ValleyGal
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Because IDay's thread keeps getting derailed with discussion on abortion, I am starting this thread for those who are not interested in discussing the language used around choice, abortion, murder, etc. However, it's a little different. Have at it here - I likely won't participate, but here is a thought-provoking statement. I got this from a FB post. It was written by Methodist Pastor David Barnhart, tag david-barnhart.
"The unborn" are a convenient group of people to advocate for. They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated, unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor; they don't resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they don't ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they don't need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they don't bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage that you dislike; they allow you to feel good about yourself without any owrk at creating or maintaining relationships; and when they are born, you can forget about them because they cease to be unborn. You can love the unborn and advocate for them without substantially challenging your own wealth, power, or privilege, without re-imagining social structures, apologizing, or making reparations to anyone. They are, in short, the perfect people to love if you want to claim you love Jesus, but actually dislike people who breathe. Prisoners? Immigrants? The sick? The poor? Widows? Orphans? All the groups that are specifically mentioned in the Bible? They all get thrown under the bus for the unborn."
Yep, the unborn are easy to love and advocate for. And the mothers of the dead unborn are easy to condemn, just as those who are divorced, who are "living in sin" (living together), who smoke marijuana, who don't work for a living and the state has to support, those who have addictions, those who (insert sin or other undesirable quality).
I wonder what would happen if we tried to love on the mother rather than condemn her? Let's look at some of those women who make this difficult decision to abort - and don't think it comes easy for them! This decision for most of them is agonizing.
- a young woman in middle school whose body is not prepared to handle pregnancy and birth, and will cause significant damage to her body if she goes through with pregnancy and birth
- a young girl in high school who is sexually active, but who has religiously conservative parents who will throw her out on the street if they found out she is pregnant
- a woman who has a disability and lives in poverty and is unable to afford today's rents
- a woman who has 4 children and got pregnant while on birth control, whose husband just left her for another woman
- a woman who is homeless
- a woman who has addictions and knows she cannot bring a child into such circumstances
- a woman who is mentally unstable and wants to protect her child from being born into the same predisposition
- a woman who must prostitute for a living because wages are too low to support her, let alone a baby
- and so many other women who are intensely afraid of having to make the decision to give her baby up to someone else, afraid that they can't make the decision and end up perpetuating the social problems they themselves are in.
I can't even imagine.... and so I will not condemn; I will support the laws that protect these women from making those decisions in an unsafe environment. Most of them wish they didn't have to make that choice.
Adoption? Yes, it is an option for those of us not in that position, making those decisions. For some of them, adoption is either not an option, or it is too difficult an option.
What if we love on these women, enough to support them and their baby after baby is born? Rather than condemn, are you willing to take "the least" of these women under your wing and support her while she is pregnant, has her baby, and raises her baby, to save the baby's life?
I didn't think so.
"The unborn" are a convenient group of people to advocate for. They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated, unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor; they don't resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they don't ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they don't need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they don't bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage that you dislike; they allow you to feel good about yourself without any owrk at creating or maintaining relationships; and when they are born, you can forget about them because they cease to be unborn. You can love the unborn and advocate for them without substantially challenging your own wealth, power, or privilege, without re-imagining social structures, apologizing, or making reparations to anyone. They are, in short, the perfect people to love if you want to claim you love Jesus, but actually dislike people who breathe. Prisoners? Immigrants? The sick? The poor? Widows? Orphans? All the groups that are specifically mentioned in the Bible? They all get thrown under the bus for the unborn."
Yep, the unborn are easy to love and advocate for. And the mothers of the dead unborn are easy to condemn, just as those who are divorced, who are "living in sin" (living together), who smoke marijuana, who don't work for a living and the state has to support, those who have addictions, those who (insert sin or other undesirable quality).
I wonder what would happen if we tried to love on the mother rather than condemn her? Let's look at some of those women who make this difficult decision to abort - and don't think it comes easy for them! This decision for most of them is agonizing.
- a young woman in middle school whose body is not prepared to handle pregnancy and birth, and will cause significant damage to her body if she goes through with pregnancy and birth
- a young girl in high school who is sexually active, but who has religiously conservative parents who will throw her out on the street if they found out she is pregnant
- a woman who has a disability and lives in poverty and is unable to afford today's rents
- a woman who has 4 children and got pregnant while on birth control, whose husband just left her for another woman
- a woman who is homeless
- a woman who has addictions and knows she cannot bring a child into such circumstances
- a woman who is mentally unstable and wants to protect her child from being born into the same predisposition
- a woman who must prostitute for a living because wages are too low to support her, let alone a baby
- and so many other women who are intensely afraid of having to make the decision to give her baby up to someone else, afraid that they can't make the decision and end up perpetuating the social problems they themselves are in.
I can't even imagine.... and so I will not condemn; I will support the laws that protect these women from making those decisions in an unsafe environment. Most of them wish they didn't have to make that choice.
Adoption? Yes, it is an option for those of us not in that position, making those decisions. For some of them, adoption is either not an option, or it is too difficult an option.
What if we love on these women, enough to support them and their baby after baby is born? Rather than condemn, are you willing to take "the least" of these women under your wing and support her while she is pregnant, has her baby, and raises her baby, to save the baby's life?
I didn't think so.
