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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Mon, 6 Apr 1992 19:25:00 EDT
From:         Jeff Shirton <SHIRTON@MCMASTER.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: abortion

Concerning abortion:

>   This is a situation where there are so many wrongs going on
> that to isolate one of them (abortion) is unacceptable to me.

I'm sorry, but this doesn't make sense to me.  We get to our destination
one step at a time, we travel through life one day at a time, and one
minute at a time, and we try to solve our problems one at a time.

Why should one problem influence how we react to other problems?

> It seems that people who vote against abortion also vote against
> social programs, and educating teenagers about sex. If she is

I would have to disagree strongly with this statement.  I don't think
it's a valid assumption to make.  Just my opinion.

>  What if she were a teenager raised in a church? she made a
> mistake, and having heard all her life how terrible it is to
> be an unwed mother, and how evil abortion is, she cannot face
> her community.

We have a 16-year-old mother in our church, who just had her baby a couple
of months ago.  She has the complete support of our church.

> Abortion is the the better choice because no
> one will know. It may be evil, but it is better than facing
> the judgement of her church and parents, who would probably
> send her off to some home for misbehaving teenagers. (or so
> she imagined, in her panic.)

I have a lot of trouble with this, too.  I hope I'm not misunderstanding
anything here, but it sounds like the rationale is that the judgment of
"church and parents" is more important than the judgment of God.  While
I realize that the church and parents are more tangible and more direct,
I still can't agree with the priorities.  Again, I'm sorry if I
misunderstood anything here.

> But as a woman, she feels her helplessness about her body
> and how here again men are taking control of her body. She
> wants the right to sin.

Can we demand the right to sin?  Murder is a sin, can we abolish the
crime of murder to have the right to commit this sinful act?

> She figures if men had babies, Abortion
> would not even be debated. They would get maternity leave with
> pay, social assistance, and abortion on  demand. Contaception
> would be free.  And sex education would abound, at home and
> school.

While I realize that many women believe this, in all honesty I must
disagree.  I don't think it's a valid argument or rationalization.
Again, just my opinion.

>   Is abortion playing God? Genesis 3:22, God calls Adam and
> Eve "like one of us."

A horse is like a donkey.  But they're not the same, they have different
characteristics, along with their similarities.

>  Is abortion murder? Exodus 21: 22-25 shows that the woman
> and her fetus have different legal status.

Actually, many interpret this passage to refer to the induced birth of
a premature infant, rather than referring to a fetus.

>  Also Numbers 5: 5-31.

This seems to refer to giving a woman the curse of sterility ("causes you
to have a miscarrying womb and barrenness"; NIV margin notes)

> And I believe , as Kurt said, that if we take away the demand,
> as as church welcome women in trouble, it would go away.

Many non-Christian women would much rather have an abortion than go to any
church or other help agency.  I seriously doubt that it would solve the
problem.

In Christ,

Jeff Shirton
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia