Abortion
Numbers 5:11-28
It looks like it is time for another interruption in my regularly scheduled weekly blog where I normally discuss what I find in the Scripture that is going to be proclaimed in worship on Sunday.
An incredibly rare leak occurred from the US Supreme Court this week, revealing a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that overturns the judicial precedents of Roe v. Wade. Now, this leak does not technically mean the Supreme Court has decided, though it has been confirmed as an authentic draft. But it does reveal a likely 5-4 decision, given the current makeup of our court.
If the Supreme Court does indeed make the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it will become legal for states to make any form of abortion illegal--thirteen states will automatically outlaw it should the decision become official.
This decision is the culmination of a decades-long political campaign waged by an extremist wing of Christianity that began in the 70s when a theological framework opposing abortion began to emerge in Protestant denominations like the Southern Baptist Church. (How Southern Baptists became pro-life. The Real Origins of the Religious Right.) This travesty is on the Church. And in light of that, folks, I am angry.
And I am also unsurprised--it isn't like we didn't know this kind of thing would ultimately happen given the past 6 years or so. I am angry because people with uteruses deserve autonomy over their bodies. I am angry because this political movement, which is essentially pro-birth more than pro-life, is morally incoherent as any concern for the welfare of the child disappears once they are born--at least if you consider the staggering rates of child poverty, inequities in access to education, or the rise of hunger among children in our country. I am angry because this is a part of the long historic legacy of our church in subjugating women in particular. I am angry because well-intentioned Christians are misled by charismatic preachers into traps of moral absolutism that leave decency and human reason behind.
Scripture does not condemn abortion on any of its pages. In fact, there is much in Scripture that mentions instances of abortion without condemning it at all (Number 5:11-28; Hosea 9:14; 2 Kings 8:12; Isaiah 13:18). There are more passages than I would like to admit that are profoundly violent against pregnant women and their offspring in Scripture. Again, I say: the Bible is not a children's book.
And yet, irresponsible applications of Scripture that speak of the enduring love of God, of us being knit in our mother's womb, etc. are wielded against people with uteruses who need safe medical procedures to protect their own life, prevent inevitable profoundly tragic birth defects from resulting in births that can present risks to a mother's health or expose a life to a few short minutes of incredible pain, or have autonomy over their own choice to mother or not mother.
This is wrong. And, from a Christian point of view, we aren't going to find easy answers from Scripture to help us make moral choices like this one. Abortion is a tragic reality--a medical necessity especially in a society that also has staggering poverty, a lack of access to meaningful health care, and a culture that still manages to systemically subjugate women and the child-rearing Queer community in unique and particular ways in and of themselves.
I do not celebrate the need for abortion--but I passionately believe in the right of all people who have uteruses to have access to medically sound and safe abortifacient procedures. I am an expectant father myself, and I think that the child being knit in my wife's womb is a miracle. But there is no basis in Scripture for us to make a Christian case to restrict access to abortion, a vital form of healthcare.
I want to lower instances of abortion through ways that work: access to birth control, access to healthcare, eradicating poverty, instituting adequate sex-ed in our schools--empowering young people with knowledge about their bodies. But I condemn what has come forth from our Supreme Court full throatily as a citizen, and as a minister of the gospel. And as a United Methodist pastor, I want to leave you with our denomination's stance on abortion--a nuanced stance that I support.
Please pray for all who will be the victims of this potentially unfortunate reality. May God intervene.
