It’s Friday, January 25th, 2019.
On Tuesday, January 22, 2019, Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, signed the Reproductive Health Act into law, legalizing late-term abortion.
Many people have spoken out against it.
In our day and age in America, we are used to people voicing opinions.
We are accustomed to outrage.
We are familiar with dramatic posts, like this one.
Are you uncomfortable with how dramatic this post begins?
I am, too, and I’m the one writing it. It bothers me.
Why?
It’s because we are so used to righteous indignation on the internet.
So much so that now, when something should appropriately horrify us, we have trouble discerning whether or not it’s even worth getting mad about.
There are many issues we do not get outraged enough about, when we should, for some of the following reasons:
We don’t know for sure if we have the whole truth, and we don’t really have time to invest into researching and finding out.
We assume one of the political sides is trying to use an issue as a tactic to gain power over the other. We don’t want to get political. It’s too divisive.
And frankly, we’re really tired of being outraged.
We don’t want to fall for lies anymore. It’s bad for our health. It makes us anxious, depressed, and irritable. We have fallen for misinformation so many times. It’s like the “boy who cried wolf.” We know that everything shouldn’t spark outrage, so we swing too far to the other side, and apathy sets in.
We sometimes think, well, I’m not an expert on these things. What do I know about what complicated laws mean or when a fetus is considered a baby?
Some of us Christians even think, “well, the Bible says this will happen, that the world will become more and more evil in the last days. Why should we be surprised?” And then continue living our lives.
And much of the time, we are just really tired of giving our emotional energy to issues when we feel like we cannot do anything about them.
…BUT, THE TRUTH IS
The issue of late-term abortion in the state of New York, like many other real issues in the world today, is not a case of misinformation.
We don’t have to be experts on a subject to have an informed opinion.
As Christians, though the Bible tells us these evils will happen, though God is sovereign and He is in control, we are still responsible to stand up for the weak, the powerless, and the oppressed.
Even though it sometimes feels like we, too, are completely powerless, there are tangible things we can do to fight against evil.
In a culture that propagates temporal issues that only serve to divide us, some issues are worth our outrage. Some issues are worth a response.
Maybe we aren’t comfortable speaking out on any sort of platform. Maybe only the Lord will actually know the cry of our heart. But as Christians, we have to care.
Some people believe that abortion is a complicated issue. Does life start at conception? Does life start when there is a heartbeat? Does life start when the baby is viable outside the womb? There’s room for different opinions, and there are plenty of them.
But with late-term abortion, which is now legal in New York, we are talking about fully developed babies. They can feel pain, they have a heartbeat, they have fully developed organs. If a child of the same age were to be born without breath in her lungs, we would call her stillborn and mourn her precious life. This is not a subjective issue, where we can think, “well, I personally wouldn’t do it, but that’s just me.”
We are not talking about blobs of tissue. These are actual children who need us to speak out and stand up for them. These are babies who would otherwise be a few weeks, or days, or moments, from nursing at their mother’s breast.
This is not just a Christian issue. This is a human issue.
And this, of course, is a woman’s issue. Many women around the world, those who have survived their abortion, regret their choice to abort. Many are grieving their lost child. Jesus can and will forgive women who have chosen abortion, if forgiveness is sought. He can begin the journey of healing.
Women are being lied to about the freedom that abortion brings. In reality, abortion ruins lives. There are testimonies of brave women speaking out about what their abortion has done to them, pleading with other women not to do it.
This law is not about women’s rights or women empowerment. It is reprehensible. The audacity of leaders in government to celebrate this law is disgusting and shameful. Millions of women are not “celebrating their abortions” as the media would have us believe.
And how about fathers? Fathers of children have absolutely no legal right to save their child’s life. Some people might want us to believe that men don’t care what the women do, because she is exercising her right to choose. Do we really think that every single one of these men is shouting, “Good for you! Your body, your choice!”
No. In reality, fathers have no say in the matter. Not only do they have no say in the matter, but our twisted culture wants fathers to believe that they are wrong to feel sad that their child has been killed. We are all being lied to.
So, Then, How Do We Respond?
Even though there are many voices out there already, you can still add yours. Even if it falls on deaf ears, or angry ears, or hurt ears. Our response might look like a Facebook post, as well-thought out as we can manage, and kind. Just because there are so many posts already in our feed, we don’t need to shrink back. We might lose some Facebook friends. We might start a debate in the comments. But somebody might read something there that they weren’t aware of. It might look like spreading awareness in another way. Though in your immediate friend circles it might be a big issue, you might reach someone who doesn’t know that this is happening.
We might not want to deal with that on our Facebook or another social media platform. It can be really stressful. We should ask ourselves if there is something that is keeping us from posting about certain issues, whether we are afraid to lose friends or ruffle feathers, or we really just don’t care that much. But we shouldn’t feel guilty for not posting on Facebook about something we truly care about.
Jesus wants us to be bold and stand up for the truth. We must always stand for truth. But it is not a Biblical mandate to post on Facebook if an issue gets your blood boiling.
Our response might look like a donation to activist groups like Live Action or New Wave Feminists. It might look like donating to another worthwhile organization like Project Rachel, or a local pregnancy center in your town. It might look like volunteering and donating your time and energy. There are people who have dedicated their lives to doing what we might not be able to spend our time and money doing. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel and start a new ministry. There are already ministries out there doing wonderful and necessary things. We can just support them, with our dollars or our time or our voice.
Our response might look like supporting organizations that help single mothers, single fathers, and struggling families. Loving a single mother who has chosen life. It might look like helping to babysit for a family who could use a break. Mentoring youth. Being a big brother/big sister. Fostering or adopting.
In America, we have so many resources and opportunities that other people don’t have access to. With amazing opportunities we have, we also have the freedom to spend all of our time and money on entertainment, comfort, and convenience. Our lawmakers are going to continue to take advantage of our apathy.
Lord forgive us for our apathy. Forgive us for caring too much about things that don’t matter, and caring too little for things that do.
Jesus is speaking to us Americans when He says in Luke 12:48: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
We have to be the Church. We have to lead the way on this issue. This is history in the making, and we all have got to be on the right side of it.
My Heart's Overflow 