Raging Against the Right to Life

I am postponing the concluding blog in our series on “The Sacrifices of God’s People” to reflect on the reversal of Roe v. Wade.  The egregious federal ruling issued January 3, 1973, mandated access to abortion in all 50 states. Half a century later, over 63 million babies have been brutally slain in the womb.  As many have noted, both Christians and other prolife advocates were taken aback by the activist court legislating from the bench.  Pro-life advocates began to organize efforts to have this horrendous and unconstitutional ruling reversed.  More importantly, this sent many Christians to their knees in prayer. While we rejoice in the answer to our prayers, we also find a lesson in praying with importunity (Luke 11:5-13, 18:1-8).  Importunity is an important aspect of the command to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

As we expected, pro-abortion advocates are beside themselves.  Organized groups like “Jane’s Revenge” and “Ruth Sent Us” have promised violence and mayhem in the wake of this reversal.  Pro-life pregnancy centers and churches have been vandalized and damaged.  The ominous message “If abortion is not safe, neither are you” is being scrawled all over buildings and walls.  Sadly, this has been encouraged by elected officials.  The Senate Majority Leader boldly proclaimed that Supreme Court Justices would “pay the price” for this decision and would “not know what hit them.”  If those words were uttered by a conservative politician, it would not only be considered a prosecutable violent threat, it would also result in a demand for his or her resignation.
 
When I hear the threats of these radical abortionists, I am reminded of Proverbs 29:10: “Bloodthirsty men hate one who is blameless and seek the life of the upright.”  While the context is not specifically about abortion, the principle surely applies.  Original sin notwithstanding, who can be considered more blameless than a baby in the womb?  While they are not free from the stain of sin, they are clearly innocent of conscious and deliberate sin.  Those who perform abortions are guilty of an act of hate against those who have never offended.  They seek to end the life of the innocent.  This is something often overlooked in the argument for abortion in cases of rape and incest. Abortion is sentencing the most vulnerable victim in the crime to death.  Is it tragic for the woman impregnated?  Indeed. But that does not justify executing the innocent baby in the womb.

"Those who perform abortions are guilty of an act of hate against those who have never offended."

Recently, a pop artist reflected on her abortion.  When asked about her emotional state when deciding to abort, she said, “I don’t think about it as a baby, of course not.” I suspect this is how many people deal with the moral weight of taking a human life.  They resort to outright denial.  This is frightening for this is how the Nazis were able to slaughter the Jews in the holocaust.  They referred to them as “untermenschen” or subhumans.  They were considered less than human and, therefore, excluded from the moral rights and obligations of human beings.  David Livingstone Smith summarized the way they justified their actions: “It’s wrong to kill a person, but permissible to exterminate a rat. To the Nazis, all the Jews, Gypsies and others were rats: dangerous, disease-carrying rats.” Many abortionists today convince themselves that the developing baby is just a clump of cells.  Even more frightening are the pro-abortion advocates who have come to accept the scientific fact that the fetus is a baby in the womb.  They have simply convinced themselves that their reasons for abortion justify murder.  Truly, we live in an age like that of Isaiah in which people are calling good, evil, and evil, good.

"Even more frightening are the pro-abortion advocates who have come to accept the scientific fact that the fetus is a baby in the womb.  They have simply convinced themselves that their reasons for abortion justify murder."

This is a generation of intense anger and rage.  How ironic that an ideology that touts itself as kind and tolerant is only kind and tolerant with those of like persuasion.  In their view, everyone deserves to live and be heard as long as they agree with them.  It is not uncommon for liberals to call for violence and even death to those who do not share their so-called values.  While we weep over those who have been deprived of the right to life, many abortionists rage against the right to life.  Psalm 2 explains why.  The nations rage, conspiring together to free themselves from God’s Sovereign rule over them.  

Their attitude, which is detailed in Romans 1, is well reflected in the statement by Friedrich Nietzsche: “There cannot be a God because if there were one, I could not bear to believe that I was not He.” This is the attitude of those who shout, “My body, my choice!”  Yet, Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.”  The Christian belongs to God, not only by virtue of creation but also by virtue of redemption (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Despite what the world says, life and death are in the hands of God (Deuteronomy 32:39).

While we rejoice in the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the fight for the right to life is far from over. The issue now returns to the states.  By one estimate, this will only reduce abortions by about 18%.  There is still much to be done.  Let us continue to stand fast in prayer for the precious lives in the womb as well as the salvation of those who rage against the right to life.  May God have mercy.