Thirty-seven Years
Today is the thirty-seventh anniversary of Roe v. Wade. If you don’t know what that is, here’s a link to get you caught up, but in short, it’s when the Supreme Court ruled “that a woman may abort her pregnancy for any reason, up until the ‘point at which the fetus becomes viable.’ The Court defined viability as the potential ‘to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid,’ adding that viability ‘is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.’” The court also added that, “after viability, abortion must be available when needed to protect a woman’s health, as defined in the companion case of Doe v. Bolton.”
I’ve already posted my thoughts on this subject back in May of last year (What’s More Important? – Religion Sucketh), so I don’t want to rehash them when you can just click the link are read them. But I read a post today from Jared Wilson and couldn’t resist sharing a couple points and the link to his full post – in my opinion, he nails it.
As Jared said of himself, if the government put overturning Roe v. Wade to popular vote, I’d be in line as soon as the polls opened. However, like Jared, I don’t believe legislation is the answer. Jared has a lot of great ideas, but I don’t want to just copy and paste them here because you wouldn’t have a reason to read his post. But one idea that really sticks out to me is throwing more support into crisis pregnancy centers. One popular belief as to why abortion statistics are dropping is the increase and advancement of technology. Thirty-seven years ago ultrasound wasn’t available until months into a pregnancy – now it’s available just a few weeks after conception. Women and couples are now able to see their child earlier than ever before, which makes them realize that’s not some “pre-human thing” on the screen – it’s a human child. So if technology is helping decrease abortions, why aren’t pro-life organizations and churches throwing money at crisis pregnancy centers to help them get this technology (since it isn’t cheap)?
I know when I lived in Atlanta I didn’t see one crisis pregnancy center. I know there was at least one because I had a co-worker who was doing a fundraiser for it, but the fact that I didn’t even know what part of Atlanta it was in, yet I can tell you where several Planned Parenthood offices are located is sad.
Even sadder – a friend of mine manages a crisis pregnancy center and has told me the hardest part of her job is getting support from churches. Yet I see churches all the time who donate large sums of money to political groups who claim to be the “pro-life voice in Washington”.
I’m not saying it should be either/or, but I’ve actually heard lay-people argue that legislation is the only option – that abortion reduction is an “admission of defeat”. Ten years ago, George W. Bush ran on a platform which included ending abortion (unless the mother’s health is in danger). Ten years later NOTHING has changed in legislation.
Anyways, this is getting a bit long, so here’s the links for Jared Wilson’s post, my original post and a post by ChurchRelevance.com.
A Missional Way For the Pro-Life Passion – Jared Wilson
