The Right to Abundant Life

The Right to Abundant Life
Today marks the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade legal decision, issued on January 22, 1973, that legalized abortion in the U.S. I wanted to take my thoughts a step further than the two March for Life videos that I posted last week of hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates, many of whom were high school and college students, marching to defend the rights of the unborn.

I am a woman (so clearly I am pro-women) and I’m a Christian who believes in life at conception to the grave, so clearly I am Pro-Life. I am so proud of those who marched for life last week. I was thrilled to see them carrying signs that read “Choose love, Choose life,” “I am the pro-life generation”. God bless President Trump for announcing during the march that he will reject any efforts by pro-abortion leaders in Congress to weaken pro-life laws. He said, ” If they send any legislation to my desk that weakens the protection of human life, I will issue a veto and we have the support to uphold those vetoes.”

I don’t get on a soapbox when it comes to political issues, but when it comes to the sanctity of life, I can’t stay silent. In this case, silence is not golden! I’m not qualified to speak to the scientific debates and arguments going on between the pro-life and pro-abortion camps so I won’t attempt to go there. But I do believe I am qualified to provide what God says from His Holy Word that undergirds pro-life and right-to-life arguments.

1) I am pro-life because men and women are made in the image and likeness of God. “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26). God’s choice at the time of creation. One of the Ten Commandments is: “You shall not kill.” (Exodus 20:13). Why? Remember, God has made man in His image. Abortion is the calculated taking of a life created in God’s image.

2) I am pro-life vs. pro-choice because God is the author and giver of life. “You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” (Nehemiah 9:6) “Life comes from God; God is for life — that is, God is “pro”-life.

3) I am pro-life because the alternative is death. “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life…” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) The abortion industry is a culture of death. The sanctity of life movement is a culture of life. What a contrast!
• God says, “Choose life!” That is God’s “choice” — life!
• Death is an enemy! Post-abortion counseling reveals that many women have been traumatized by the later realization that by having an abortion they have opted for death rather than life for their unborn babies.

4) I am pro-life because there is abundant evidence in the Bible that God looks upon unborn children in the womb as human persons, with human emotions. “At that time Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice, he exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped FOR JOY. (Luke 1:39-44). John
the Baptist, while still in his mother’s womb, “leaped for joy” as Mary, pregnant with Jesus, approached.

5) I am pro-life because every child in the womb has the potential for being used by God to declare His love and to serve Him. “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5) God called Jeremiah to his future ministry as a prophet before he was born.

6) I am pro-life because children are a God-given blessing, a source of happiness, a reward and a heritage from God. “Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from Him. (Psalm 127:3-5)

Two naive, young and completely unskilled in parenting, my husband and myself, started our family at ages 18 and 19. I continually thank God for my two biological children and my two children they married, and my seven grandchildren. I pray for them all daily. Indeed, “The fruit of the womb is God’s reward” (Psalm 127:3). They are a heritage from God, a reward from Him, a God-given source of blessing and happiness. How could anyone think anything otherwise?