Prochoice Argument: “Obviously life begins at birth. That’s why we celebrate birthdays, not conception days, and why we don’t have funerals following miscarriages.”
Prolife Answer: This will be one of my last posts concerning when life begins and I will move to other topics of the abortion issue, but I wanted to touch on this prochoice argument. This one is very personal to me. Randy Alcorn rightly says “Some people do have funerals after a miscarriage.” Most of you probably know that my wife and I don’t have kids. Well, we have one in heaven. April pursued her higher education and later so did I. In the mean time we were convicted to not be on birth control. Although not specifically trying to get pregnant, we found out after her graduation from her doctoral program, that when she walked across the graduation stage…she was pregnant with our child. When we did take a test and found out (the doctors came out singing praise to the Lord), we felt it had to be a “God thing.” I mean, what providential timing right? We went to the baby doctor, an experience I’m glad I had, and heard the heart beat of what we called our “little peanut.” We began to pick out names for either a boy or girl and prematurely told everyone we were pregnant. The next doctors visit failed to produce a heart beat and we were left sitting in the car in the Grace OBGYN parking lot in silence. We walked into the Greek restauarant across the street and then told the hostess we were sorry, but we just had to go. We went home and cried for a few days. We both went through times of feeling potentially responsible for the miscarriage, but have worked through that by God’s grace. Still today, when I see some things on line or hear some people say certain things the reality of our unseen baby, at least in flesh unseen, floods me with really strong emotions. We weren’t trying to have a baby during that time in our life, but when we found out she was pregnant, we really wanted that baby. I take great offense at someone saying my baby is simply dead and was a fetus without eternal properties. I don’t fuss or lash out at people over their view, but I simply can’t imagine having such a depressing, fatalistic view of life. We did have a funeral. My good friend and awesome preacher James Briggs came to Enon one day, and just the 3 of us traveled up the hill to the cemetery above Enon Baptist Church. We buried certain gifts, such as babies toys, etc that had been given to us, named the child with names for potential male or female, and had a private memorial to a life we had lost and needed closure over. That by the way is something I recommend for people who experience miscarriages. Our baby was real and we will meet that baby some time real soon. I’ve asked God to tell he/she that I love he/she and that if I caused in anyway the harm they faced that I’m so sorry. I know by faith that a great day of re-union will be. Re-union because we bonded with a picture on a screen, a heart beat vagely heard, a real life in my wife’s body. Alcorn is right that our “recognition of birthdays is cultural, not scientific.” I think I’ve quoted Alcorn, doctors, and scientists enough to establish that any person seeing a fertilized egg as something other than life must have a very unscientific agenda that could be labled the most close-minded fundamental religion in the world. Alcorn recalls a story in his book that happened in 1983. He states “A physician was accused of murder because he killed a baby who survived his attempt to abort him. Before he attempted abortion, the baby was normal and healthy. Five minutes later, he had been disfigured, poisoned, and burned with salt, all of which was perfectly legal. But since this child had been moved a few feet from where he was before (inside his mother), he was now considered a person. I spent the night in a city where the news was dominated by the frightful story of a murdered infant estimated at three pounds. Only the half of the child’s body had been found. Doctors examining the baby said he could have been born prematurely or aborted, but it was impossible to tell. The reason this was so newsworthy is that if it could be determined the child had been born, it would have been a murder of the worst kind. But children of this size are killed by abortion each day, and it is a ho-hum affair to the media. Those who oppose the abortions that kill these children are regarded as anti-choice and anti-rights. Yet anyone who would defend the bloody slaying of the child in the news–a child essentially no different than all the aborted children of the same age–would be regarded as a monster. What is the difference?” Mr. Alcorn, I know you agree, there is no difference. To all of you who have had miscarriages, your babies are safe and real. To those of you who have had abortions, seek God’s forgiveness through Christ, and understand that your child will be glad you did as you re-unite with that person that was once inside you. Grace and understanding to us all, Pastor Kevin Boone
Tags: abortion
