Abortion Is a Grave Matter, Stop Making Light of It

Washington, D.C. — Our abortion debates in America are cruel. They don’t make sense. And we are all way too used to abortion.

This year marks the 50th anniversary since Roe v. Wade. Obviously, this year people gathered in Washington, D.C., for the March for Life with a new reality of life after the Supreme Court threw out Roe — which, if you take an honest look at it, was bad law, bad history, bad science, and bad to women, the unborn, and to family life in America. It was an injustice, and it lied to people. It put in place cultural expectations that not only suggested but all too often insisted that abortion was a preference in all kinds of situations: for a woman in school, for one early in her career, for anyone poor and maybe especially for anyone black. Those last categories are how Planned Parenthood started in the first place. It was about eugenics — the effort to decrease the population of people seen as undesirable. Sometimes it’s still about that today.

But about the cruelty: It grieves me that some people, and women in a particular way, are reading this and are hurt by it. You had an abortion — or more than one abortion — and you believed it was the humane thing to do. You had seen a child suffer. You feared that your child would suffer. You were convinced it would be cruel to bring a child into the world. I do not write or say anything to judge you.

I believe that most of us try to do the right thing day in and day out. That’s why we need to have more loving communities of support to walk with one another rather than cancel and judge and be rotten on social media. You may be so sick with pain for the decision you felt you had to make. One thing I wish you could know is that there are ministries — both secular and religious — that don’t care whether you believe abortion is wrong, don’t care whether you believe in God. They just want to help you heal (see postabortionhelp.org, sistersoflife.org, or abortionchangesyou.com/en).

There is the utter incoherence in so much of what we say and do when it comes to abortion in the United States. During the recent debate on the floor of the House of Representatives about legislation that would help protect babies who are actually born alive during a botched abortion, a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan quoted from Jeremiah to defend her “no” vote. She began: “As a pro-choice Christian who chose life, this issue is so personal to me. My faith informs my actions, but it doesn’t dictate the policy of an entire nation.” She then quoted some of her scriptural guidance on the matter of abortion, Jeremiah 1:5, in which Jeremiah shares the Lord words to him: “I knew you before I formed you, and I placed you in your mother’s womb.” She explained, as if her point was a clear one, that Scripture doesn’t say “the government’s womb,” or “the Speaker’s womb.” It says, “the mother’s womb.”

PHOTOS: March for Life 2023

During the Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception before the March for Life this year, Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Va., who runs the U.S. bishops’ pro-life office, said that a child in the womb belongs to God first, and we all have a responsibility to do what we can to protect that child of God. This does seem to be a more sensible takeaway from Scripture.

Another Democratic congresswoman argued that it would be dangerous to bring such a child, one who has survived an abortion, to a hospital: The legislation “requires immediately taking a struggling baby to a hospital. That hospital could be hours away and could be detrimental to the life of that baby.” So, the alternative is to leave the baby to die? That is both cruelty and incoherence. And it’s an outgrowth of being way too used to the idea that abortion is a right to a dead baby.

In this new moment after Roe, we need a cultural examination of conscience. Why is abortion so commonplace? Why is it considered freedom and health care when women and girls all too often feel enslaved to this one choice, without actual consideration of other options: life, motherhood, adoption? There are very hard cases and painful suffering. But most abortions in America are a means of birth control. They are presented as a “solution” to unplanned pregnancies that are considered inconvenient. The vast majority of abortions in America are not horrific stories that necessitate babies being born alive in the latest stages of pregnancy. Can we talk about most abortions and how we can help women actually choose freely, for a start?

To mark the 50th anniversary of Roe and the first March for Life without it, NPR profiled a nurse practitioner and midwife who does telehealth abortions. The title was: “With telehealth abortion, doctors have to learn to trust and empower patients.” The reporter noted: “Once, she provided an abortion from a restaurant, where she was out to dinner with friends” and then went on to quote the midwife as explaining: “I have found ways to just sort of work it into the rest of my life.  If I’ve got to go meet a contractor at my house, I’ll be doing an abortion phone consult while I’m driving.”

CVS and Walgreens are soon to dispense abortion pills. Should that really be a matter to discuss while driving, or at dinner, or squeezed in before a meeting with your house contractor? That also seems cruel, incoherent, and terrifyingly casual. Can we talk about this? If you’ve had an abortion? If you believe abortion is evil? All of us. Can we do better?

This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.