35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
There are few words that bring such raw emotions to mind as the word “abortion.” To some it denotes a necessary medical procedure that protects a woman’s right to choose when and if to have a child. To others, the word reminds them of the almost 50 million American babies who have been killed using the abortion procedure since its legalization was mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court 35 years ago. To others, it is so sensitive it should never be discussed at all.
Wherever we fall along this continuum, we likely have at least some sensitivity to the claims of those on the other side of this painful debate. But on this 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, it is hard to ignore the reality around us. This year more than 1.2 million American babies will be aborted. Of these, approximately 92% will be healthy babies conceived consensually to healthy moms. Over 500,000 of these babies will be at or past the point of development where they have little faces, arms, legs, fingers and toes.
The enormity of ending the lives of these little babies never hit me as hard as it did during the time when our first child was born. She was born two-and-a-half months premature—a little baby, for sure, but human in every facet. She cried when she was stuck, she grasped onto us when we held her tiny body, and when I put my finger in her small hand, she grasped it. Studies show that premature babies survive at much higher rates when they are cuddled against their parents’ skin, so my wife and I sat for many hours with our little precious girl in our arms.
Those two months in the neonatal intensive care unit gave me a refreshed view of just how precious these little human beings are. And if she was precious at 29 weeks gestation, wouldn’t she be equally precious at 25 weeks, or 18 weeks? At what point would she no longer be a precious human being? Maybe there is no easy answer to this question, but it is hard to ignore that a baby with a little face, arms, legs, fingers and toes is a lot more than a piece of property that can be disposed of at will.
Freedom is a very precious thing—but all liberties have limits. Have we gone too far when we value reproductive freedom over the lives of unborn children? As we consider the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I have to ask myself some very difficult questions. What does it mean to sit silently as more than a million healthy babies in healthy pregnancies are killed in America each year? How best can we—individually, as a church and as a society—best help moms facing difficult economic, social, relational and personal pressures during pregnancy? How can we ensure that every mom in America receives excellent prenatal care?
Maybe the answers aren’t always immediately obvious, but what is obvious is that, as Christians, we have an obligation to ask the questions and then to follow through as best as we are able to make a difference. The United States is a fabulously wealthy nation, and a wonderfully capable society. There are few things we can’t do when we put our collective intellect and resources towards a national goal. On this 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it is my prayer we will collectively commit to reducing the number of abortions in the United States towards the goal of ending the killing of healthy babies carried by healthy mothers. There must be a better way forward than to repeat the tragedy of the last 35 years.
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