On June 27, 2016, the Supreme Court issued their decision to strike down a restrictions on abortion because the restrictions had no data justifying that their benefits outweighed their cost. Pro-choice advocates cheered and pro-life advocates expressed grief at their defeat. However, the decision wasn’t just about abortion. It was about integrity, as measured by available data.
Abortion detesters believe abortion destroys sacred human life. When they advocate for solutions that preserve fetal life they are very strong, appealing to basic human and maternal instincts. When they transition to restrictions with other rationales they are weaker. As long ago as Genesis 3: 1-13, the devil’s main weapon was deceit. When the new rationale has no measurable data to justify it, the Supreme Court had the integrity to say NO. The new restrictions smelled too much like deceit. American law isn’t based on deceit. Evangelicals that hate abortion should also hate deceit. They should recognize the movement was tempted to deceit, or actions perceived as deceitful, in wrangling ever more imaginative restrictions.
When this nation rejects abortion, it should be because a majority in the nation believe it destroys something sacred, a potential human life that is valued by this culture as fundamental to its long term success. If there were such a majority, an honest amendment to the constitution could succeed.
Until such a time, it will be a mother’s choice. A mother’s natural instincts are to support her child. We should focus on ways to make sure her decision isn’t pressured by others (e.g., an unwilling father or parent wanting an easy way out), and by assuring her and her child paths to success (e.g., support, and/or adoption) even in poor economic circumstances. We should focus on the elements that force her hand, not on the surgeons and clinics executing a legal procedure. Items to tackle include the perception that an immediate career impact or educational delay is somehow worth sacrificing a growing potential child. We can tackle by lessoning the impacts, and by honoring the sacrifice if impacts are endured. We should be clear that while motherhood is a most honorable option, carrying a baby to term for others who are more able to parent is also honorable. Honor often involves sacrifice, as an individual and as a society. If we value that sacrifice, more will choose it.
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