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ABORTION - a personal dilemma
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(© Jeffrey S. Bowman, all rights reserved, use by permission only)
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ISSUE
AND BACKGROUND Diane
was 40 years old. She and her
husband Charles had been married over 20 years.
They had 3 children, two girls 17 and 14 years old, and one son, age
12. Diane's mother had recently
passed away and shortly after that her husband damaged his spine in a freak
automobile accident and was in a body cast and out of work.
Needless to say, life was not going to well for her.
As a Christian she trusted in God but in the last few months that trust
was slipping away. She herself
had been experiencing a painful lower back and had gone to the doctor to see
what he could do. After running
routine tests he sent her home with a prescription for the pain.
Several days later her life seemed to be slowing down and she was
adjusting to her recent loss and husband's setback.
Then the final bombshell landed in her life.
The doctor called and told her not to take any more medication because
she was pregnant.
Diane didn't want another child. She
had to hold her family together and a baby was not what was needed in
her already crowded and flustered life. Yet
she trudged onward and in time began thinking that perhaps this new child
would be the "good" that she needed to help her state of mind.
Then another phone call came from the doctor.
Because she was 40 the doctor ordered addition tests just to make sure
every thing is all right. The
doctor's phone call was for her to come in immediately because the tests
revealed a problem. As
Diane sat in the doctor's examining room, tears of sorrow once again flowed
from her eyes. The doctor said
that there was a definite problem with her pregnancy. The child that was forming in her womb was deformed; it had a
harelip and cleft palate. The doctor
recommended that she have an abortion because "there could be also other
defects." This
was her dilemma: to bear a child that would be deformed at birth, who would
have additional burdens both physically and financially, and who she would
almost single-handedly have to care for during the child's early months since
Charles was in a body cast. What
should she do? Should she abort
this child? She already has 3
other children, and she herself is 40 years old!
A perfectly healthy baby would be a handful but one with a congenital
defect is an ocean full of problems. BIBLICAL
AND THEOLOGICAL ISSUES Pastor
Bill Tendly from Diane's church had been involved in her trials since the
beginning. He was there with
words of comfort and care when her mother died, when Charles was in the
hospital, and he provided her with the encouragement that "maybe this
child is exactly what you need," when she found out she was pregnant. What could he possibly tell her now? Abortion is what the doctor recommended and what seemed to be
the logical way out. All the
previous events were beyond her control but this event she could control via
an abortion. Her mind was made
up. An abortion was the best way
to handle this problem. Pastor
Tendly was once again at her door wanting to come in and visit. He
listened patiently as Diane poured out the pain in her heart and the solution
that she, along with her doctor, had reached.
When the Pastor finally spoke he asked her if she ever thought about
when life starts. She had never
really thought much about that and didn't have an answer or opinion.
He showed her passages that directly addressed the question.
Scriptures that indicate that life starts at conception.
[1]
Psalm 139:13-16 was
particularly significant:
13 For thou hast possessed
my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise
thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and
that my soul knoweth right well. 15
My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and
curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in
thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them. Pastor
Tendly explained that the passage traces the development of a person backwards
from just prior to child birth to conception.
Verse 13 starts off with a child in the womb called "me."
Verse 14 and 15 describe the overall formation of the child in the
womb. Finally the child in embryo
form is discussed in verse 16. All
throughout the passage, David (the writer) marvels at God's wisdom and power
as displayed in the conception and development of a person.
Pastor Tendly concluded, "God views life as starting at
conception. A human soul comes
into existence at that point. It
may be hard for us to grasp that a person exists as soon as an ovum is
fertilized, but it is nonetheless true. We
can't say that a soul exists one second after birth yet it didn't exist one
second before. Our problem is
that we picture human life in a confined way.
We diminish its value at the beginning (after all it is so small and
unproductive) and its end (it becomes a burden and is unproductive).
We fail to see human life for what it is, a progression of change from
one state to another. We can
grasp the change from an infant to a toddler, primary schooler to high
schooler, young adult to aged, but we miss changes of life that occur at the
extreme ends. We fail to see that
at the point of conception a soul is born.
It just exists in a context that we are not accustomed to dealing with.
" ETHICAL
NORMS AND GUIDELINES Now
Diane had something else to think about.
If what Pastor Tendly was telling her was true?
Then aborting her pregnancy would really be aborting life / a human
soul / a person. She did see his
logic that indicated that if she aborted the child 5 months prior to its birth
then why not 5 months after its birth.
[2]
But she still had
another problem; what about its deformity?
Pastor Tendly asked her some more tough but compelling questions:
"Does a human being derive their personhood from what they are physically
and/or mentally, or from who they are? In
other words, does a physical deformity cause someone to not be a human
being? If a deformity can
disqualify personhood then which ones? Who
is the judge? Clearly, physical
or mental impairments are not grounds for disqualifying someone as a person. If so, then the entire human race is disqualified because all
have impairments of one sort or another, from bad eyes to hemorrhoids, from
bad teeth to flat feet!" The
Pastor provided Diane with one more bit of scripture that helped her
understanding of the situation she was facing.
Exodus 4:10 "And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not
eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but
I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
11 And the LORD said unto
him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the
seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?
12 Now therefore go, and I
will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." "Diane,
I want you to know that in this passage God is not saying that He caused these
people to have these problems. Rather
God is acknowledging that these deformities exist and that He will be with His
people that have such impairments. Most
importantly, they are still part of His creation, which because of the
affliction of man's sin is fraught with blemishes. The unborn or the born, the young or the old, no matter what
problem or deformity, they are still human souls." RESOLUTION
AND CONCLUSION That
day after her Pastor left, Diane realized because of the new information that
she learned, she must yield to God and allow the life within her to live.
If God accepts mankind with all its problems and deformities, she too
could accept a little child, who wasn't planned for, who would be born
deformed. Her prayer to God was
for the grace and strength to handle the situation day by day and to help the
little one inside her to develop as fully as can be.
She knew that rough days would be ahead with many operations to correct
what could be corrected. Diane
gave birth that December to a chubby almost 9 pound baby boy.
The child required special care because of his hare lip and cleft palate.
He had several surgeries along with orthodontic work as he grew.
He is now an adult, happily married with 4 children of his own, is a Pastor and is the author of this case study (based upon an
amalgamation of various real life situations).
Diane is happy she didn't take his life, and he along with his wife and
children are also thankful. Abortion
is a very difficult ethical issue today.
It is one that is dividing our nation and even Christian groups.
There are many "but what about..." arguments that are brought
forth by both sides of the issue. Yet
one thing does stand out in the pages of God's Word and that is life IS
sacred. If life does begin at
conception then we must develop our abortion ethics appropriately.
And even if we determine that life does not begin at conception we
still have many of the same ethical issues confronting us.
This is especially true when the pregnancy is in the last trimester.
Our ethic must also take into account God's viewpoint of the
handicapped and the "useless" of society.
May God help us all to deal sensitively with those facing such personal
dilemmas.
Since I wrote the above article I've started to modify my thoughts... currently I have a number of questions that are causing me to rethink the starting point of life. Here they are (in no particular order):
I welcome all ideas, but please engage with the topic and the questions, not just simply restating the typical pro-life argument which I fully know. Here is a picture of a harelip or cleft lip and palate before and after reconstruction. I wish that I could put one of me prior to my reconstructions but my parents did not take any pictures prior to reconstruction.
[1]
Psalm 51:5 "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me."
Psalm 119:73 "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me
understanding,that I may learn thy commandments." Jeremiah
1:5 "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou
camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a
prophet unto the nations." Job
10:8 "Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about;
yet thou dost destroy me.
9
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and
wilt thou bring me into dust again?
10
Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
11
Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with
bones and sinews.
12
Thou hast granted me life and favor, and thy visitation hath
preserved my spirit." [2]
Many babies are aborted at the same stage many are born pre-mature.
One is forced to die, the other is worked on to live.
They both are human beings. |
