I found myself in another email discussion about abortion, and the tough cases. Here is my response…please feel free to comment and critique! The recipient was using a quote from Dr C Everret Koop as an argument for compromise on abortion:

“One of the problems with the pro-life movement is that they are one-hundred-percenters. Historically it is true that if the pro-life had sat down in say 1970 or 1972 with the pro-choice, we might have ended up with an agreement on abortion for the life of the mother, defective child, rape and incest, and nothing more. That would have saved 97% of abortions since then.”

Here is my reply…

Check out this link –  http://www.pathlights.com/abortion/abort08.htm. You can read C Everrett Koop’s actual words as told to Dick Bohrer, in “Moody Monthly,” May, 1980.

Please particularly notice paragraphs 5 and 6 – “Protection of the life of the mother as an excuse for an abortion is a smoke screen. In my thirty-six years in pediatric surgery I have never known of one instance where the child had to be be aborted to save the mother’s life.

When a woman is pregnant, her obstetrician takes on the care of two patients—the mother-to-be and the unborn baby. If, toward the end of the pregnancy complications arise that threaten the mother’s health, he will take the child by inducing labor or performing a Caesarian section.”

Let me put it another way…if the woman’s life is truly in danger, then deliver the baby alive. Don’t kill the baby and then deliver a dead baby. If the baby is old enough, and if God wills it, then the baby will survive. If the baby doesn’t survive, then that baby dies a “natural death”. The family has the chance to mourn the death of a child, just as if there were complications during childbirth or if there were a stillborn situation. The family will experience the natural human grieving process, and be able to move on with their lives. The mother will never wake up one morning and realize that she caused a doctor to kill her very own child.

As for cases of rape, Jesus told us in Matthew 16:24 ” Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  Nowhere does He tell us life will be easy, or that bad things will not happen to us. He never tells us that it is ok to infringe upon our neighbor to make better a terrible situation that we are in.

He calls us to serve, and to turn the other cheek. I don’t think killing your own child because you were raped would fall into either of those callings. I apologize if this sounds un-compassionate, but this is based on the clear words of our Lord and Savior. Look at Job – he lost everything, including his entire family…never once did he attempt to better his position at someone else’s expense.

Some issues are 100% issues. Can you think of any good reasons where a rape would ever be justified? How about beating a 3 month old infant for crying? What about using orphans for “replacement parts” for “wanted children”?

The Bible is pretty clear on this one…”You shall not murder” – Exodus 20:13. If the preborn child is a human being (which science has already determined beyond any doubt), then he/she has been created by God, and is loved by God so much that He sent His one and only Son to die and rise from the dead for that child. If you abort that baby, it is murder. There just isn’t any room for compromise or discussion about it – it really is black and white.

Now, that’s not to say that we don’t work towards incremental restrictions on abortion. Limiting it to rape/incest, and life of the mother, because it would significantly reduce the number of abortions and dead preborn babies. But that certainly would not be the end of the fight. There are 5 states who have already outlawed abortion after 20 weeks, because the baby can feel pain. That is a start, and that would put Carhart out of business in MD if we were able to pass that law, and that would be step no rx viagra in the right direction, but not the end of the battle.