On Thursday, January 22nd, the pro-life movement will hold their 35th March for Life in Washington, DC. in protest of the Roe vs. Wade decision that made abortion legal in the U.S.Back in the 1980's, I was a dyed in the wool fundamentalist. I belonged to a very conservative Baptist church. In fact, at one point I was taking correspondence courses from Liberty University (which I affectionately called Jerry Falwell University) to work towards my Masters of Arts of Religion.
During that time, I read a lot of books pertaining to the Christian faith and life. One such book that I read at that time was "Bad News for Modern Man" by Franky Schaeffer. That book led me to organize a small group of people from my church to participate in the March for Life.
Over the years, I have moved away from the fundamentalist viewpoint. I still consider myself Christian, but a more liberal strain of Christianity. I have also been influenced by several Buddhist writers. I still come down firmly in the anti-abortion side of the equation. My viewpoint now comes from less of a religious view as it is more of a personal responsibility view. I believe you should be responsible for your actions, and if you don't want a baby, then don't have sex or use proper birth control.
When I started to think about the March for Life as a topic and started to research it, I once again found myself to be in line with the Frank Schaeffer camp toward Roe v Wade. After more than 30 years of trying to fight to overturn Roe v Wade, Shaeffer prefers a different approach. Schaffer has resigned himself that Roe v Wade will not be overturned and will remain legal. Instead, the pro-life movement should focus its energy on ways to reduce the number of abortions performed in the US. In an open letter to Barack Obama, Schaeffer encourages the president elect to go that route.
I still support what the pro-life group is trying to accomplish. Unfortunately, I believe, as Frank Schaeffer said in an interview recently, "When I say that I think abortion should remain legal, what I mean is that the tactic of putting all this energy into overturning Roe, is, I think, just whistling in the dark."
I haven't devoted much thought to the morality or politics of abortion. But I wish the black community in particular would speak more openly about the need to reduce the number of abortions.
ReplyDeleteI came across a shocking statistic not too long ago: For every two black babies born in the United States, one is aborted.
That is vast.
Personal responsibility... yes, that's the issue here, I think.
I think everything comes down to personal responsibility. One out of three black babies aborted is outrageous, I would have had no idea it was that high. Schaeffer's open letter to Obama stated that Obama's has said he would want to reduce the number of abortions. Though Obama also says he would sign the Free Choice Act which would eliminate any of the legal restrictions to abortion. I am not sure those two statements would be compatible.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is that there are consequences for our actions. Unfortunately as a society we have come to expect a quick fix.