January 14, 2002

EDITORIAL:
Christians can work to remove reasons for abortion
___Can you recall moments when events changed forever the way you view the world?
___I vividly remember such an occasion. It happened during a February evening in 1983. Joanna and I stood by the phone in our small duplex apartment as she dialed the medical clinic. We waited for a technician to check her file. And before she could say a word, I could tell by her beaming glow that this was it: "We" were pregnant.
___In that instant, my perspective on abortion crystallized. Of course, Lindsay wouldn't pop into this world and take a breath for almost nine more months, but we already knew she was our baby. She was only slighty larger than microscopic, but for us she was a living human being, our child.
___From my youth, I had opposed elective abortion on biblical and philosophical grounds. But in that moment, I felt the intensity of that idea as never before. Months before her birth, our child was alive and growing--and loved. I could not comprehend ending her life, or any other such life, for reasons of convenience and expediency.
___Unfortunately, abortion still divides America as no other issue. This comes to mind most specifically at this time of year, as we observe Sanctity of Human Life Sunday Jan. 20. The difficulty of developing a consensus on abortion lies in the passion with which people hold their views. One group believes no abortions should be legal, or at most abortions should be allowed only to save the lives of mothers. Another group, including only a minority of Baptists, believes abortion is exclusively a pregnant woman's choice and should not be regulated by any outsider. Many Baptists hold a middle position, which might allow abortion for extenuating circumstances, such as rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
___Sadly but not surprisingly, abortion has been used as a weapon in the Baptist battles of recent years. Some opponents of the Baptist General Convention of Texas have attempted to present the BGCT as being "soft" on abortion. A pastor reports visiting in the home of a prospective member. When she learned the church was affiliated with the BGCT, she said, "I could never join a church that supports a convention that promotes abortion."
___That's far from the case. At least seven times, messengers to BGCT annual sessions have opposed abortion. They decried elective abortion and voted to support "appropriate legislation prohibiting abortion except to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape and incest." They called for creating crisis-pregnancy centers, lambasted abortion as a means of birth control, condemned partial-birth abortions and called for laws requiring parental consent for abortions performed on minors.
___Moreover, BGCT Baptists have put feet to their opposition to abortion. The State Missions Commission has provided funds to help churches statewide launch crisis pregnancy centers. The hospital systems affiliated with the convention have committed themselves to the sanctity of life and have forbidden abortion on demand in all Texas Baptist hospitals. BGCT child-care facilities provide counseling for pregnant women and operate programs to stabilize and strengthen homes where children are born to young mothers. Buckner Baptist Benevolences even conducts an adoption service, the most practical and direct response to potential abortions.
___In addition, the BGCT Christian Life Commission repeatedly has spoken against abortion. It has provided resources to help churches educate their children and teenagers regarding biblical sexuality, enabling churches to deal redemptively with unwed mothers and couples whose unplanned and unwanted pregnancies have upended lives, empowering Texas Baptists to speak clearly and forcefully on behalf of the sanctity of all life.
___A few years ago, the commission produced a position paper that helps Christians focus on what they can do together to reduce abortions. The suggestions are direct and practical:
___ "Teach and live a sexual ethic which is committed to fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness." Christians have hard work to do to help people inside and outside churches to understand, appreciate and respect God's gift of sex.
___ "Deal with the underlying factors" of sexual activity outside marriage. These factors may include "low self-esteem, the need for a sense of belonging and the inability to cope with peer pressure." The answer lies in parenting skills and parent-child relationships, support for marriages and help for singles and youth.
___ "Support conception control in the larger society." Since Christians cannot assume non-Christians will accept a Christian social ethic, they "need to support in public arenas such as schools responsible education concerning human sexuality" that focuses on sexual abstinence before marriage.
___ "Encourage women to carry crisis pregnancies to term." Such support involves "providing spiritual, emotional and material support for women who choose to keep their babies and adoption services for those who do not." Churches must be "safe havens for women and families facing crisis pregnancies if the decision not to terminate these pregnancies is to become a broadly viable option."

___ —Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com


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