What the world says about abortion

1) It has been said there are “two sides to every story” and this statement is usually true.

2) These words certain come to mind where there is a subject about which people disagree.

3) People on one side have their arguments and the other side has their counter arguments.

4) “Two sides” is also related to various moral issues.

a) Our nation is witnessing some bitter wrangling over the area of same sex marriage.

b) Some are defending the practice with just about every resource they have.

c) Others are spending a lot of time and effort to oppose same sex marriages.

d) This is an important issue, but it is not the only one affecting our culture.

5) Another moral issue where people line up and take sides is abortion.

6) Last week we looked at how abortion is the shedding of innocent blood.

7) Today we want to think about some of the arguments that are commonly made to support abortion.

8) There are those who openly and zealously support the practice we know as abortion.

9) Many of the arguments of the so-called “pro-choice” crowd may be summed up as “abortion rights.”

10) When we look at the arguments, “abortion rights” it seems we might change the language to “abortion wrongs.”

11) People often make arguments in favor of abortion that are not very sound (good).

12) One argument is that abortion opponents do not believe in a “woman’s right to choose.”

13) It often sounds like opponents of abortion are against people having their rights.

14) This is the same type of argument that is currently being made in the state of California.

15) When it comes to Christianity, God’s people are not opposed to people having rights.

16) God is our creator and He has give human beings many rights.

17) Christians believe in these rights and want to defend these rights.

18) This includes the “rights” of the unborn.

19) Some of the strongest believers in man’s rights are Bible believing people.

20) Man does not, however, have the right to do whatever he wants (there are some rules to be followed).

21) God has some laws that He expects to be followed and some of these laws are in Prov. 6.

22) We heard once again for our scripture reading that God “hates the shedding of innocent blood.”

23) This single statement should be enough to tell us that abortion is wrong.

24) We cannot say something is right (allowed) when God says it is wrong.

25) We cannot unbind where God has bound. We cannot be lax where God has legislated.

26) Our world does not as a whole does not accept these things and has tried to justify abortion in many ways.

27) As already indicated, we want to look at some of those ways.

28) Abortion has been defended on the basis that a mother’s life might be endangered.

29) Stated another way, if abortion is not legal, mothers can or will die.

a) This argument exemplifies the fact that many arguments about abortion are a smokescreen.

b) The need to choose a mother’s life over the life of an unborn child is very, very rare.

c) With current medical technology this type of situation hardly ever occurs.

d) A doctor can usually induce labor or perform a C-section in the event of danger.

e) As rare as these times are, abortion supporters press the point about mothers being endangered.

f) They hold up this point, which is a rare exception, to make their case.

g) When people have to base their beliefs on exceptions, that should tell us something is fishy.

h) If this is one of the best arguments people have, they do not have a strong case for their position.

30) For the sake of discussion, let’s say the life of a mother is a common problem.

31) Should this situation make abortion legal or right? No.

a) Our world contains many examples of times when some are saved and some are lost.

a) It is not uncommon for people to make a choice between someone dying and someone living.

b) Imagine a rescue crew trying to save people who are victims of a massive flood.

c) A single helicopter shows up on the scene and it has room for 3 people but 5 people are stranded.

d) The chopper pilot knows he can only save 3 of the people.

e) By the time he takes the others to safety and returns, the other two will die due to rising water.

f) There is no one else to come help, so he must make a choice; 2 people are going to die.

g) Some will be saved and some will be lost.

32) Keeping in mind this illustration suppose we alter this scenario a little bit.

33) The five people begin to fight when they see the helicopter; it looks like all five might be lost.

34) On board the helicopter is a sharp shooter with a rifle.

35) This man decides to shoot 2 of the people to end the fighting.

36) He reasons that “two were going to die anyway,” so why not just expedite the process?

37) How would our world react to this news when it was made known?

38) Our world would be outraged. The rifleman would be imprisoned. He would not be a hero.

a) The illustration I gave is parallel to the argument made by abortion providers and supporters.

b) They say that a mother and a baby cannot be saved, so one must be intentionally killed.

c) If it is wrong for a sharpshooter on a helicopter to kill people, it is wrong to destroy a baby in a surgical suite.

d) A baby has the same rights and value as a mother.

e) God made this point in Ex. 21:22.

f) God said two men might fight and in the process a woman is injured and the birth could be premature.

39) If this happened and the baby was okay, a fine was to be paid.

40) If the fighting resulted in the death of the unborn child, God said a harsher penalty was to be imposed.

41) This penalty (verses 24-26 ) was “eye for eye, limb for limb, tooth for tooth, burn for burn.”

42) God also said “life for life.”

43) In Ex. 21 God put the life of a man on an equal plane with the life of an unborn child.

a) If there is a case where it is literally choose the baby or the mother, both lives are equal.

b) Having to choose between the life of a mother and a baby is no justification for abortion.

c) The true parallel would be like a house that is on fire.

d) If we can save a child or an adult (only one can be saved), which will it be?

e) That decision is going to vary from case to case. One may be closer to the door than the other.

f) The life of an unborn child is just as much a person as the mother.

g) There might be cases where a baby is saved and the mother is not.

h) Christians do not buy the argument that abortion is needed to save the life of a mother.

44) If this argument is not persuasive, another one might be introduced and this argument is very emotional.

45) If the life of a mother is not on the line, what about a case of rape?

a) This is a horrible and almost unspeakable act, but it is a fairly common crime.

b) It is also a common argument used by those who promote abortion.

c) There have been a few times when pregnancy resulted from this crime.

d) Abortion supporters ask if a woman who was attacked must carry an attacker’s child.

e) This argument puts the cart before the horse.

f) Our society could virtually eliminate this problem.

g) Rom. 13:4 says the government is to punish those who do evil.

h) Eccl. 8:11 says judgment that is executed speedily helps keep citizens in line (lowers crime).

i) If we had harsh laws for this crime, rape would virtually vanish.

j) Imagine that the US said anyone convicted of this crime would be put to death in 24 hours.

k) There would be no appeal, no delay and no mercy. Conviction means quick execution.

l) If this act guaranteed quick death, people would think and behave much, much differently.

46) Abortion providers like to use this sin to justify abortion.

47) Once again they are using rare exceptions to justify a practice that is very common.

48) As stated last week, abortion is the # 1 surgical procedure in the US.

49) Our laws on rape leave a lot to be desired, so what do Christians say about abortion in this regard?

a) Many years ago I went to a right to life meeting where people were trying to get organized.

b) This was one of their first questions: How would they handle the question of women who are attacked?

c) The seemed perplexed by this question but I suggested the answer is not difficult.

d) If women are carrying an unborn child, abortion, under any circumstance, is murder.

e) The child has committed no crime, but he (or she) is the one someone wants to punish.

f) God says (Ezek. 18:4, 20) that this is unfair. The child did nothing worthy of death.

g) Too, as the old saying goes, two wrongs do not make a right.

50) An organization associated with Planned Parenthood released some statistics.

51) These figures are based on survey results from 1900 women who sought an abortion.

52) They show that rape and pregnancy really have very little association with one another.

53) Here is why women in this study sought an abortion:

a) 21% of them said they were not ready for the responsibilities associated with having a child.

b) 21% said they could not afford to have a baby.

c) 16% were concerned about how a child would change their lives.

d) 12% blamed things on a relationship problem.

e) 11% felt they were not mature enough for a child.

f) 8% said they had all the children they wanted.

g) 1% said their pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.

54) The argument that abortion must exist because women are attacked is not a good argument.

55) It uses an exception to make a widespread practice acceptable.

56) This argument also fails on some other points.

57) It seems that God in creating man built in some degree of protection for women.

58) A woman is far less likely to get pregnant during times of stress; this is a general principle.

59) If a woman is being attacked, that is a time of stress and this helps explain why pregnancy is infrequent.

60) If attacks on women are what are needed to justify abortion, the abortionists case is indeed weak.

61) Let’s be gracious and say there really is a serious problem with being attacked and conception.

a) In such a case a women likely goes to people who do not believe in God and seeks counseling.

b) She is told about abortion as an option and perhaps even pestered to have this procedure.

c) In these cases a woman often finds that guilt and anxiety are added to the trauma of the attack.

d) A woman is told she will make things better when things often become worse.

62) Abortion providers rarely talk about the guilt that plagues women who have abortions.

63) Some women have nightmares from the process.

64) Contrary to what is often suggested, abortion is not something that is done and immediately forgotten.

65) It is a procedure that has stayed with some women for a lifetime.

66) Abortion providers often say abortion is a solution when in many case it only makes things worse.

67) For the Christian, God gives His people strength for difficult times.

68) Paul made this point to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 10:13 as well as to the Philippians (4:13).

69) If a woman finds she has been attacked and has a child, she may look at adoption as an option.

70) She can protect her child and allow him to have a Christian life.

71) Abortion not only holds up rape to justify abortion, it appeals to incest.

a) Under the Old Testament God said relations between close relatives was not allowed (Lev. 20:17).

b) In these cases, just like the previous ones, pregnancy is not very common.

c) It can occur. We have seen this in some of the “cults” presented by the national news outlets.

d) Even in this type of situation the facts of abortion are unchanged.

e) The way a child was conceived may be wrong, but that does not change the truth.

f) A child is still a child and this child did nothing wrong.

g) The child wants someone to love him and let him live a healthy and productive life.

h) To ask a doctor to take the life of that baby is the shedding innocent blood.

72) Our world thinks much differently about abortion than God does, but it is not consistent.

73) At a recent preacher’s meeting we spoke about an interesting topic.

74) Suppose we lived in a country that allowed only people to have only one child and we wanted a boy.

75) A child is conceived, but we are told the baby is a girl and it is a healthy girl.

76) We want a boy and since we can have only one child, we ask that the girl be destroyed with abortion.

77) A second pregnancy occurs and it is again a girl but we still want the boy because only one child is allowed.

78) Imagine a mother killing her babies, one right after, another until she gets the gender she wants.

79) Or, imagine that children are killed until parents get other qualities they want.

a) Suppose we could determine a child’s hair and eye color.

b) We terminate the lives of children until we get just the right eye and hair color.

c) This would be outlandish behavior that people would object to. This type of thing would be outrageous.

d) People who support abortion should not object to such thinking if they are consistent.

e) If a child is not a baby, why object to terminating pregnancies if people are not getting what they want?

f) On one level people recognize that abortion is wrong.

g) They just can’t bring themselves to face the full truth of what this practice involves.

80) Some are so hardened they say mothers should be able to take the life of a handicapped child.

81) If doctors can determine a serious birth defect, some insist abortion must be allowed.

82) If this view is right, we are faced with an interesting question.

a) Who or what determines what type of life should be allowed to come into our world?

b) What if we could tell a person will be overweight later in life – should we kill him in the womb?

c) What if he will be shorter or taller than average – should he die?

d) Our world likes to play God, but the Bible says there is only one God and we need to obey Him.

e) Do we know this one God? Have we obeyed Him?