What Abortion Is

From a Biblical standpoint, life is the womb is precious, and every human being has the right to life. Just think of the millions whose lives have been taken from the womb and who they could have become. God told the prophet Jeremiah in the first chapter of the book that bears his name:
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
6 Then said I: "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth."
7 But the Lord said to me: "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

Regarding abortion, a well-known talk show host and commentator said this, "A lot of people think..." that it is "murder."  He went on to say, "I scold the Left when they say, ‘Oh, you know what, they just hate women, people who aren’t pro-choice.’ They don’t hate women. [The Left] just made that up. They think it’s murder and it kind of is."

So, whoever this is certainly has a pro-life position, right? Well, not so fast; he went on to say: "I’m just okay with that. I am. I mean, there’s 8 billion people in the world. I’m sorry, we won’t miss you. That’s my position on it.”  

Abortion is murder, and that's OK?  Really?  Those are some published statements from progressive host Bill Maher, as quoted by the Live Action News site. The story opens up with these statements:

“Real Time” host Bill Maher might be one of the most honest abortion supporters in America. Maher, who once shared that he was almost the victim of abortion and called himself “a little squishy” on the issue, has also said he supports it as a means of population control.  

The article reports that Maher made his statements in "a panel discussion on the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to uphold an 1864 pro-life law protecting preborn children from abortion..."

It goes on to say this:

After a beat, guest Piers Morgan replied, “That’s kind of harsh.”

Maher responded, “Isn’t that your position if you’re pro-choice?”

The article went on to offer this analysis: 

A May 2023 Gallup poll found that 51% of Americans think abortion should be legal “only under certain circumstances” and only 13% say it should be illegal in all circumstances. Forty-four percent (44%) identified themselves as pro-life and 41% call abortion morally wrong. But just 13% said abortion should always be illegal. Perhaps those 13% understand that induced abortion is intentional and direct killing, and this is never necessary, even in dire situations of medical emergency.

Maher believes abortion is about population control, and Live Action agrees, stating:

Abortion has never truly been about women’s equality or empowerment. It has always been about population control. One piece of evidence is the Planned Parenthood-produced Jaffe Report, which proposed certain tactics in an effort to curb population growth in the U.S. Those tactics included convincing Americans to avoid or postpone marriage, altering the image of the ideal family size, encouraging women to work outside the home, payments to encourage abortion, and even the coerced abortion of out-of-wedlock pregnancies.

The article goes on to say:

Americans have been killing off their children under the guise of women’s freedom and rights for more than 50 years. For those five decades and now, legalized abortion has really been about the elite controlling the population of the rest of society, namely minorities and the underprivileged. It was never about a woman’s rights; it was always about power. And pro-abortion men had (and still have) a significant role in pushing this agenda as well.

And, even those who call themselves pro-life seem to support the taking of human life in some circumstances. The Live Action article concludes by saying:

America is now center stage for the global debate of whether or not it’s ethical to murder the most vulnerable among us. Maher is “fine” with murdering preborn children and is honest enough to point out that every “pro-choicer” is. He also sees clearly that even pro-lifers who do know abortion is unethical and are not “fine” with it, still seem to want it legal some of the time. It’s a position even pro-abortion Bill Maher knows is untenable.

People smarter than I are trying to figure out why these state amendments guaranteeing a so-called "right" to abortion have passed - which is a growing area of concern in several states, including Florida, is coming up in November.   Recently, even though the state Supreme Court upheld a 6-week abortion ban, it also allowed this amendment to be put on the ballot, despite the deceptive language that Mat Staver and Liberty Counsel have identified. 

In the past, states attempted to whittle away at the margins of protecting life - at the time of the Dobbs ruling, a sweeping protection of unborn human life in Alabama had been placed on hold; the law was allowed to go into effect the very day that ruling was issued. The Alabama Legislature and others have taken bold steps to ban most abortions.  But, in other states, whether out of political pragmatism or lack of pro-life assertiveness, steps are being taken to allow most abortions in their states, adopting the old Roe v. Wade method of selecting an arbitrary figure and then crafting legislation using that number as the age of the unborn child at which he or she becomes "viable."  

We certainly have to take abortion out of being some sort of "numbers game."  To do this, for one thing, we need to re-educate people on what abortion really is. A Washington Examiner piece quoted former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson of And Then There Were None, commenting on the way forward for the pro-life movement in light of defeats at the ballot box; she said:

“I personally think that we need to get back to basics in the pro-life movement,” she said. “We’ve got to get back to basic education about life in the womb. We talk about abortion, but I don’t think people know what abortion is, and the perfect example of that was the Kate Cox case. … The primary victim in an abortion procedure is the baby being killed. We need to get back to: What is an abortion procedure? What is a child in the womb? When does a heart start beating? People need to know this information.”

Kate Cox was the Texas woman who had a prenatal diagnosis for her unborn child, could not receive an abortion in Texas, so she went out of state.  The case was used to denigrate the "extreme" Texas pro-life law, a law that has been effective - the Examiner piece noted, regarding the state:

In 2020, there were more than 50,000 abortions reported compared to only 34 in the first nine months of 2023. There were about 115,000 fewer abortions in the 17 states that had essentially banned the procedure. More babies are being born, too. A June Texas Tribune article suggested at least 10,000 more babies had been born in Texas since its heartbeat law passed in 2021.

And, as it's been pointed out - we have to define what abortion "extremism" really is.  It's not the protection of unborn children from having their lives terminated in a brutal procedure. It's those who have such a callous disregard for life that they favor taking that life in all 9 months of pregnancy, some even beyond.  As polling data has indicated, the majority of people who support abortion still think it should be have limitations.  Why is that?  While only 4-in-10 said abortion is morally wrong in that Gallup survey, I think deep down that the thought of taking unborn life, not upholding a woman's right to choose, is offensive.  We have to capitalize on that by continuing to stand for life and, at the same time, show compassion for women and win their hearts.