Abortion: It IS a Matter of Choice

By Thomas M. Parsons

Quite frankly, I do not know when my life began. The date on which this earthly existence we call life began for me has been lost in the mystery of the past. The date simply is not known to me or to anyone now alive. I have a birth date, and that is well-documented. An official government document I have in my possession, plus more than sixty years of family custom confirm the date on which I was born - June 5, 1941. That is a firm, well-established fact with which I have no reason to argue. But that is not the issue here.

What I do not know is the date on which my life began. Speculation about that date is certainly possible, but it must always be speculation. I assume the begining of my earthly existence lies somewhere in September of 1940, about nine months prior to my birth the following June.

But, what does it matter? We don't celebrate the day of our conception. We celebrate the day of our birth. After all, that is the day our families first met us and began to get acquainted with us.

So what is the point being made here?

The point is just this. We celebrate the date of our birth for the obvious reason that it is a clear, discernible and historical event which can be documented. But celebrating the day of our birth does not mean we are celebrating the day our earthly existence began.

Life begins at conception, not at birth. Human life begins the exact moment one sperm cell penetrates one ovum to make a new human being. This fact has been verified by science and religion for thousands of years.

Until recently, human life was treated with respect from the moment of conception until natural death. Doctors took an oath that they would protect human life and do everything in their power to preserve it for as long as possible.

Human legal systems have also recognized the importance of human life at all its stages, from conception until natural death. Murder is universally condemned by all legal systems. If a human being is found dead at the hand of another, the legal system is relentless in tracking down the perpetrator and bringing him or her to justice. No cost is too great, no effort too much, no distance too far to pursue every clue, every shred of evidence until the guilty party is arrested. This is as it should be.

Religion has also traditionally taken a strong view of human life. The Christian Bible, for example, states that human life begins at conception and that it is a precious thing to be guarded and preserved. David, the writer of Psalm 139, states "thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Also, the ancient Hebrew society which was built on the laws God gave to His people demanded a very serious penalty from those who destroyed human life. Death was the prescribed penalty. If a man injured a pregnant woman, according to Exodus 21, and the injury resulted in the death of the unborn child, the man was to be put to death.

Human life is of the utmost importance. We cannot take human life without consequence, except in those situations prescribed by Scripture (war, the death penalty). The taking of human life otherwise involves a price that must be paid.

In January of 1973, the United States Supreme Court declared the taking of human life before birth to be legal and acceptable. The argument was made that desperate people were having abortions anyway, illegally and unsafely, and that it was a violation of their Constitutional rights to be forced to choose abortion at the expense of their own safety and security. Women were given a choice because of this decision. They could choose to give birth to a baby that might be unwanted for any number of reasons, or they could choose to abort that baby before it was born.

Choice. That is the word some have chosen to use in defense of this supposed right. A woman must have the right to choose what happens to her own body. It is not for others to decide, not her husband, not her parents, not a doctor, not the law, and certainly not religion. It is her body, and it is a matter of her own personal choice. She is the only one who has the right to decide the issue of an unwanted pregnancy.

Children have a right to be born.

I agree. It is a matter of choice. But the right choice is not the one being offered by the pro-abortion people. The choice a woman has to make is not between birth and abortion, it is a choice between life and death.

Abortion inevitably involves the taking of human life. Death. In every abortion, over forty-five million in the United States alone since 1973, a human life has been terminated. Death has ended the life of every one of those human beings that were aborted by their mother's choice. It is true that death ends every human life. But aborted babies die at the hands of the one who should protect them.

In all America's wars combined, the American death rate has not approached that of abortion. In World War II, the total number of deaths for the whole world equals the number of Americans who have died in abortions. Forty-five million people died worldwide in that terrible war. But the war on the unborn has claimed that many American lives.

There are many reasons why women are counseled to consider an abortion today. Perhaps the baby will be defective in some way. He or she will be a burden on the parents, and perhaps on society as well. Or perhaps there are too many babies. Abortion is commonly advocated in multiple births today. Or perhaps the woman did not intend to get pregnant and is unable to provide proper care for the infant. Abortion is offered as a relatively simple solution to the problem the existence of a new life presents to the woman. A common reason for abortion must be the convenience of the mother. Either it will be too challenging for her to raise the child with a birth defect, or she is not able to raise the child who has no defect. Either way, the abortion ends the problem.

Or does it? The woman was offered a choice. Her choice was life for her unborn child, or death for the child. Either choice she makes, she will live with that choice for the rest of her life. If she chooses death, living with that choice may not be such an easy thing to do.

What things might the child have accomplished if allowed to live? What joy might the child have brought to a couple capable and willing to adopt? What possibilities were destroyed by the woman's choice of an abortion?

When I was conceived in the fall of 1940, my parents were not given the choice of destroying me before my birth. They would not have cosidered it had they been given the choice, but in today's world they might have been counseled to consider it. I was the fifth of my parents' six children. Their eldest son was approaching the age he would most likely be involved in the military, and World War II was already threatening American and Canadian involvement. They already had a child severely retarded and suffering from epilepsy.

Does it make sense to anyone when I say I am so glad they did not consider abortion, and were not counseled by anyone to consider abortion? Does it make sense when I say that the forty-five million plus people aborted in this country would have said the same thing if someone had made the choice for them to live?

It certainly is a matter of choice. And when given the choice between the life of an unborn child and its death, there can be no other sensible and right choice. We must always choose life.

In the Old Testament scriptures, Deuteronomy 30:19, God, in speaking to His people, said, "I call heaven and earth to record against you,that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."

A simple matter of choice lies before us. We must choose life.