Ethics & Religion
Column #2060
Feb. 3, 2021
A Case for Pro-Life
By Mike McManus
When the first "March for Life" rally was held,in 1974, abortion was
considered a Catholic issue. A poll taken by the Baptist Sunday School
Board found that 70% of Southern Baptist pastors supported abortion to
protect the mental or physical health of the mother and 71% in cases of
rape.
Fortunately, some evangelicals understood the necessity of protecting
life in the womb. When the Supreme Court decided to legalize abortion in
1973, Harold O.J. Brown, then editor of the magazine, Christianity
Today, became convinced that "abortion amounted to taking a
sacrosanct human life."
One of the men who joined him in creating the Christian Action Council,
the first major U.S. evangelical pro-life organization was Dr. C.
Everett Koop, a pioneer in pediatric surgery. He wrote a book in 1975,
The Right To Live; the Right to Die: Famous Pediatric Surgeon Speaks Out
on Abortion and Mercy Killing. Koop quoted Brown in his Memoirs "to
awaken the evangelical community to a vital moral issue they were
choosing to ignore."
His Memoirs sold a remarkable 200,000 copies. Koop's pro-life activism
caught the attention of newly elected president Ronald Reagan, who
appointed him U.S. Surgeon General in 1981. When Reagan wrote a book as
President, Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation - the only book to
be published by a U.S. President while in office - he included an essay
by Koop, The Slide to Auschwitz.
While a debt is owed to these pioneers, the basic question remains: what
is wrong with abortion? Let's put the issue in a very practical way.
Assume that you and your spouse have daughter in her 20s or 30s who is
romantically involved with a man. She tells you that she is pregnant.
What do you do? Do you encourage her to marry the man and promise a
lovely wedding? The child would be born within six or seven months of
the wedding, which might be embarrassing.
Or do you suggest that she get an abortion? That would kill a future
grandchild.
Alternatively, you could suggest that she have the child and give it up
for adoption.
Of these three options, the worst choice is abortion - which
extinguishes a precious life.
The number of abortions is declining - but is still huge. In 1990 there
were 1,429,000 abortions. That number fell to 623,000 in 2016.
The choice between marriage and adoption depends on the quality of the
couple's relationship. Do you and your spouse respect the young man? Is
the couple in love?
If so, marriage should be encouraged. I believe the couple with a
pregnant daughter ought to encourage her to marry her partner, if he is
committed to her and appears to be able to support her. Your
embarrassment of having a grandchild relatively soon after the wedding
is not important.
With a drop of more than 50% in abortions, one would expect more
marriages. However, the marriage rate has also plummeted. In 1960,
two-thirds of Americans were married - but only 52% in 2019.
What's alarming is the number of births to unwed mothers. There were
399,000 births to unmarried women in 1970 - but 1,503,000 births in 2018
- nearly quadrupling.
However, there were only 18,300 infant adoptions (and 66,000 from foster
care). Furthermore, foreign adoptions have fallen from 23,000 in 2004 to
only 2,971 in 2019.
Millions of couples are unable to have a child of their own. They would
love to adopt a child. The adoption option is a wonderful alternative to
abortion. If the pregnant daughter does not believe she should marry her
partner, parents should encourage her to have the child and allow it to
be adopted by a childless couple.
That is a difficult decision. Once a woman gives birth to a child, her
natural inclination is typically to keep the baby. However,
unfortunately, children raised by single mothers do not fare well. They
tend to do poorly in school and are less likely to marry than a child of
intact parents.
By relinquishing to child to adoption, the young woman also has a much
better chance to find a man she really wants to marry.
What matters is the health of your daughter's relationship with the
father of the child and the life of your future grandchild.
Abortion is the wrong alternative for everyone.
Marriage is the best answer. And adoption is the best alternative.
_________________________
Copyright (c)2021 Michael J. McManus, a syndicated columnist and past president of Marriage Savers. To read past columns, go to
www.ethicsandreligion.com. Hit
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