Emotional Debate on Abortion

With all the emotional debate on abortion, people are giving very little attention to finding a positive solution. Those who are pro-life give minimal attention to solutions other than expecting a woman to raise a child she doesn’t want. Those who are pro-choice loudly proclaim that a woman has a right to determine what happens to her body, even though the baby is not her body.

The data shows that for many women who choose abortion, the emotional and mental consequences of killing a child last a lifetime. Removing a fetus is not like removing tonsils or an appendix. Attempts to say that a fetus is an extension of the mother’s body are so at odds with all the scientific evidence that a thinking woman will know that the child she put to death was not a vestigial structure.

No one says this situation is easy, no matter what choice a woman makes. Both abortion and adoption tug at the heartstrings of a woman and are emotionally challenging. Adoption requires the strength to carry the child for nine months and then give it up to another family. However, that is an act of love because it involves self-sacrifice. By contrast, taking away a child’s life is entirely different from giving it a better life.

The debate between pro-life and pro-choice often ignores adoption. The latest numbers show that 36 families are waiting to adopt a child for every child available for adoption. Those of us who have adopted a child (and I have adopted three) have had to wait years for the child while wading through the adoption process. The Center for Disease Control reports that 57% of couples with fertility issues are willing to adopt, but the children are simply not available.

The Bible gives a picture of our relationship to God as an adoption. Galatians 4:1-8 and Romans 8:14-17 point out that we are the adopted children of God, and Ephesians 1:4-5 repeats that concept. Instead of the selfish and emotional debate on abortion, we need a solution, and adoption is a neglected alternative.

— John N. Clayton © 2022

Reference: AmericanAdoptions.com