not let Him be in control and trust fully in His sovereignty? We don't really have any control over death anyway. A mother can die even if she doesn't give birth.
And I have friends who have been dangerous situations carrying their baby, and the procedure that they followed was:
A) treat both mother and child as patients,
B) watchful waiting, and
C) if necessary, take the baby earlier via cesarean birth.
Takeaway—you should never intentionally murder one patient because another patient may possibly die. You attempt to save both.
But what if the mother was certain to die? It is a good question to consider, for we care about the life of BOTH child and mother. The right answer is always to be found in God's word.
We have two cases in the Scriptures, of a woman dying in childbirth (Genesis 35:16-19 and I Samuel 4:19-22). What was done? Did they kill the baby to save the mother? No, they tried to help both, and trusted God with what would happen. When a child in the womb or at birth dies, or when a mother dies giving birth, that is a tragedy to mourn over. But at least no one was intentionally murdered.
Bear in mind that one of these women was Rachel, the favorite, the beloved wife of Jacob. Do we find Jacob saying, "Stop the birth, terminate the baby to save my dear Rachel"?
And let's not be short-sighted here.
If they had killed the baby in order to spare Rachel, we would never have had little Benjamin, from whom came the tribe of Benjamin.
Which means we would never have had the heroic lives of:
Ehud, the second great judge, who delivered Israel from Moab (Judges 3:12-30).
Jonathan, the courageous warrior prince, and best friend of David (I Samuel 14:1-23).
Mordecai and Esther, the cousins through whose actions, the Jews were rescued from annihilation (Esther 2:5-7, indeed, the whole book of Esther).
Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ, the incredible missionary to the Gentiles, who penned more books in the New Testament than any other writer (Romans 11:1; Philippians 3:5).
These are just a few of the hundreds of thousands, yea millions, that would never have been in existence, if Benjamin had been slain in the womb. Generations have been blessed because he was not murdered.
By the way, what kind of mothers are we raising in America, who would not be willing to lay down their own lives to save their little ones? Shame on us for our selfishness as a nation!
Picture a mother pushing her baby in a shopping cart in a market. Suddenly, a man with a gun walks in and starts to shoot people in the aisles. He turns and aims at the mother. She swiftly picks her child up out the cart and holds the little one out in front of her as a shield! The baby is sadly shot to death, but the mother who's life was being threatened to death, survives.
I believe that nearly everyone, even in postmodern America, would be aghast. I can hear the conversations on radio talk shows (conservative and liberal) and around kitchen tables:
"I can't believe that any mother would do that!"
"How selfish to murder your child to save your life!"
"It is against nature!"
"Mothers should shield their children from harm, not use them as shields!"
If it is not considered right, acceptable, appropriate, or applaudable for a mother to do that to save her own life in a case of such certain danger,
then the "Life of the Mother" exception written into most ProLife bills is deplorable and disgusting! Letting the baby take the hit for his/her mother should never be viewed as acceptable.
And it is never justifiable.
And if the mother's life is not a good reason to murder a baby in the womb, then there IS NO GOOD REASON to murder a baby in the womb.
Abortion must be abolished.
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