Morgan Farr takes tough stands because she is a strong woman with a tender heart. In this Biblical Thinking UPGRADE, she urges Christ-followers: Don't be complacent when it comes to protecting the unborn.
"This summer season has been rife with discussions about abortion laws across the world," Morgan says, "but especially in the United States of America."
I (Dawn) remember years ago when Christians in churches all across our nation were moved to pro-life action, but recently wondered, "Where are the YOUNG VOICES crying out for the lives of the unborn?"
Thank the Lord, Morgan is a powerful young voice!
Morgan continues . . .
With the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, an open seat on the Supreme Court of the United States means that the landscape of abortions in the United States could be about to change.
With roughly 3,657 abortions happening every single day in the United States, abortion is a topic that the body of Christ needs to address. But this is the point where many Christians get uncomfortable because they don’t know what to do or say.
In fact, 57% of Millennials don’t know even the most basic facts about the landmark case Roe v. Wade[1] which legalized abortion in the United States.
So today, I am going to share my top five ways to impact the abortion crisis without relying on emotional arguments.
1. Understand the Terminology.
There are a lot of labels that are bandied about in the abortion debate, but they all fall into one of two camps:
You either support abortion or you don’t.
The pro-life one is pretty simple, you believe life begins at conception and you are therefore you do not support abortions.
Meanwhile, the pro-choice label is really just brilliant marketing. What it means that you believe women should have the right to choose to end the baby’s life.
Pro-choice is often interchangeable with pro-woman, meaning that if you really care about women then you believe they should be able end a baby’s life. If you are not pro-choice you are almost always labeled as anti-woman.
2. Understand the Science.
The number one argument that most pro-choice advocates use is that the woman has a right to choose to end a pregnancy because the baby isn’t a person yet. The baby will, oftentimes, be referred to as “the fetus” (Latin for offspring) to help in the dehumanization.
This is the most basic way that abortion advocates have skewed the way people think about unborn children—by connecting development with personhood.
However, stage of development does not, in fact, define personhood.
Personhood is defined as "the quality or condition of being an individual person."
The exact moment when a sperm penetrates the egg, an entirely new organism is formed called a zygote, and it is the earliest stage of human development. The zygote is composed of brand new human DNA, meaning it is entirely unique. This unique zygote will develop for the duration of his or her time on earth.
The development goes like this:
Zygote, fetus, baby, toddler, preschooler, grade schooler, teenager, adolescent, adult.
The zygote carries the same completely unique DNA all the way through development into adulthood.
The person is the same unique person, with all their own qualities from conception to death. This means that in the act of abortion (whether chemical or surgical) the woman is killing a unique individual, not a portion of her own body.
3. Understand the Impact.
In 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States decided in the case of Roe v. Wade that abortion is legal. It also set guidelines in place breaking pregnancy into three trimesters.
The guidelines for each trimester are:
- 1st trimester—The state cannot regulate abortion (due to the woman’s right to privacy) aside from requiring that the medical procedure be performed by a licensed doctor in medically safe conditions.
- 2nd trimester—The state may regulate abortion if the regulations are related to the health of the pregnant woman.
- 3rd trimester—The state may prohibit abortions unless abortion is necessary to save the life or health of the mother. (This means that the state can protect the life of the unborn child because the life’s potential outweighs the woman’s right to privacy).
According to the National Right to Life Committee, there have been approximately 60,069,971 abortions performed legally since the 1973, Roe vs. Wade decision.
That means that roughly 1 out of every 4 people from “Generation X” didn’t get a chance to live.
In a recent poll, a Public Religion Research Institution survey gathered that 65 percent of 18- to 29-year-old Americans believe that abortion should be legal in almost all cases. [2]
This means that the numbers of unborn children lost to abortion will only climb in the future unless something is done to end the massacre of unborn children.
4. Vote in EVERY Election.
In the United States of America, we have the privilege of electing the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government. Get out and vote in every single election.
Local votes matter; midterm elections matter.
Do your own research. Find out about each candidate’s stance on abortion and vote accordingly.
Encourage your friends and family to vote. Help to get people to the polls by organizing a carpool.
5. Pray, Pray and Pray Some More!
Prayer is the single most important aspect of having an impact on the abortion crisis in America.
I cannot emphasize this enough.
- Pray for wisdom for our country’s leadership.
- Pray for those writing the laws to be convicted about the murder of unborn children.
- Pray for the women who are seeking these abortions.
- Pray for the men who helped to conceive these children.
- Pray for the American people to wake up and realize that “aborting a fetus” is just a pleasant way of saying “murdering a child”.
To put it in perspective for you, roughly one fourth of my generation didn’t survive “choice”.
Psalm 139:13-16 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
If we truly believe that the Bible is the Word of God and we are to follow His instruction we cannot stand idly by any longer as the abortion industry robs the world of its future.
It is our responsibility as Christians to stand up for those that are being massacred on the altar of sex without consequences.
How can you make a difference in the abortion crisis this week?
Morgan Farr is an Army wife currently stationed in San Diego, California, with her wonderful husband Brian and their three small children. Morgan is a homemaker who dedicates her free time to ministering to other Army wives through Bible studies, one-on-one mentoring and physical training. Morgan writes about her transition out of feminism and into biblical womanhood on her blog, The Forgiven Former Feminist. You can find her training programs, nutritional information and meal plans on her blog, Farr Functional Fitness.
Graphic adapted, courtesy of Ashton Mullins at Unsplash.
Footnotes:
[1] https://www.prri.org/press-release/young-people-set-impact-debate-womens-health-issues/
[2] http://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/395824-dem-pollster-millennials-think-roe-v-wade-happened-after-the