Wednesday, January 14, 2015

January 15, 2015

"Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32


What you don't know about abortion can be very harmful or even fatal. That is why I am devoting two posts to addressing ten commonly held misconceptions about abortion. I dealt with the first five yesterday and here are the next five.

Myth No. 6: Abortion is good for women.

Fact: Abortion can cause significant physical and psychological harm.


Physical complications can include cervical lacerations and injury, uterine perforations, bleeding, hemorrhage, serious infection, pain, and incomplete abortion. Risks of complications increase with gestational age and are dependent upon the abortion procedure. Long-term physical consequences of abortion include future preterm birth and placenta previa (improper implantation of the placenta) in future pregnancies. Premature delivery is associated with higher rates of cerebral palsy, as well as respiratory, brain, and bowel abnormalities. Pregnancies complicated by placenta previa result in high rates of preterm birth, low birth weight, and perinatal death.

Myth No. 7: Abortion is beneficial to modern society.

Fact: Abortion has a negative impact on communities and society at large.


Despite “pro-choice” predictions to the contrary, the illegitimacy rate has increased significantly since Roe. The percent of children born out of wedlock at the time of Roe was 15.5 percent, but by 2000 that number had increased to 33.2 percent, and by 2004, it increased to 36 percent.35 There is a high correlation between out-of-wedlock childbearing and a host of negative social indicators such as
pervasive child poverty.


Abortion hits minority communities hardest. The Guttmacher Institute reports that the abortion rate among black women remains more than twice the national average, and three times that of white women. The organization Blacks for Life calls abortion “cooperative genocide.”


Abortion also has contributed to population decline and demographic changes. The U.S. birth rate has dropped to the lowest level since national data has been available. In 2002 the birth rate fell to 13.9 per 1,000—down 17 percent since 1990.


This results in a demographic shift to an older population known as “population ageing” where the share of the population of working age shrinks and the labor force grows older. This demographic phenomenon will have negative effects on the economy, especially as workers reach retirement age leaving fewer people engaged in productive work.

Myth No. 8: The more that people have access to contraception, the fewer abortions there will be.

Fact: More contraception leads to more sexual behavior, more unintended pregnancies, and more abortion.


“Pro-choice” politicians do not want to talk about abortion; they prefer to promote contraception. But research here and abroad shows that increasing access to contraception is not a solution to the problem of soaring abortion rates. In fact, it makes the problem worse. In Sweden, for example, an increase in affordable access to contraception and the presence of free contraceptive counseling have resulted in a substantial increase in the teen abortion rate. The abortion rate has climbed from 17 abortions per thousand teens in 1995 to 22.5 abortions per thousand teens in 2001.


According to Professor Peter Arcidiacono of Duke University, increasing teenagers’ access to contraception “may actually increase long run pregnancy rates even though short run pregnancy rates fall. On the other hand, policies that decrease access to contraception, and hence sexual activity,are likely to lower pregnancy rates in the long run.”

In the United States, a decrease in contraceptive use in recent years correlates to a decrease in the number of abortions. From 1995 to 2002, the rate of contraceptive use decreased from 64 percent to 62 percent,  while the number of abortions fell from 1,359,400 to 1,293,000.

Myth No. 9: Abortion, particularly early abortion, does not take the life of a human being.

Fact: Every abortion takes the life of a human being.


At the time of fertilization, when a sperm penetrates the ovum or “egg” cell, a new human organism comes into existence, with a complete and unique genetic code.  This is a scientific fact, not a religious claim. Those who claim not to know “when human life begins” are making a political statement, not a scientific one. 


Human beings develop at an astonishingly rapid pace. The cardio-vascular system is the first major system to function. The blood is circulating and the heart begins to beat at 21 or 22 days (3 weeks), and can be detected on ultrasound. By the end of the eighth week, the unborn child has developed all its organs and biological systems.50 20 weeks after fertilization (5 months), unborn children feel pain.


Some try to distinguish among human beings, arguing that some are worthy of respect (because they possess certain characteristics), while others are not. This assertion contradicts the basic premise of Western law and of our Constitution—the equality of all human beings. As the Declaration of Independence says, all human beings are created equal. It would be perilous to abandon this point of view and to adopt a philosophy that puts into the hands of some human beings (the powerful) the right to decide whether other human beings (the weak, the unpopular, the defenseless) are to be counted as members of the human family.

Myth No. 10: I can be “personally opposed, but pro-choice.”



Fact: That is impossible.
While it is true that some people claim to be “personally opposed, but pro-choice,” that position is, logically, impossible to hold. People who profess this opinion say that while they would not choose abortion themselves, they would not deny women the option to choose it. They appear to think that what is a wrong choice “for them” might not be wrong “for someone else.” However, what happens in an abortion is an objective fact, not a subjective judgment. During an abortion a human being who is unborn—and therefore innocent of any wrong-doing—is killed. Since abortion is, thus, objectively unjust, anyone who supports the “right” of others to have abortions necessarily supports such unjust acts (the killing of innocent, unborn children). Further, a choice to be “personally opposed but pro-choice” is necessarily a choice in favor of the legalization of abortion (so that the “choice” to abort is available to others). And that means the person who makes such a choice accepts that innocent, unborn children will be killed by abortions, albeit by other people. Thus, while one can say that one is “personally opposed but pro-choice,” what one necessarily means is “I support the right to kill innocent human beings.” 

Jesus said the truth will set you free. It will. It will deliver you from the lies and deceit that put you into bondage.


The truth Jesus referred to is more than knowing facts, it is knowing Him by faith! Jesus by His own words is "the Way, the Truth and the Life."


Knowing Him will lead you to truth.


Knowing Him will give you life.


Knowing Him will give you respect for life.


The more people who come to know Him, the more lives that will be saved.