Men are Responsible for the Abortion Problem
Introduction
This site is decidedly anti-abortion and I make no apologies for that stance. Other pages on this site demonstrate that abortion kills a human life and that it is logically inconsistent regarding the law. However, lest I be accused of being an anti-women male, I would like to state that I believe men are the root cause of the abortion problem.
The problem
Abortion is a problem in the United States, since every year nearly 1.5 million women feel that they have no choice but to abort their babies. Wantonly destroying one's children is not a choice that most women make enthusiastically. In fact, most women who have had abortions say that they would choose to keep their babies if they felt that they could do so. Women who find themselves in the crisis pregnancy feel that for practical reasons they have no choice but abortion. And, in nearly all cases, men are at fault.
The cause of the problem
At least one-fifth of white children and two-thirds of black children are born to single mothers.1 At least 50% of all children born in the United States will live in a single parent household before they become adults.2 Fathers are abdicating their parental responsibilities and are causing women to choose abortion over motherhood.
Boyfriends abandon their girlfriends and fathers expel their daughters from their homes if they refuse to get an abortion. Women who feel abandoned physically and emotionally make choices that violate their own consciences in order to take the "easy way" out.
Society's contribution
Why have men abandoned their responsibilities to women? One of the primary reasons why men have adopted these attitudes is that they were never taught otherwise by their parents. Biblical moral principles and biblical teaching about God's plan for human sexuality have been ignored and claimed to be "old fashioned" and "irrelevant." The result has been a generation of men who think that women are to be manipulated into being their sexual servants and abandoned when no longer useful in that capacity.
The great American push for rights has resulted in an attitude that individual rights should always prevail over personal responsibility. On the topic of abortion, the courts have perpetuated rights over responsibility in every major decision. For example, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (United States Supreme Court, 1992), the court said that spousal notification was an "undue burden" for the woman. Should individual rights prevent men from even knowing that they had responsibilities to women? The Supreme Court in rendering the decision indicated that abortion was necessary in order "to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and the mystery of human life." The "religion of the sovereign self"3 has so pervaded societal views that personal responsibility is no longer of any concern.
These kinds of callous attitudes have led to large increases in the number of incidences of abuse against women and children within the last thirty years.
The solution
The solution to the abortion problem lies in the obedience of Church to follow the teachings of Jesus and proclaim those teachings to others. The Church4 must not be a reflection of society, but a reflection of Jesus Christ. The Church must proclaim the biblical view of human sexuality. The Church must also start to do the two most important commandments:
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)
The Church, who claims to love God, could do a lot better job of performing the second greatest commandment. According to the apostle John, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." (1 John 4:20) Part of this love to our neighbors includes helping women who need our help. Rather than judge them for past mistakes, we must extend the love of Jesus to them and allow them to make a choice better than abortion. The Church must be willing to provide for their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Those who are able should be willing to provide housing or monetary support to women who cannot afford to give birth to a child. These kinds of resources are available in most areas through crisis pregnancy centers. I work with two of these centers in the Los Angeles area - the Pregnancy Help Center of San Gabriel Valley and Avenues Pregnancy Clinic in Glendale. These centers do not operate by making women feel guilty, but provide for their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Please consider supporting these kinds of ministries
Conclusion
I proclaim the truth about abortion because I am called to do so by my Lord, Jesus Christ. However, if that was all I did, I would be derelict to my calling as His disciple. As James said in his epistle, "If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?" (James 2:16) Those women who are in need during a crisis pregnancy should be cared for by the Church, who should be an expression of the love of Jesus Christ.
"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)
References
- National Center for Health Statistics, reported in The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, vol. 1, The Heritage Foundation, 1993, p. 10.
- Lund, N.J. 1993. Father of the fatherless: the national crisis of fatherlessness. Evangel August/September issue.
- Neuhaus, R.J. 1993. The religion of the sovereign self. In The Right Choice: Pro-life sermons from...", Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN, pp. 61-68.
- The "Church" is not simply a building where
people meet to worship. The Bible defines the church as "those who have been sanctified in
Christ Jesus" and those who call Jesus Christ their Lord:
to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2)
http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/menandabortion.html
Last Modified June 18, 2008