Ronald Reagan once said, “I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.” There are few topics that are more sensitive, and that divide us more than that of abortion. The National Abortion Federation reports that, “One in three American women will have an abortion by age 45. Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures provided in the United States and Canada today.” Well the safety issue really depends on when life begins. Even biology books will tell you that at the moment of conception that a unique person comes into existence with his/her own DNA. However, for the first nine months of their lives, they must rely on the protection that only a mother can provide.

That raises the question…  What kind of protection does abortion provide? Is it right to take a life in order to prevent a mere inconvenience in another’s life? Would that mean that it is okay for me to steal food from the grocery store so that I don’t have to experience hunger? I know that most people would say that those are very different circumstances, and I would agree. With abortion, a unique person’s life is at stake.

As a nation, we may never come to agreement on whether or not abortion is right or wrong. I feel very strongly about abortion, and it only partially has to do with my faith. However, my faith does lead me into deeper questions when considering the reality of abortion. More than anything else, I wonder about personal responsibility. With such a staggering statistic of “one in three” will have an abortion, one cannot help but to think that abortion is being used as a form of birth control. The Center for Disease Control even did a study in which it is reported that…

“For women whose marital status was adequately reported, 78% of women who obtained abortions were known to be unmarried. The abortion ratio for unmarried women was 8.8 times the ratio for married women (570 versus 65 abortions per 1,000 live births).”

According to these statistics married, committed families rarely seek abortions (only about 6% of the time). On the other hand, one in three pregnancies in women that are not in a marital relationship end in abortion (36%). This overwhelmingly implies that abortion has become a form of birth control. When do people become accountable for their actions? It is not rocket science that sex results in babies. Everyone knows this fact. Ask any adult (and many kids) today how babies are made, and you will likely get laughed at because the answer is so obvious.

What bothers me the most is that so many abortions occur in situations that are founded in sinful situations to start with. Our society has become numb to sexual immorality, and we simply accept it as okay. In fact I just heard on the news today that High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens admitted to having taken some nude photos of herself that are now making their way around the Internet. In her response, the 18-year-old girl stated that they were “taken privately” for “personal use” to share with her boyfriend. In a backhanded slap at other celebrity misfits like Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan, Hudgens continued by claiming that she isn’t into the party scene, she doesn’t drink or do drugs, or anything “bad” like that. She even continued by claiming that. “I guess I’m just one of the good girls,” and wondered why everyone was making such a big deal of it. Since when is it okay for an unmarried teenager to be participate in such sexual acts?

The truth is that at the root of abortion, there is a greater problem with sexual immorality. And if we are ever to make any sense of the abortion issue, or even get it under control, then we must first deal with this issue of unmarried sex. Our society has shifted it’s views to say that sex is okay whenever, and with whoever you want. It is no longer considered sexually immoral to simply have sex outside of a marriage, instead we leave the term “sexually immoral” for the deviants like child molesters. Many would claim that casual sex between consenting adults doesn’t hurt anyone, so you cannot compare it to child molestation. Oh yeah? Well what about the one in three babies that never survive “casual sex”?

Regarding abortion itself, check out these resources:
Bound4Life
Abort73.com

But rather than deal with the result (abortion), let’s try to focus on correcting the core problem (sexual immorality). However, when we as Christians deal with people, we must also still remember that they too are people and God’s creation whom He loves. Therefore, our dealings with them should be in love as well. It is through love and acceptance in Christ that people will find the fulfillment that they seek elsewhere.