Rights vs. Right On the day prior to the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, US President Obama released a statement that this anniversary was a chance to recognize the “fundamental constitutional right” to abortion for women. He went on to add that the support for access to abortion must have our continued “efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill our dreams.” (It is a sad day when pregnancy is viewed as a limit to our rights, freedoms and opportunities.) But hang on a minute! What may be a surprise to many is that here is no “fundamental constitutional right” to abortion found in the Constitution. (Abortion is not mentioned at all in that document or any of its amendments.) Maybe he was referring to the statement “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (I am assuming, as well, that this concern is for the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” of the mother, not the unborn baby. An aborted baby certainly misses out on those.) Even so, this statement is from the Declaration of Independence (the statement declaring our independence from Great Britain), not the Constitution. Even then it is a huge stretch, in my opinion, to apply this to the right to have an abortion on demand. And if it applies there, why is it that we are told that we can’t argue and fight for the “unalienable Rights [to] Life” for the unborn? While we are on that statement in the Declaration of Independence, let’s focus also on the “endowed by their Creator” part of the sentence. After all, if one is to invoke the “Creator” (God) to affirm or demand our rights, should we not consider what His word has to say about the whole issue? What does His word have to say about the unborn? For one, it says that before anyone is born, he / she is already seen and known by God, and that He has a plan laid out already for their lives. (Psalm 139:15-16 “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”) Though some argue that “life” doesn’t begin until birth, God—evidently—didn’t get the memo. Another thing that God’s word says is that we, who are followers of Christ and the word of God, must be involved in protecting those like the unborn. (Proverbs 24:11-12 “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?") Even though laws may have been passed permitting abortion, when they aren’t “right” we must fight to overturn them. So on this 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, let’s focus on doing right in the eyes of God . . . and doing the right thing in the right ways. We must fight for life, but also declare the whole counsel of God that He loves and forgives those who fall short of His standards but who turn to Him. Many can testify to how good God has been to forgive and use them from that point forward in their lives. Choose Life!
Bro. Mark
Unless indicated otherwise, the New International Version, 1984 (NIV) is the Bible version quoted. |
