Until about 15 years ago I could have been labeled pro-choice. (Don't just shut me off and stop reading.) Even though I was a christian there was a part of me that in certain situations believed that a woman had a right to make that choice. In situations of rape, incest, or where there was no hope for life after the womb. Maybe there were better options. I didn't think it would be a right decision for me, but I felt the option should be there in certain circumstances.
Fast forward to where I am now. I don't believe abortion is ever God's plan. I believe that every life matters, and is a gift from God, and the few women I know who have had abortions, still carry deep scars of guilt and regret.
How I got here is kind of ironic. Infertility.
I have had contact with so many people in the last 6 to 7 years who have walked the dark, lonely path of infertility. Women who are friends, women who have crossed my path for a short season, and women who are the closest and dearest women to my heart. Their stories changed my view and changed my heart.
As I watched these women struggle, as my heart has broken for them. My heart changed. It is so hard to watch people you love deal with this struggle in their lives. I would question God. I would question God with anger and bitterness. Why have you put this person in my life who can't take care of their self yet they are pregnant? Why is this 15 year old girl pregnant when she doesn't even have anyone to take care of her? Why is this Mom who has had 2 children taken away by the court system now pregnant again? Why is this person who is addicted to drugs pregnant? Why is there a pregnancy in this marriage that is falling apart? Yet, this couple who so desperately wants a child, who love each other, and would raise it to love you are unable to conceive?
Every time I asked those "why" questions, God answered, because I chose. The only way I could come to terms with infertility in all these women I loved, was to accept that God is the giver of life. Sometimes God is protecting in ways we cannot even begin to understand in the moment. Yet every time I questioned, God said to my heart, I am the giver of life. Me alone. You have to trust. So, if I trust that God for what ever reason or purpose doesn't create life, then I also have to believe that each life that is created is for a reason and purpose.
I believe that. I believe only God can create life. I believe he has a plan and purpose for every life and it is not mine to question. There are still times in honest emotion that I say God I just don't see this one. I don't understand. I don't see how there can be any good in this, yet I trust that you are sovereign.
So, I do believe in pro-choice. I just disagree on what those choices are. I believe every woman has the right to choose or not to choose to have sex. And I believe that every woman has the right to choose to keep her baby or choose adoption. But, I believe only God has the right to choose life.
We don't have to look very far in The Bible to find scripture to support this.
Genesis 2:27 says "So, GOD created human beings in his own image. In the image of God HE created them; male and female HE created them.
God alone is the giver and taker of life.
*This blog was not intended to condemn, or hurt anyone who has abortion in their past. I could never begin to judge the decisions that someone else has had to make without walking in their shoes. This is just a stance of where my faith has brought me.
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