I can keep silent no longer.
I’m amazed at how mute many, if not most evangelical churches in Australia are about the tragedy of abortion. It’s akin to many Christians† in Germany who, after the Second World War, stated that they new nothing of the extermination of six million Jews right under their noses.
I’ve started conversation with fellow Christians about the abortion issue in Australia. Most respond uncomfortably about the subject and it’s clear they would rather not talk about it. When I point out that we live in a state that is reported to have the most draconian abortion laws in the world, the response is incredulity. The Australian Family Association suggests that the church is “intimidated by the feminist rhetoric”‡.
The Victorian abortion law legalises abortion to occur at any time, even right up to birth. It allows inhumane partial-birth abortion. It also compels Victorian doctors to refer their patients to other doctors who will perform abortions despite their opinions on abortion. The personal conscience of Victorian nurses is also removed. No independent counselling is provided, and no pain relief for the baby is required. The Victorian Parliament also ensured that babies born alive despite their abortions (ie abortion “failures”) will not survive.
Abortion in Australia
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3WHP7Q5dp8&autoplay=&fs=1&showinfo=0&showsearch=0&rel=0&hl=en_US]
If, after viewing this video, it isn’t obvious to you that this law legalises state sanctioned murder, perhaps these “Ten Reasons Why it is Wrong to Take the Life of Unborn Children”, written by John Piper will. [Read the full text of this quote from John Piper.]
1. God commanded, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).
2. The destruction of conceived human life – whether embryonic, fetal, or viable – is an assault on the unique person-forming work of God.
3. Aborting unborn humans falls under the repeated biblical ban against “shedding innocent blood.”
4. The Bible frequently expresses the high priority God puts on the protection and provision and vindication of the weakest and most helpless and most victimized members of the community.
5. By judging difficult and even tragic human life as a worse evil than taking life, abortionists contradict the widespread biblical teaching that God loves to show His gracious power through suffering and not just by helping people avoid suffering.
6. It is a sin of presumption to justify abortion by taking comfort in the fact that all these little children will go to heaven or even be given full adult life in the resurrection.
7. The Bible commands us to rescue our neighbor who is being unjustly led away to death.
8. Aborting unborn children falls under Jesus’ rebuke of those who spurned children as inconvenient and unworthy of the Savior’s attention.
9. It is the right of God the Maker to give and to take human life. It is not our individual right to make this choice.
10. Finally, saving faith in Jesus Christ brings forgiveness of sins and cleansing of conscience and help through life and hope for eternity. Surrounded by such omnipotent love, every follower of Jesus is free from the greed and fear that might lure a person to forsake these truths in order to gain money or avoid reproach.
Laws can be repealed or amended. Write your member of Parliament to express your concern over this. You can obtain contact information here.
‡Australian Family Association
9 Comments
Alan_JMU
The views of abortion being an incorrect act through the Bible I completely agree with. All abortion rights lead back to one simple thing, what deems a human being and human. This needs to be defined though, on what a human being would be. A human being is an organism, that is produced biologically through two gametes. These gametes combine through fertilization creating a new diploid organism. This organism then undergoes mitosis, growing. So upon fertilization there is a new being. This view on the beginning of a a life is where there is a great debate that causes anti abortion laws or laws for abortion. Many people seem to believe that a human being is not a living human until after birth? But if a baby can die in the womb, how is it not a living human? I can tell through the proposed views that this is most likely already believed, but touching on this biological aspect of life can strengthen the abortion argument of Biblical references.
Don
In ‘Arguments Against Abortion’ Lansdown reveals the wonder of early life: “The baby’s sex can be determined as early as four days after conception. His (or her) blood cells form as early as the seventeenth day. His eyes begin to form around the nineteenth day. His nervous system begins to form around the twentieth day. His heart begins regular pulsations (a legal sign of life) around the twenty-fifth day. His cerebral cortex begins to form around the thirty-third day, with brain waves being recordable ten days later. Around seven weeks (before most abortions are performed) the unborn child is recognisably human, with a miniature head, face and body, and tiny arms, legs, fingers and toes. Around eight weeks all his organs— brain, liver, kidneys and stomach— are functioning. Around the tenth week he can squint, swallow, kick, and grasp.”
Kate
Hi Don,
I realise this is a difficult subject for some people to discuss, and want to make it perfectly clear that i respect your right to hold whatever opinion you choose. However, with respect, i must also point out some misinformation in the above post:
– Abortion ‘up until birth’ is only allowed if two doctors agree to it, which, knowing the integrity of the medical profession, they would not do without extremely good reason. In other words, i highly doubt that you would be able to find two doctors (plus another to perform the procedure) who would agree that a post-24 week pregnancy should be terminated were there no health concerns for either woman or fetus.
– The law does not compel doctors or nurses to refer women to practitioners who will perform abortions. It requires them, if they have a conscientious objection to abortion, to refer their patient to another practitioner who does not have that objection. That is, they must refer a woman to someone else who will refer her for abortion if that is her choice.
– Independent counselling is on offer throughout Australia via a federally-funded helpline, but it is not mandatory. It is, however, available and free. Some states also have their own funded all-options counselling services which are not attached to clinics or other services.
– The UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists state that fetuses do not feel pain before 24 weeks gestation, therefore negating the need for pain relief to be administered in almost all abortion procedures. Their report is available here: http://www.rcog.org.uk/fetal-awareness-review-research-and-recommendations-practice.
Abortion is a difficult decision for women to make, not something they take lightly. It is, and should be, an individual’s decision to make.
Don
Kate you have more faith in the integrity of the medical profession than I do. It hardly seems insurmountable for a doctor to find a second doctor who reasonably believes that the abortion is “appropriate in all the circumstances”† namely “all relevant medical circumstances; and the woman’s current and future physical, psychological and social circumstances”†.
Your comment seems to suggest that a third doctor is required to perform the procedure. From my reading, an abortion is allowed as long as the doctor has "consulted at least one other registered medical practitioner who also reasonably believes that the abortion is appropriate in all the circumstances"†.
Kate, your comment concerning conscientious objection seems to be a mute point. Surely the end result is that the law requires a doctor of conscience on this point to refer the patient to a medical practitioner that does not have an ethical objection to abortion.
It's the nature of "independent counselling" that makes most Christians very nervous. How many of these counselling facilities provide the mother with information about alternatives to abortion?
I have read the UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists article. It seems there is research to indicate that a baby pre twenty-four week gestation does not feel pain. But with the recent Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 in Victoria one becomes concerned about abortions performed post this gestation period.
†Quotes from Abortion Law Reform Act 2008.
Stu (Author)
Hi Don,
What a tragic and difficult topic this is to discuss let alone go through. Women seem to have abortions for a variety of reasons. Some are simply due the inconvenience of having a baby at that time whilst others may be due to complications with the baby and/or mother. My wife and I firmly believe that life is a gift from God, but as we live in a fallen world we are all exposed to sin and disease, even from the point of conception in the womb. While we both believe abortion is wrong as it’s effectively killing a human being, the one time I feel aborting could be justified is if the mother’s life is clearly in danger. Apart from that we need to trust in God with the life of the baby.
Some may say “well that’s easy for you to say… what if you were in a situation where things weren’t going well with the baby. Would you have those convictions then?” It’s always a greater test of faith to live out what you believe then to simply verbalise it. Well I can say I am speaking from experience in this situation.
My wife and I a year or so ago were faced with the situation of a pregnancy that didn’t go well. It really put our faith and trust in God to the test considerably. We found out after 12 weeks that our daughter had severe Down’s Syndrome. She was unlikely to live yet it wasn’t conclusive. My wife’s life wasn’t in danger, however we were recommended to terminate the pregnancy given the severe nature of our baby’s condition. If by some miracle she did survive, her quality of life would be extremely poor and would more then likely pass away soon after birth.
After much agonizing prayer and discussion, we decided to trust in God with this pregnancy and allow God to do with our baby what He knows is best.
The heart of our little girl kept beating for the next seven weeks. I remember looking at the ultrasound and seeing her beating heart pounding away. Despite the insurmountable obstacles that lay ahead it beat strongly. My eye’s welt up at the strength of our little girl. “That’s my girl” I thought to myself. She wasn’t even born and I found myself feeling like a proud dad.
Each week my wife and I were compounded with traumatic emotions and petrifying scenarios in our minds. The burden was enormous. Yet during this time we chose to draw close to God and above all allow Him to have control of the situation. He knew what was best for us and our little girl.
At the 19 week mark, our girl’s heart stopped beating. The emotions were mixed. I remember going home and retreating to outside where I burst into tears. The anguish was awful, the relief that is was over was huge. Yet above all the peace I had that our girl was with the Lord was incredibly reassuring.
We decided to call our girl Grace, as a result of God’s grace in her life. In not terminating her life from the outset, through the pain and anguish my wife and I grew closer to God and admired the strength and perseverance of Grace. We look forward to the day we can spend eternity with her in heaven worshiping our merciful and glorious God.
Soli Deo Gloria
Don,
What is missing here is a primary Christian response. It is not to write a letter, or to campaign, or to vote. It is to pray. As God surveys this scene, He notes that no-one seeks His face about this. We are so conceited to think that by our own force of argument and action we have the solution in our hands. If we really believe this is an evil in our own State, then give Him no rest.
There are other equally evil things which the global community is aware of.
If we are serious about our love for believers, then there again, the primary response is to pray, and having prayed we do all in our power to help.
It is not an argument to say ‘we take prayer for granted in all this’, the evidence from a simple audit shows that prayer among believers in Victoria is a very very minor activity that plays an insignificant part in our lives and churches. There appears to be far more important things for us to be engaged in. Once it was ‘of the writing of books there is no end’. Now it is everyone has a blog. We talk about Him, but not to Him.
Don
God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil…
~ E.M.Bounds
Soli Deo Gloria
Don,
Its a while since I read EM Bounds, but as usual he ‘hits the spot’. How gracious God is in that He waits for His people to cry out to Him. So often we read blogs like this filled up with complaints about our world and the evil in it, but is it surprising seeing that God’s people have largely forsaken real engagement in prayer, and the prayer meeting? There is a definite connection between our circumstances and the prayer life of believers and churches. James says to believers: ‘you do not have, because you do not ask God’….. or ‘you ask with wrong motives’. James 4 is a very sobering and clear description of our own Christian community today. The Scriptures are always relevant to our lives, but in this respect, none is I think more relevant than this.
Soli Deo Gloria
“God’s own people need, or else they would not receive it, a command to pray. How is this? Because dear friends we are very subject to fits of worldliness, if indeed that be not our usual state.We do not forget to eat, we do not forget to be diligent in business, we do not forget to go to our beds to rest, but we often do forget to wrestle with God in prayer, and to spend as we ought to spend, long periods in consecrated fellowship with our Father and our God. With too many professors the ledger is so bulky that you cannot move it, and the Bible, representing their devotion, is so small that you might almost put it in your waistcoat pocket. Hours for the world! Moments for Christ! The world has the best, and the closet the parings of our time. We give our strength and freshness to the ways of mammon, and our fatigue and languor to the ways of God. Hence it is that we need to be commanded to attend to that very act which ought to be our greatest happiness, as it is our highest privilege to perform, viz, to meet with our God. ‘Call unto me,’ saith he, for he knows that we are apt to forget to call upon God.”
C H Spurgeon