October 14, 2023
By Brandy Burningham
In talking with a relative she said something that I found very interesting. I asked her if she believes in abortion, which she said she does. She believes in a woman’s right to choose what’s best for her and her family. She then proceeded to say that she would never, personally, have an abortion.
But here’s the question: Why is it okay for someone else to get an abortion, but not her? This really struck me that she was so hung up on choice. If it’s right for other women, why is it not right for her? She thinks it’s okay for other women to end the life of their unborn children, but she respects life having given birth twice. It is such a double standard. “It’s okay for them to kill their baby, but I wouldn’t kill mine”. As Lila Rose, a prominent pro-life advocate, points out on the LiveAction website:
“Those who are personally opposed to abortion, but don’t feel they can take away someone else’s choice to have one, in an effort to be fair towards other people’s views, actually put forth a view that is very unfair. Under this view, their own preborn children have human life and human rights, but other people’s children may not. If a person is going to be “personally pro-life” and grant their own preborn children the right to life, then shouldn’t they grant that right to every other preborn child?”
The point is that it isn’t right for anyone to be able to have an abortion accept in the rare cases of rape, incest, and the mother’s life being in danger.
Is “Choice” the heart of the argument?
Everyone talks about a woman’s right to choose what she does or doesn’t do with her body. According to the article “Understanding why women seek abortions in the US” this is why women are having abortions. It talks about how women get abortions because of finances 40% of the time, because of timing 36% of the time, because of issues with their partner 31% of the time, and because they want to focus on their children already born 29% of the time. What people fail to realize is that women have choices before they get to the point where they are pregnant and contemplating an abortion. Women can choose to not have sexual relations in the first place. Except in the case of rape they aren’t forced to have sex. The other choice they have is to use contraception in its many forms. They are not compelled to have sex, or not use contraception. Those choices are for them to make on a daily basis.
What about the baby’s choice? There are two lives involved in this decision. Not just one. The babies right to life is taken from them with the abortion. They have no say in that. Their opportunity to live life on this earth to learn, grow, and develop is ripped from them. All lives are important, and every aborted baby has the right to fulfill their lives with all the opportunities that birth affords them.
Other Options
We should encourage women who are pregnant and are contemplating abortion to give their baby up for adoption or provide resources and strategies to raise their baby. Instead, it’s all about abortion when there are so many couples longing for a child due to infertility. According to the Fertility Answers website 6.8 million individuals have a hard time conceiving a baby in the United States, which boils down to 1 out of every 8 couples that struggle to conceive. Just think of all the happy couples being able to bring a longed-for child into their lives and homes. These statistics should be what is shared to women and the joy their choice to give their baby up for adoption would bring to people’s lives.
Abortion is murder and murder is wrong. I look forward to seeing the tide shift away from elective abortions, and towards the sanctity of life.
