Monday, September 1, 2008

Are Women of Faith Truly Pro-Life?

There is an organization called the Guttmacher Institute. I believe it is heavily connected to Planned Parenthood and therefore there is a potential for their research to be skewed a little. But still pro life organizations also use some of the research on abortion that the Guttmacher institute uses for many stats. One that I really found disturbing is that the Guttmacher Institute( http://www.guttmacher.org )studies claim
that 78% percent of women who abort state they have a religious affiliation.

I am starting to believe that this statistic is true. In the past few weeks since coming out of the closet as a post abortive woman I have observed many of my christian friends in conversations express some kind of understanding for exceptions to allowing abortion etc. And of course I learned that many protestant churches United Methodist, Evangelical Lutherans and Presbyterians still agree that abortion is sanctioned in some cases. I have listened as Nancy Pelosi (who claims to be Catholic)quoted incorrectly the Catholic's view on when life begins. And of course Joe Biden who claims to be catholic and Barack Obama who says he is affiliated with a christian church.They are both pro choice. That one totally boggles my mind but I don't even want to go into it now because Obama is basically the poster child for abortion having voted against the born alive bill.

When I had my abortion I believe that I was totally confused on the subject even though I was raised in a Lutheran Church and surrounded by Christians. At 19 most of my friends at least believed in God and were a part of various protestant denominations but would say they believe women should have the right to abort.

Anyhow, my point is that I believe there needs to be more actual dialogue on the subject of life (and what it means to Jesus) in an effort to have women of faith truly understand what is at stake here and what the bible says on the subject. Here are a few quotes:

Ps 139:16 "Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Isa 46:3 "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived."


Luke 2:21 "On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived."

Jer 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

The churches seem to avoid the discussion with a 10 foot pole. Even the decidedly pro life churches try to stay away from such a controversial issue perhaps with the once a year sermon on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. Or they don't discuss it at all but place an insert in the flyer every January. I believe this avoidance hugely contributes to those Christian women walking into the abortion clinics and secretly killing their babies. My Christian girlfriends when in confidence have revealed the following information to me.

One friend told me about her sister who aborted while she was a christian but in college. She did end up marrying the father and have been married for many years now. My other girlfriend told me the story of her christian friend who had 4 children goes to church regularly and aborted her 5th child because she was getting older and was considering divorcing her husband. A teenage friend of my daughter who works for a christian organization is now on anti depressants because she had an abortion. She is in her 2nd year of college. My christian girlfriend told me that she can see how women can have abortions because sometimes it just isn't the right time and it wouldn't be FAIR to the child(death isn't fair either). I am entering an entirely different world here where women claim to be pro life and then abort their babies or they claim to be pro choice but say they are against abortion. Who are we and what do believe? And let's just admit to our own hypocrisy. This is stunning to me. Until I extended myself and started the conversations i assumed 'women of faith' were united in believing in the sanctity of life and were agaist abortion. I really feel that if we develop a close intimate relationship with Jesus we will not abort our babies. We would see them as sacred. Church, religion, claiming the title of christian or 'women of faith' doesn't necessarily guarantee a close relationship with Christ. Prayer and seeking His presence in your life will. Being obedient to His will and truly taking a leap of faith for Him when life is not planned will pull you into a closeness with Him that is undeniable. Exercise faith... In the meantime, remaining quiet on the subject as an effort to be 'politically correct', 'nice' and 'polite' is going to end up leading too many more babies to their deaths.

1 comments:

Janine said...

Deanna, I am so glad you started this blog! I know it will be helpful to both those who have suffered an abortion and those who merely want to be educated. It's beautiful to see how our Lord is using you to help others. (and how great that everytime He wants to use you, you say yes! Wonderful example to all of us!!!!)

And, yes, it is shocking to see the hypocrisy of many Christians in regards to life. Our churches have failed us in that area and so it's no wonder people are confused. Our selfish culture dictates that you need to do what is best and convenient for you and that translates into a culture of death. May our Lord transform our world into a culture of life. Many blessings to you and your beautiful family!!!