Partial-Birth Abortion Defined

Artimaeus, I just can't understand how anyone could call themselves a Christian, much less a Baptist, if they believe in a woman's right to kill her child. This is absolutely so horrible, I can't imagine how any woman, who has any caring for children, could consent to this brutal act.
I submit that any woman who carries a child to full term cannot be in danger of losing her life at that stage. There are far too many medical services in this world to allow that to happen.

I disdain those who call themselves pro-choice. That's just another term for pro-death.

I do think a woman has a right to choose, but only whether to become pregnant or not. We have access to so many types of birth control in this country, there is little reason to become pregnant unless one has no self control or just plain stupid. I've always thought the best birth control was to keep one's knees together.

God gave all of us the ability to control our actions, but so many use that old excuse, "I just couldn't control myself" as a reason for doing whatever they want, then they cry when the consequences of their sinful actions is a child. I don't know how they could justify abortion at any stage, unless it was stricly to save the mother's life, then everything possible should be done to save both lives.
There is absolutely no reason for killing a child one minute before it is due to be born. It is really odd that one can kill a child just before birth and it's perfectly legal, but kill it one minute after birth and it's murder.

For those who whine about pregnancy from rape, there is a simply solution. If you are raped, go to the emergency room. They can take care of it then and there. They can't make you charge anyone if you don't want to but you are stupid if you don't. Why let the one who raped you do it to other women.

To Christians who believe in pro-choice, I would ask how you can say a woman's body is her own to choose. The Bible says our bodies are temples and that we are not our own, but we belong to God. We need to quit teaching young women that this sin is okay and start teaching them to be responsible to God and themselves. It doesn't take a lot of brains to follow the "herd" mentality.

 

Artimaeus, I think everyone knows what the partial birth abortion procedure consists of. However, many PBA opponents have implied that this prucedure is legal up to full term. It is not. Generally, elective abortion is illegal after the 6th month. That includes elective PBA's. Unfortunately, I have personally seen several prolife fundraising groups make it sound that elective PBA's are legal upto full term. While I'm sure this generates a lot of fundraising, it does so on an inplied falsehood. As honorable as their intentions are in regards to the pro-life movement, their methods in this case are not completely honest.

Now, in regards to Roe v Wade, you appear to again have accepted the false notion that Roe legalized abortion. It did not. It was legal, however individual states were allowed to regulate or restrict the practice. Many states allowed abortions in the 1st and second trimesters (the second trimester is the national limit now). I'm in favor of Roe v Wade on the issue that was brought before them, but I'm not in favor of elective aboortions being legal up to the second trimester. Overturning Roe will not make abortions illegal.

 

Delly, you Go girl!



Diane

 

Roe v Wade was primarily centered around an issue of privacy. That is, whether individual states regulating abortion differently violated the implied right of privacy present in several amendments. The issue of whether abortion is taking a human life was moot, since some states allowed it, and some did not. Roe v Wade was not arguing whether abortion itself was appropriate. Rather it argued whether it was constitutionally proper to allow states to vary on the issue. The court decided they could not. On that precept, I agree with the court. What I do not agree with is the lack of the Federal Government to make any legislation following the RvW decision to further regulate or restrict abortions nationwide. Then again, if they had done that, the states where abortions were legal up to 6 months would be screaming.

Actually, you're wrong about that. If Roe were overturned, legislation that was on the books at that time (unless that legislation has been altered by new legislation) would go into effect. But I don't think Roe should be overturned. I think legislation to regulate abortions more restrictively should be introduced at the federal level. The problem with the PBA ban that has been at issue lately is the lack of health exepion clause. Had a health exception clause been included, it likely would have been upheld. Bill Clinton refused to sign similar legislation because of the lack of the health exception clause. He said very succinctly, that if they include such a clause, he would sign it. They did not include it, and he refused to sign the bill. When GW Bush signed this same legislation, I stated on this board that it would likely be overturned due to the lack of the health exception clause. And it was. This legislation was nothing more than a flexing of muscle to attract voters, not to mention a big waste of time. If congress were serious about the issue, they would be reintroducing the same legislation with a health exception clause. But they're not serious about the issue.

 

She already had the right to do that if she were to travel to another state. That was the nail the case hinged upon, not whether abortion itself should be okay.

Again, a typical pro-life propaganda statement. Abortion was legal before Roe, yet the pro-life movemenet so often throws out the "30 million" number to make us think that if Roe v Wade had gone the other way, the number would be zero. That's a complete fallacy.

I disagree. I personally don't think that individual states should vary on the topic. I think it should be consistent from state to state (note, however, that I disagree that elective abortion should be legal upto 6 months).

That's a matter of opinion. I happen to share that opinion, but it's still a matter of opinion. However, the fact is that abortion has never been illegal across the board. Not before Roe, not after. If Roe is overturned, then abortion will still not be illegal. Some states may

Since many here on the bb have argued that it's a states rights issue, they'll say that this would be a good thing. I can understand that POV. However, what I said earlier stands as factual: If Roe is overturned, state laws that were in effect at the time of Roe will go into effect again, and no additional legislation will be required, unless the states choose to reexamine the issue for their state.

 

As someone who was saved later in life and spent most of her adult years being pro-choice, I just would like, in Christian love, to call your attention to this statement. This kind of attitude does come across from some Christian pro-lifers to unsaved people and makes them even more entrenched in their views and anti-Christian feelings.

Christians should disdain sin but not people. I was looked down on by some Christians before I was saved and it had an impact on me. I was still accountable to God for rejecting Christ -- I will always say that. But we are told to speak the truth in love.

I had a child (after scheduling and then cancelling an abortion) while being a pro-choicer and was able to rationalize abortion due to my spiritual worldview at the time. Christians need to realize that people are blinded (and scritpure says this) by their false views. Accountable, yes, but also blinded (I am not making excuses for them).

I did not become pro-life until I was saved and it took about a year for me process the whole thing. I was very quiet about it because I knew that to question anything pro-life would bring, at the least, confusion from other Christians and maybe even condemnation. I was afraid to say the wrong thing, yet God was gently working on me and opened my eyes to why abortion is wrong.

When I do talk to pro-choice people who are not saved, I try as much as possible to use it as way to talk about God and Christ. I start with the fact we are made in the image of God and what that means.

I think JohnV is right -- there were many states where abortion was legal before Roe v Wade. If it wasn't so in your state, you just traveled to another state.

Dealing with believers who are pro-choice is a whole other deal. I actually have had little experience with that.

I hope everyone sees that this message was posted out of love -- love for the Savior who saved me, love for the unborn, love for my fellow believers standing for truth, and love for those blinded as I was. But it is a love I only know from Christ loving me.

 

Art, agree 100% with the Original Post!

 

Johnv sez:

I had just as soon the "legalities" be left as is, rather than some nebulous loop-hole (similar to the disabilities act ) like health exceptions
When this first became "THE LAW OF THE LAND", if my memory serves correctly, it was to be limited to the first tri-mester. That don't mean squat now, does it?

Same thing will transpire re: the "health exclusion". Every infanticide addict in and out of the established "ABORTION INDUSTRY" will have um-teen dozen "illnesses/conditions/parameters" that will qualify as "HEALTH EXCLUSIONS". The only real difference is that there will be one more form for the killer(s) to fill out!

 

I disagree. There are, whether we like it or not, non-lifethreatening health exceptions for having an abortion. Ectopic pregnancies are a common exception. A mother should not be required to have her fallopian tube rupture and be on her death bead in order for her to obdain a medically necessary abortion. Anencephalic fetuses are another example. Dead fetuses are another. In these cases, the body typically miscarries the fetus. I don't think a pregnant woman should be required to wait until her body miscarries. In the ideal world, all babies would be born healthy, and all pregnancies would be miscarriage and complication free. But this is not the real world. If a doctor deems an abortion as medically appropriate, then a mother should be allowed to decide make the choice to have one or not. Certainly, there will be those who say "there's no such thing as a medically necessary abortion", but that is a person's opinion at best. We can't call for something being illegal or restricted based on personal opinion, nor can we call for something being illegal because it conflicts with our religious reasons.

 

Killing an unborn baby is murder and I don't care at what stage it is done.

 

DH,

We totally agree on something.

 

I am neither hateful nor nasty. I have friends who sadly have had abortions. I think it's sad. What if that child could have grown up and cured cancer, aids, or lead us into peace.

It is a human life. BUT, i'm for stem cell research. But, instead of getting rid of the embryo's I think that they should allow them to grow and be born, so that someone who is without a child, may have one. There are so many good parents out there without children who want them deserpately. They want to matter in a child's life.

sometimes I wish there was a way to transfer a child from the body of a woman who dosen't want it, to the body of a woman who does.

I know I know my mind is warped

 

I once read an early Church Father who said that killing a baby in the womb is so awful that "murder" is too good a name for it (or words to that effect).

Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

HankD

 

But let's be sure to remember that God loves those who have committed murder in the past - indeed - he saved Saul.

I want to share this testimony -

Three years ago, one of my college students (non christian) had an abortion her freshman year. She later told me she had also had an abortion in high school.

After it was over she came to speak to me about it. I could tell that her spirit was being convicted. She was riddled with guilt and shame. Truly, she was ready to take her own life. I really had never known the impact that abortion has on the women who receive them until I spoke with this young woman.

Anyway, I did not judge her; I told her God loved her, but the seed, to my knowledge, did not germinate into acceptance of Christ.

Last fall, she came to me talk to me once again, pregnant. What a blessing God granted me to be able to discuss with her the many options open to her other than murder.

Anyway during the midst of the conversation, I blurted out to her that my wife and I would take the child, no questions asked, if that was her choice. I had not even spoken to my wife about it, but knowing my wife's attitude toward abortion and love of children, I knew that she would agree with the decision.

The girl later told me that it was that statement which convinced her to not kill the baby.

Although, eventually, she decided to let her mother & dad (who are Christian) raise the child, the Lord taught me a valuable lesson that day.

Pro-life folks must not just be demonstrators at clinics or preachers behind pulpits. Actually, I think sometimes that can be detrimental to the cause. They must be you and me, willing to accept the responsibility for someone else's mistakes.

After all, isn't that what Christ did for all of us?