Abortion is not a woman’s rejection of motherhood. Abortion is a mother’s rejection of her child. We must think through this issue with a biblical worldview, as we challenge men [and not just women] everywhere to speak for the unborn.
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“She’s just too young to be a mother,” says the concerned mom of a pregnant teen.
“I’m already the mother of two, and I feel like I have way more than I can handle,” says the exhausted wife, holding in her hands a positive pregnancy test.
“I can’t afford to be a father,” says the college student driving his girlfriend to the abortion clinic.
In conversations about abortion, this is often how the rhetoric is framed. According to the world, pregnant women have a choice: to be a mother or not to be a mother, that is the question. But embedded in this question is a lie, an all-too-convenient slight of hand, a pernicious misdirection away from the real issue on the table.
Being a mother or a father is not a choice. It is an ontological reality. The baby has a mother—he’s in her womb. The baby has a father. Any science lab could tell you that.
The only choice before the pregnant couple is in deciding what kind of mother or father they will be. What kind of legacy will they leave? Will this new mother’s first act be an act of nurture and care? Or will it be an act of murder? What will this new father provide for his son or daughter? Time? Money? Memories? Or a poison pill and a killing knife?
Abortion is not a woman’s rejection of motherhood. Abortion is a mother’s rejection of her child.
When a woman is pregnant, she is no longer just a woman. She is a mother. A woman who “terminates” her pregnancy does not relieve herself of motherhood, she just makes herself mother to a murdered baby. And one need only read the first of these 26 testimonies of mothers who have had abortions to realize that this is not a choice we want any mother to make.
No one should support a “right” that makes first-time mothers and fathers into first-time murderers, no matter how liberated they feel.
And so let us earnestly pray that men and women would embrace the fatherhood and motherhood that has been given them from above in the form of unborn sons and daughters.
As the father of three—two born and one on the way—I challenge men everywhere to speak for the unborn. To own fatherhood where God has granted it. And to lead the way in providing protection for mothers and their infants in the womb. And as the husband of a wife who has embraced motherhood so well, I challenge women everywhere to call other women to account where they see motherhood being neglected for the world’s lies. To own motherhood where God has granted it. And to nurture and care for mothers and infants who face the squeezing pressures of the culture of death all around us.
So to the mom of the pregnant teen who says, “She’s just too young to be a mother,” we should respond, “She already is a mother. Won’t you help her care for your granddaughter?”
To the mother of two who is pregnant with her third, we should say, “God has blessed you with not just two, but three precious lives that are dependent on your loving care. How can I help you care for your newest addition?”
To the college student who is driving his girlfriend to the abortion clinic thinking that he is escaping fatherhood, we should say, “You already are a father. The life inside her womb is proof. What are you going to do for your son? Don’t you want to give him life and a future?”
But above all, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus should inform each one of our thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions. The reality is, there are probably some men and women who are reading this post that have been complicit in the sin of abortion. There are sons and daughters of Adam who have followed in the footsteps of the firstborn son of Adam, Cain, and have become murderers like him. The greater reality is that we are all sons and daughters of Adam. We are all sinners in need of a Savior (Rom 3:23).
The good news of the Gospel is this: that the firstborn Son of God (1 Jn 4:15), Jesus, became a son of Adam. This Son of Man (Dan 7:13–14) came to earth in order to be murdered on a Roman cross in the place of murderers (Rom 5:8). Then, this same Jesus rose again three days later, conquering death and the grave. As the firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18), he secured eternal life for all those who would turn from their murderous ways and trust in him (Rom 6:22–23).
The Gospel does not minimize the sin of abortion. Abortion is from the Devil (Jn 8:44). Instead, the Gospel magnifies the glory of God in Christ who has exhibited such a love as this—that he would lay down his life for us (Jn 15:13). May God receive glory as men and women who have aborted their children repent and trust in Jesus and his effectual sacrifice that covers their sins. And may God also receive glory as children are spared from the abortionist’s knife when men and women embrace God’s good gift of parenthood.
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