Three weeks ago an old friend of ours visited us for an evening. As a graduate student in social work and an evangelical Christian, she commented on the hypocrisy of many in the pro-life movement. According to her, “Christians are the first to condemn women for having abortions but the last to give them any other option.” I fear that my friend has made an astute and convicting observation which is all too accurate.
This week Time Magazine published a major article entitled “One Woman at a Time,” which recounts the always present abortion debate in light of actual service provision. In this article, Nancy Gibbs reports the recent rise in the number of crisis pregnancy centers, which are pro-life counseling and service providers for pregnant women. Care-Net and Heart Beat International are two of the largest organizations which fund these centers. Crisis pregnancy centers have been created to provide women with alternatives to Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice organizations when they need to seek counsel and help in the event of an unplanned pregnancy.
This article is worth a read. Though slightly more critical of Crisis Pregnancy Centers than its pro-choice counterparts, Gibbs does a commendable job of presenting both sides of this issue and carefully documents how the lofty theological, ethical, and legal debates rarely impact the frightened 19 year-old on the street. In a time when nearly one-third of all American women have had an abortion, this problem stares the American church directly in the face. Women who sit in our pews each Sunday have faced this issue personally or know a friend who has. For my fellow evangelical Christians, it is my hope that this article will spur us on to not be merely talkers on the sanctity of human life, but people who are also willing to sacrifice our time, talents, and resources to give these women a reason to choose life.
I fear that some of the laws presently active do not help a young woman who has become pregnant. For instance, a 14-year old girl, by law, does not need her parent’s consent to have an abortion. Her parents should be the first people that she should be able to go to in such a scary and frightening time. Instead, because her parents do not legally have to be involved in the process, a scared girl, perhaps expecting the worst in her parents’ reaction, can choose to go to Planned Parenthood where she will oftentimes receive only one side of the options.
Again, a girl should be able to go to her parents and/or her church in a situation like this and not be given a scarlet letter, but, instead, be given support and help that would enable her come to terms with her situation. Unfortunately, many young girls do not feel that their church is sufficient to help her in this time of crisis. This is party the church’s fault, the family’s fault, and the culture’s fault.
its also currently the case that a wife doesn’t have to inform her husband if she gets an abortion. now me and most of my prochoice cohorts i think agree that the wife should tell her husband and the 17yr old and under girls should tell her parents. a woman, just like anyone else, deserves all the options; abortion, adoption, keeping it. and that’s a tough decision. thus, the more people involved in making that decision, particularly if the woman in quesiton is under 18, the better.
the problem as i see it is that religious leaders, like politicians, focus on their most extreme opponents. so instead of having a dialogue with folks like me, who support a law requiring parental consent for women under 18 seeking an abortion or a law requiring a woman to inform her husband, they construct their arguments against the extremists who want the woman in question and only that woman to make that choice.
of course people on the left do the same thing by only focusing on religious people that blow up clinics instead of level headed religious leaders that dont advocate violence.
its has to do with responsibility. like drinking. so hopefully, one day news organizations will stop asking the crazies on both sides what they think and start ignoring them in favor of sane people. and then political action might follow.
Well, crazies tend to ignite controversy and boost ratings. Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Charlie and Dantzler.