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Abortion - EVERYONE’s writing about it…

There’s been a whole heap of posts on the local (i.e. Australian Christian) blogosphere recently on the topic of abortion, not least our posts here on the current situation in Melbourne.

Most recently, Michelle at The Knock Box asks “Where are the Daddies?“

When many Christians start talking about abortion they often point the finger at the baby’s mother. She, after all, is usually the one who makes the decision to terminate her baby’s life. She is the one who is portrayed as selfish, evil and callous. Perhaps she is. But perhaps she is frightened, intimidated and completely overwhelmed.
...

I occasionally wonder how long it will be before a man challenges the legal right of the baby’s mother to murder his child; perhaps with the emergence of an army of ‘dad’s rights’ groups this may one day happen.

However, I don’t think pointing fingers at mums or dads will make one iota of difference to the rate of abortion in Australia. The only thing that will bring about change is God’s gracious outpouring of His Spirit, bringing people to Christ, and transforming their lives. That is the only hope for our unborn, voiceless children. Pray that God may open they eyes of many!

Lots of people seem to agree with her, not least a myriad of writers who are following up the Melbourne story. They seem to be quite upset…

Oz Conservative is calling the story a “Victory for moral relativists in the Anglican church“:

The Anglican women then tell us that it is “absolutist” to believe that life begins at conception. They offer instead a vague formulation in which the embryo is fully human from the time of conception, but only accrues moral significance and value as it develops. The women believe that it is more serious to consider destroying a foetus at 28 weeks than at 10 weeks, though they are against any “absolutist end-point after which an abortion could not proceed”. So neither the human status nor the “moral value” of the foetus seem to count for much.
...
The real effect of relativism is to make the church a servant of the times. Whatever seems reasonable to the age will most likely be upheld as dogma by a relativist church. But if a church mimics the age doesn’t this make it less, rather than more, relevant as an institution? What can it offer that isn’t already available in the wider society? How can a church lead when it follows the changing social mores of the wider society?

How indeed?

DogfightAtBankstown (cracking name!) is running with “beam me up molech“ (anyone spotting a theme here?) comparing the situation in Melbourne with what’s been going on for a while in TEC. He’s not impressed:

There goes Alison Taylor wth the same-o balderdash.
The seven-woman committee ā€” including an obstetrician, a medical ethicist and a theologian ā€” was appointed by Archbishop Philip Freier, “who felt men had said enough”, one member said.
You mean there are men in the Anglican church in Melbourne? Anyway, if there was an ethicist or a theologian, even a priest amongst that lot, you wouldn’t know it by reading their submission.

Fair enough. Strong words, but then these people are condoning the murder of the unborn.

Edward Michael George gives us the sharply titled “The Inalienable Right to Choose between Carthage and the Gulag“:

Apparently the Diocese of Melbourne is making great leaps forward in recognizing that ‘there [are] circumstances, especially foetal abnormality, when abortion [is] “the least problematic solution”.‘ ... Honestly. How does that line go again? Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven ... Unless, of course, the least problematic solution would be to top them. Say, if they’re retards or whatever.

Amen.

Good point, well made.

Finally, Marcel White Roman Catholic student and fundamentalist-anti-protestant with a beautifully titled blog, Marcel vs the Modernists, cuts loose with “Henry’s Heretics: Abortion and the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne“. (See that? That was clever - he not only takes a swing at Melbourne but also at the rest of us prots…).
Where was I? Oh yes - Marcel wasn’t too impressed either:

The most instructive statement:
“From a theological perspective, there are three main positions presented in relation to unborn life as human life. One is the absolutist position which argues that human life begins at the moment of conception. Although some individual Anglicans may hold this view, it is neither taught by the Anglican Church nor are members required to hold this view.“
Members are not ‘required’ to hold a view on many things, that is what is wonderful about being an Anglican.

See that, he just did it again! Two birds with one shot!

The rest of it is a hoot. Marcel goes way over the top, if you ask me, but for pure entertainment go read it.

And that’s just a sample of the wide range of outrage available to read out there in this topic. I’m sure this story isn’t going to disappear in a hurry.

Posted by on 02/18 at 05:37 PM

Yes, everyone is writing about it.
But no-one who has had one is ever going to say so because we are all so high-and-mighty and theological about it (me included).
We do need to think correctly about the unborn, we do need to be overwhelmed by the extent of the tragedy, but as I read over all that has been written in Christian blogs about abortion, I just can’t imagine a Christian women owning up to the fact that she has had an abortion, and so she is left to her grief in even greater silence, where she should have received the love and compassion of sisters (and brothers - but more removed) in Christ.
So many had external pressure exerted on them to abort, were fed misinformation by the medical profession, were caught between a financial rock and a hard place with people telling them it was the easy way out - and have discovered the road afterward is anything but easy, the grief is unimaginable and unrecognised; and most knew those cells were a baby. No-one offered to help them look after the baby once it was born, or find housing when their family kicked them out, or paid rent, or….
I recommend everyone who writes about abortion read Melissa Tankard Reist’s book “Giving Sorrow Words”. It is exceptionally well written, not a word out of place. It records some 18 women’s personal stories (of 200 sent to the author) and a brilliant introduction and insightful afterword which draw together the issues influencing the situation for so many women.
So, Compassion, please, dear brothers and sisters. Let’s try and say the sorts of things about abortion that would help, not hinder, our sisters speak up and find some healing from the burden they silently bear.

Posted by on 02/20 at 09:28 AM
Thanks Caroline,

I think you’re exactly right! We talk about abortion in a way that makes women who have had abortion feel uncomfortable.

Our real anger should be directed not at those women at all, but on the systems and individuals who persuade them to go through with the murder of their unborn. Women who have abortions are, most of the time, as much victims as their children.

Posted by on 02/20 at 10:50 AM

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