This I Believe

Dear NPR – “This I Believe”: May I offer an, as yet, unvoiced alternative spiritual perspective in the seemingly immovable abortion debate between pro-choice and pro-life positions? Oh, and by the way, is not the abortion debate a spiritual debate? I’ve never heard or read it argued without God being made the “straw man.” If it’s not, then let’s all read Darwin and put down our guns. First of all, I must say, it’s hard to debate anyone who considers birth control pills, condoms and certainly the French morning after pill as being forms of abortion. Okay, here it is…a woman who chooses to have an abortion is exercising her free will. A gift (or curse, as it were) that we can only thank Adam and Eve for, but, like it or not, God allows this (evidence the reality), and more importantly, KNOWS IT! Far in advance…from the very foundation. Why, then, would He ever waste a precious Soul on something that He knows will be flesh for only a moment before returning to dust. Why…for what? No one presumes to know the mind of God…but God is the author of logic…why wouldn’t He use it? Then again, some might argue that He allows abortions to use as evidence against us (well, mainly women…of course) on Judgement Day. Is He that vengeful?…that hateful?…that manipulative? That short on evidence? No, I think not. And besides, consider a spontaneous abortion, when no evil intent…no free will is employed. Just another Soul down the drain…no one to blame – not even God. Why send it on such a pointless journey when God can simply exercise HIS free will by leaving that Soul in its holy receptor…awaiting the next full-term child to emerge – breathe – and begin trying to understand this mindboggling experience we call life. A reasonable theory? I think so, but apparently many tunnel visionaries see God on his throne weeping uncontrollably for a multitude of wasted souls. Lost INSPITE of Him. Is their God a hapless automaton? And what about the health (even survival) of the

mother? What about incest…or rape by a stranger who may have even tried to murder his victim, but failed? Do we cut these women any slack? That resulting pregnancy was not an act of God. Far from it. It was a perversion by Satan using a process that God created. And please, don’t anyone suggest that mankind doesn’t abuse or pervert God’s creations every minute of every day. Alas, if one says, “no matter how it got there, it’s just an innocent baby now,” I would respond, “wrong again!” Webster’s notwithstanding, I would argue that innocence (in this case) requires consciousness… awareness. The ability to choose the Godly path over the crooked way. Just having not arrived, I feel, does not meet the higher calling of Innocence. And what about those most extreme defenders of the unborn. Has an abortion clinic bomber ever considered this scenario?…the clinic receptionist and her unborn fetus or both killed in the blast. How could that be explained to God in this unholy passion play? Oops!…would not suffice. Ultimately, what, then, is the fate of these billions of “innocent”, unborn, aborted “souls?” What is their job…their place in Eternity? Will they be Angels, or does God give each of them an artificial personality and history. Or will they simply greet those, who share some “guilt,” at Heaven’s Gate, with a profound, deafening lament of “I was aborted – I was aborted – I was aborted.” If so, what happened to the

concept of Heaven being a place where there is no guilt, or shame, or fear, or saddness…or tears? Unfortunately, the debate I seek may never be won…or lost…or, more likely, even joined. We really can’t even agree to disagree.

Pro-life advocates simply believe that God injects a Soul simaltaneous to a sperm fertilizing an egg, then turns a blind (yet all knowing) Eye to its ultimate fate. Why would they believe that? I would welcome an equally thoughtful and articulate reasoning of their passionate feelings. It’s one I’ve never heard. Ironically, I can see why a “humanist” would make an anti-abortion argument, given their view that the biological life is all there is and should not be denied in any case, be it human, plant or field mouse. Lastly, please spare me the grotesque and sad abortion photos. Where’s the credibility? For some, inexplicably, the defense of life ends at the birth canal

when that first successful breath is taken. As if life was an assembly line. Make sure it works…pack it up and ship it out! Even if it survives only a heartbeat in the barren deserts of Africa. Wow!, if only this passion and energy and these resources could be redirected toward those millions of Soulbound children who die each year in ways that are every bit as grotesque and sad. A refocus of these efforts would, no doubt, save many from their seemingly preordained fates