January is “Sanctity of Human Life Month,” with the annual March for Life scheduled for Jan. 23 in Washington, D.C. The theme of this year’s march: “Life is a Gift.” The pro-life/pro-choice debate has been raging since the early 1970s. Even with Roe v. Wade being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, this issue is far from settled. Abortions are still performed in many states.
With so many facets to the arguments, both pro and con, it’s impossible to compress them into simple summaries. Highly charged emotions on both sides rival and even exceed rational considerations. That doesn’t mean, however, there’s no value in presenting perspectives that might be helpful.
Like everyone, I’ve got my own point of view. But observing how the national and local media cover the ongoing controversy over abortion, I can’t help hearkening back to my journalistic studies in college many years ago. Back then, foundational principles for reporting the news were emphasized: Being objective, fair, and balanced in what and how news events are covered. These were ideals I aspired to during my decade as a newspaper editor.
Unfortunately, those virtues have largely been cast aside in favor of advocacy reporting, selectively choosing to use or not to use information based upon the agenda of the reporter or news organization. I regard it as “skewed news,” shaping information to advance a preferred, very subjective narrative.
Getting back to the abortion debate, among the numerous pro-abortion arguments we often hear is “my body, my choice.” A woman finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy. Regardless of the circumstances, she’s facing up to nine months of carrying an unborn child she doesn’t want. ‘Why not terminate it and get on with my life?’ For her, it seems like a decision that affects her alone. Except that’s not true.
Much could be said in response to the “my body, my choice” stance, but let’s focus on one very viable but oft-ignored alternative to abortion: Adoption. Yes, the pregnant woman still must give birth, but adoption relieves her of the responsibility of motherhood if she doesn’t want that. And from the moment a child is adopted, it begins having an impact on other lives in ways we couldn’t even imagine.
In our immediate family we have three individuals who were adopted, whose birth mothers had the courage to allow their babies to enter the world and then offer them to good, loving homes.
One is a son-in-law, now in his 50s, who lives in another state. Today he’s married, has two daughters and two sons-in-law of his own, two of them being first responders, along with two energetic grandsons. Being the owner of two businesses, over the years he has employed hundreds of people. Through the businesses, he has served many clients, operating with high integrity and commitment to quality. And he and his wife are actively involved in their community in a variety of ways, touching many lives directly and indirectly.
His adoptive parents raised him with much love, and some years ago he was able to meet not only his birth mother but also her other children – his half-siblings. She was thrilled to discover what a fine person he had become. Can you see how that one decision to give birth rather than to abort, certainly not a simple one, has made a difference in the lives of hundreds of people? There’s a term for this – the “butterfly effect” – a singular action or decision having an incalculable impact.
We also have two adopted grandsons, both sources of great joy for our family. Our daughter and son-in-law – like countless couples across America – were unable to have children biologically. After exploring every possible avenue with no success, they chose to adopt. Again, this meant two other women had to make the selfless, courageous decision: Not to abort an unborn child but to give birth so a couple they didn’t know could adopt him. I can attest that lives beyond number have been influenced because our grandsons were given the gift of life.
This isn’t just a matter of human morality. It’s a decision of divine magnitude. Psalm 139:13-16 expresses this well:
“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb,
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you…Your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were created in Your book
Before one of them came to be.”
Even in the womb, God knows and cares for us, already making special, unique plans for each of us. This is reason enough to advocate for the unborn. As it says in Proverbs 24:11-12, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?”
Reading the gospels we see Jesus Christ’s special interest in children, reaching out to young ones that others saw as having little value or importance. He admonished, “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven" (Matthew 18:10).
There’s one other biblical perspective on adoption worth considering. Adopting a child provides a metaphor for how God brings people into His eternal family as His children. Ephesians 1:5-6 tells us, “He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will – to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the One He loves.”
Numerous other passages address this, but one of my favorites is Romans 8:15, which talks about our spiritual rebirth: “For you have not received a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of divine adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’”
What a beautiful picture this is when a woman confronting an unwanted pregnancy chooses to give the unborn child the gift of life, then enables a loving couple to bring that child into their family, beginning a chain of events that will have an unimaginable, even eternal impact on many other people.
No comments:
Post a Comment