The Tragedy of Abortion

There have been some interesting articles on abortion the last couple of weeks that should prompt us to think about the topic. I think this is true because on the one hand, it is important because God is the One who gave us life and we are created in His image, therefore life has worth and value. (See Genesis 9:6 as one example.) Additionally, the devastation abortion has on women and men emotionally years after the event demonstrates the impact of abortion, though it is downplayed in the world as but a "choice."

First, we should be encouraged what is happening in Arkansas and North Dakota. These two states have moved to push back the number of weeks a child can be alive before they can be aborted (12 weeks in Arkansas and 6 in ND.) We should pray that other states move in this direction and encourage our politicians to do the same.

Now, the bad news. A recent article looked at the issue of abortion in China and found that in the last 40 years, there have been 300 million abortions and 200 million sterilizations in the name of "population control." This is a tragedy that should shake us to our very core. Here are a couple of ways to put this into perspective:

In the last 40 years, the equivalent of population of the United States has ceased to exist.
In a similar time frame, the United States has had over 50 million babies aborted.

We should pray that the leaders of the U.S. and China would be changed on this issue. Both countries have demographic disasters that are coming because of the missing generations. It is in their national interests to see families having children. Beyond the social and economic arguments though, government was instituted to protect the people, particularly the most vulnerable. We should pray that they take up the challenge of hearing God's charge to the leaders (Romans 13:1-8).