Where It Starts

There has been a lot of talk about abortion these days, and it can be contended that the passion to promote the availability of abortion is a result, by and large, of people wanting to find a way to escape responsibility for sinful behavior. Ephesians chapter 5 challenges us, stating:
1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

The word, "fornication," is found in verse 3.  You could describe it as sensual behavior that is outside of God's plan for sexuality, a key component of which involves fidelity in marriage.  For example, Jesus warned against a man lusting after a woman with the intent to commit adultery.  With the reduction of a high view of marriage, which is the reflection of Christ and the Church, and the proliferation of an "anything goes" mentality, we have seen the unfortunate consequences of the so-called "sexual revolution," which includes the mindset of making sure that the unacceptable option of abortion is available.

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God has a plan for human relationships. He has created a gift that is to be used for His glory in the bonds of marriage - yet people are determined to veer outside His plan at their spiritual peril. 1st Corinthians 6 states:
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

It's a twisted viewpoint of a principle that is taught clearly in Scripture.  The New York Post had a story about some women's responses to the Dobbs decision.  The subject was abstinence, but not in the way you might think. The story, published on June 25, the day after the ruling, related:

Calls for a nationwide sex strike were also gathering momentum on social media and, at one point, “abstinence” was trending on Twitter with more than 26,900 tweets as of Saturday afternoon.

“Women of America: Take the pledge. Because SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade, we cannot take the risk of an unintended pregnancy, therefore, we will not have sex with any man — including our husbands — unless we are trying to become pregnant,” one Twitter user wrote.

“I live in New York and I am DOUBLE FURIOUS with the Supreme Court. I want to find people who are coordinating a mass sex strike. That is our power,” one woman raged. “Women have the power here. No more sex until abortion rights are federal law.”

This is so wrong - but there is a grain of truth contained within, as is the case with most deception.  It's been said that abortion is an outgrowth of the sexual revolution.  God set up a system and established the gift of sex within the bonds of marriage.  The perversion of that is, well, sex outside of marriage - whether it be fornication between two unmarried people or adultery involving at least one married spouse.  The violation of God's principles has resulted in untold heartbreak and unintended pregnancy. 

So, practicing abstinence outside of marriage is a good thing; using it as a political sledgehammer is not.  

And, as it's been pointed out by Dave Kubal of Intercessors for America on The Meeting House, we need to be talking about that straight line between sex and pregnancy.  James Dobson, heard on Family Talk Saturday mornings on Faith Radio, wrote this last fall related to the Dobbs case:

Pro-abortion activists claim that a woman's "right to choose" is at stake and that abortion is necessary to protect women. A recent op-ed rejects this lie and points out the truth: "The right to kill children in the womb is necessary for sexual liberation."

Writing for LifeSiteNews, Jonathon Van Maren explains:

"[T]he masks are coming off and abortion activists are beginning to admit what we always knew: The right to kill children in the womb is necessary for sexual liberation.

"Sure, most activists and media figures will use the tiny number of cases where sexual assault has occurred or other heartbreaking circumstances in order to pretend that "pro-choice" is about compassion rather than convenience. But that has never been true, and that is becoming increasingly obvious."

Dobson goes on to state:

Van Maren goes on to tackle the lie that abortion is "necessary" to prevent "unplanned pregnancy," pointing to an amicus ("friend of the court") brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court by Jonathan Mitchell, a former Texas solicitor general. Mitchell explains, accurately, that "[w] omen can 'control their reproductive lives' without access to abortion; they can do so by refraining from sexual intercourse."

He also notes: "Van Maren is right. The sexual revolution was a devolution, turning sex into nothing more than a physical act and turning children into commodities, sometimes wanted and sometimes unwanted."

John Stonestreet stated, as you can see at Breakpoint.org:

The first lie of the sexual revolution (and I owe my friend Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse for the wording here) is that sex, marriage, and babies are separable. That these created realities were part of a biological, social and religious package deal, went unquestioned until quite recently. Technological innovations, such as the pill, IVF, and surrogacy, legal innovations such as no-fault divorce, and cultural innovations such as ubiquitous pornography and “hook-up” apps, have all made it increasingly easy to imagine that sex is not inherently connected to childbearing, and that childbearing is not necessarily best placed in the context of marriage.

He goes on to say:

The results of the sexual revolution are in: Children are the victims of our bad ideas. In response, Christians are called to be agents of restoration in whatever time and place they find themselves. For us, now, that means advocating for children’s rights.

He quotes Katy Faust, author of a book called, Them Before Us: "Our culture and our laws must incentivize and encourage adults to conform their behavior to the needs of their children if we are to have any hope of a healthy and thriving society.”

Stonestreet also commented recently on the sales of the so-called "morning after pill," also known as Plan B.  He said:

In a recent commercial for a new show, a woman hands a friend a bag with the morning-after pill, so the friend can sleep with a guy spontaneously. In other words, the phrase “emergency contraceptive” is most often a misnomer. Most of the talk of reproductive justice is really about sex without restraint.

So, we talk about "unintended" pregnancies or "crisis" pregnancies.  What should ideally be part of the discussion is that, except in those unfortunate situations where a person does not consent to sex, the "unintended" pregnancy is the biological result of an intentional act.  And, people are looking for ways to circumvent the principles of God and nature in order to enjoy temporary pleasure that Scripture prohibits outside of the context of marriage.  Right act, wrong context - a perversion of God's best, the deception of the enemy.  A grain of truth with the wrong shell.  

Abstinence is no longer cool, well, it seems, except when progressive activists are trying to make a political statement.  And, in the Church, the "purity culture" has been panned by some because young people didn't necessarily see the purpose behind the purity.  That's not to say it's not the right concept: but some perhaps couldn't see the gift of sex in marriage, because they felt like they were being deprived of something they "ought" to have experienced.  Perhaps that's on us as the adults in the room - but sexual purity is God's idea and is a reflection of God's best.  

Unfortunately, we have gotten things backwards these days: it used to be boy meets girl, boy and girl get married, and they have a family. Now, there is no norm, but so often - and the concept is reinforced in entertainment culture - it's boy meets girl, boy and girl sleep together, may produce a child or even abort a child, and may or may not get married.  Again, speaking the truth about relational responsibility is a key component in the overall discussion of abortion.  Certainly, the Church and pro-life ministries can be there to offer assistance to women and men who have erred.  And, we also celebrate the life of every unborn child. But, we can also talk about God's order and how He intends for us to behave.