The topic of abortion is an emotionally charged one, but as believers in Christ, this is one topic that we cannot ignore. With the horrific videos that we released over the last year by the Center For Medical Progress, it has brought this issue right back into the national spotlight, causing states like Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, and many others, to withdrawal their funding for Planned Parenthood, the leader in abortion procedures in the United States.
As a theologian, who holds to the Bible as the authoritative word of God, this topic personally angers me. One because I am convinced, by the Scriptures, and plain reason, that abortion is not only murder, but it is also legal racism, glorified sexism, and promotes genocide of human beings. I will lay out why I am convinced of this below.
Margaret Sanger, creator of Planned Parenthood believed in eugenics: The very creator of Planned Parenthood was a woman by the name of Margaret Sanger. Her idea of Planned Parenthood came from the idea of negative eugenics, which I will allow dictionary.com to provide the definition:
negative eugenics [is]concerned with prevention of reproduction by individuals considered to have inferior or undesirable traits.
What traits did Margaret Sanger believe were “undesirable?” Well, Margaret Sanger believed if you were living in abject poverty, you were “tainted.” This meant that you (or your lifestyle) were “undesirable.” She wrote:
[We should] apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.
If one cannot have unlimited sexual encounters, then they must, by their own “rights,” be able to terminate an unwanted child. She goes on to say, essentially, the marriage bed degenerates these rights a woman has to do these things, so the family should “act mercifully,” and kill the infant:
“[Our objective is] unlimited sexual gratification without the burden of unwanted children… [Women must have the right] to live … to love… to be lazy … to be an unmarried mother … to create… to destroy… The marriage bed is the most degenerative influence in the social order… The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” The Woman Rebel, Volume I, Number 1 (1922) (emphasis mine)
When it came to Black Amercians, Margaret Sanger did not have a high opinion of them. In fact, she considered the entire black race to inferior and are an “undesirable” people. Margaret Sanger even goes so far as to use Black churches to make her pitch to them about this heinous act when she comments:
“We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. And the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” Margaret Sanger’s December 19, 1939 letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble, 255 Adams Street, Milton, Massachusetts. (emphasis mine)
This leads me to the next point:
Most Planned Parenthood Centers are found where there are a heavy concentration of minorities: Statistics show, in the United States that 79% of Planned Parenthood Clinics are established in high minority neighborhoods. In addition the Center for Disease Control revealed that Black American women had roughly 2 times more pregnancies than White American women. However they had five times as many abortions over their lifetime. In the same report, Latinos had about the same amount of pregnancies that Black American women had (roughly 2 percent). Yet there about two times as likely to receive abortion than White American women. Margaret Sanger, by her worldview, states that not all races and people are created equal, and those who are not created equal (i.e., with “undesirable” traits) should be removed.
So how does this relate to you if you are one who promotes theology?
God takes responsibility for every child that is made: Scripture tells us every human being that has ever lived, is living, and will live is created by God Himself. The Psalmist David expressed this beautifully in the Psalms when he wrote,
13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 139: 13-16; NASB emphasis mine)
Job, in chapter 31:15 asks a rhetorical question that highlighted this truth when he said,
13 “If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves When they filed a complaint against me, 14 What then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him? 15 “Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb? (Job 31:13-15 NASB; emphasis mine)
God personally takes great care in fashioning every child, of every race, ethnicity, and culture, through the means of human beings (c.f. Gen. 1:28). This leads to true equality, because one observes that God is the One who creates all mankind (Gen. 1:26-27). For believers to agree that abortions should be advocated by a Biblical worldview is to be deceived in their own worldview in what the Sacred Scriptures actually teach.
God is angry at the murder of children He has created: We observe one of the guilty verdicts that God gave to the nation of Israel in the time of the Old Testament was they would give their babies over to the fire (c.f. 2 Kings 17:16-18; Ezek. 16:21). In the context of the culture, the people of Israel were giving their helpless baby’s bodies as a sacrifice to false gods (i.e., idols). This was something the Lord did not command them to do, as God takes responsibility for fashioning all people in the wombs of women.
Essentially the baby was objectified and viewed as valuable only in death, to the life of an idol. The parents neglected that these little ones were valuable in life because the parents failed to see the baby as a gift from true and Living God. As a result, they failed to perceive the anger of God in their actions toward their divine gift God gave to them to care, nurture, and train. When one who is a believer, affirms abortion, the deny the anger of God that is caused by the murder of those who He has fashioned with His hand. Abortion is murder, because it is a taking of a human life without just cause other than the person inside the womb exists, and is a “threat” to the “rights” of the one who has the blessed privilege of carrying this human being.
Childbirth is used as a example to respect women: Paul, in explaining the conduct of married women in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 shows they are under the submission of their husbands. However, in explaining this order, Paul writes this,
8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9 for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10 Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God. (1 Cor. 11:8-12 NASB; emphasis mine)
For those who are believers, and promoting abortions, they fail to see the uniqueness of women, and the ability given by God Himself to conceive a child. As a result, the opportunity is missed to speak on how women are unique and should be respected by men, because they have been given by God this unique gift to bear children. However Planned Parenthood prevents this lesson from being learned, often with terrible consequences. In short when it comes to a Biblical worldview, abortion, contrary to popular belief, is antithetical to women’s rights, health, and equality.
Planned Parenthood has a worldview that is contrary to Biblical theology. In light of the shouts of inequality and injustice between different races and gender we fail to hear the screams and cries of those whom shouts of inequality and injustice have not been heard: The unborn. They are special to the God who created them. They must be special to us as well.
Let me also add this: If you are reading this and you have had an abortion and are convicted by this, I ask that you repent of this sin and receive the full and complete pardon of this sin. For the men: If you have manipulated your girlfriend, wife, etc., to commit murder of an unborn child, this is also a sin against God. You can be forgiven as well. Repent and receive the forgiveness of sins, by placing your trust in Christ and His blood he shed on the cross for this sin, and for all your sins. Amen.
Again for us who are believers in Christ,promoting abortion for the sake of women’s rights or equality I would plead that you would reconsider your position. Abortion is not only murder, it is legalized racism, glorified sexism, and genocide. As the world continues to fall into darkness, let us continue to shine as lights in the darkness, and speak out for the unborn, who cannot speak.
Until next time…
Soli Deo Gloria!
L.S.