God has given women a wonderful gift; the ability to nurture another human being within our body until that child is able to live on its own. And yet Satan has tried to convince us that this is a curse rather than a blessing.
Men are not able to do this; God has uniquely qualified women. Satan would like us to believe that if we accept this gift it will somehow deprive us of treasures that are rightfully ours, or that it will ruin our bodies and our lives. Society tells us that we will not be able to fulfill our potential or participate fully in everything the world has to offer. Satan whispers and society shouts that we should envy men for the things they can accomplish without the burdens of pregnancy and motherhood. The blessings that come with the privilege of childbearing are denigrated.
Despite this belief, so popular among many, an unplanned pregnancy is not the worst thing that can happen to a young woman – but the depression and self-loathing that often follow an abortion can destroy her.
The lie of abortion
It is a lie that abortion is the easy and logical solution to an unwanted pregnancy. A woman cannot abort her child and remain unscathed. The truth of what she’s done eventually sinks in. Some women immediately regret their decision, while others feel relief initially only to later suffer from depression. Some begin to rely on drugs without knowing why. The subsequent birth or death of a child, or the inability to get pregnant can trigger their sense of loss and remorse. Still others may not realize until their final days that they deprived their child of a lifetime of experiences.
I stopped performing abortions after the birth of my daughter, when the idea that a baby was unwanted was no longer enough justification for me to continue with the practice. But it wasn’t until I grasped that abortion take the life of an innocent human being that my philosophy changed, and I became truly pro-life. I am bewildered and ashamed when I think of how callously I was able to sort through tiny, perfectly formed body parts after an abortion with no sense of remorse for what I had just done.
The truth sinks in
Most doctors can only perform abortions for so long before the truth and horror of what they are doing begins to affect their conscience. For many it takes some profound event, like the birth or death of a child, to open their eyes. For others, especially OB-GYNs, performing abortions becomes diametrically opposed to everything else they are doing to care for women and their babies. It’s hard to one day rejoice after a successful birth and the next take the life of a baby in the womb. Something is destroyed within us when we take a life. Doctors should be healers, not killers.
Promoting abortion destroys the moral fabric and conscience of our society. As a society, we are appalled by mass murders, especially when they involve children – but when we sanction the taking of innocent lives, we fail to be appalled by what is occurring every day in abortion clinics.
And we cannot remain unscathed.
