September 6, 2012
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"That could have been me!" ~ a contraceptive advocate
Last night as I was watching Sandra Fluke speaking at the Democratic National Convention...
I was brought to tears, I pointed at the t.v. screen and cried out,"That could have been me!"
I had subscribed to Ms. Magazine not long after it came out in 1971.My senior year of high school I missed my period, and not long afterwards, I drove out of town to the nearest Planned Parenthood.
But I couldn't get an abortion in state because my parents would have had to be notified.
Along with my boyfriend, an out-of-state trip was planned – under the guise of a college visit.
The night before we were scheduled to take that trip, my grandmother asked if I were pregnant (a mystery as to why she asked me that, except the good hand of God was upon my unborn child and me!), and my family offered support whatever I ended up choosing.
Not long afterwards, she and I visited an ob/gyn, and I can't explain this, except once again it was the grace of God protecting my unborn daughter and myself through the words of that doctor, since I ended up opting to have the baby out of fear of the pain of the abortion procedure!
Several months later, after a not-so-fun time of extended labor, I held my daughter and looked at her, and wondered how I could ever have aborted her.
A few years later I moved to Madison (a.k.a. - "78 square miles surrounded by reality") and ended up joining the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.).
I signed up to be part of the Reproductive Rights Task Force.
One of the things we did was to sit in the student union and write letters to Congressmen and Senators to "Keep Abortion Legal."
I also wore a coat hanger necklace, the reminder of "Never Again" to back-alley abortions that had allegedly killed thousands of women.
I even went to the N.O.W. National Convention that fall.
(That was the road trip I was on, the night I was praying to God, which I described in my testimony here.)Then by the grace of God, I was saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not long afterwards, I went to a monthly N.O.W. meeting and explained I'd become a Christian. I told the women there I didn't know if I could remain involved with the group.
I continued reading the Bible and soon realized I couldn't continue to support abortion rights as I had.
My friends, the world remains in darkness, under the rule of the god of the world, the evil one.
As Christians, let's never forget that:
... we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).And let's pray that Sandra Fluke and other women like her would have their eyes opened as God graciously opened mine.
II Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Here's a little video introduction to Trip Lee's song, "Beautiful Life," followed by the song itself.
Trip Lee on "Beautiful Life" from Desiring God on Vimeo.
Psalm 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
[Disclaimer: This is NOT a political statement, but a spiritual one.]
Related:the least of these
I sought ... yet You kept seeking me (Your plans can never be aborted)Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Comments (21)
Appreciated your testimony here and the reminder that we serve a merciful Savior.
Thank you for sharing this.
The extent to which christianity has become attached to politics in the U.S. is fascinating. Based on what you've written in this post, I have no clue how becoming a christian affected your views on abortion. To me, abortion comes down to 1) a political question and 2) philosophical questions.
The political question does not seem to be the one that you're focused on in this post (i.e. should the issue of abortion be decided democratically on a state level? Or Federal level? Or is it actually a constitutional question?).
Rather, the question that seems to come up is the philosophical one: when does life begin? (Or alternatively, at what point should we begin valuing life?) After these questions remain the question of when there is a conflict of rights, who should win? (See Judith Jarvis Thomson's arguments on this point.)
Did christianity change your view on when life begins (or should be valued)? If so, how? Or did you always think life began at conception (and you believed in a Thomson-type argument)? If so, how did becoming a christian affect this view? Or did you really not change your views one when life begins, and you simply supported the convenience of the woman deciding to get rid of the life? If the latter category, it seems that christianity didn't change your view on abortion, it just gave you a moral backbone (and, in my opinion, it's a bit sad that you didn't have the moral backbone to begin with).
What a powerful testimony! Thank you for sharing it so openly.
Thanks for sharing your testimony, Karen. Yes, those on the other side of the issue need prayer as you suggest--some of them have become Christians and discontinued their prior practices.
frank
@whataboutbahb - Since abortion is murder, it is a moral question. And since justice is also a moral question, politics is all about morality.
Absolutely beautiful; thank you so much for sharing your testimony AND for saying YES to being a mother!
What an awesome testimony!
my mother had an abortion before i was born. she'd probably disagree with you, as do i. getting pregnant at this point would ruin my life and probably lead me to suicide, if abortion wasn't an option.
i do find it sad that you seek to limit rights. God Himself is pro-choice when it comes to human beings.
@randomneuralfirings - Amen and Amen! His mercies pursue us all the days of our lives!
@ata_grandma - You're welcome!
@whataboutbahb - The Biblical view of life is expressed by God Himself in Jeremiah 1. God said He knew Jeremiah before He formed him in the womb.
Before I was a Christian, I just thought about my own life and issues such as abortion in terms of what made sense to me or what was expedient for me. But even the best efforts and the best thoughts of fallen men and women are puny and flawed and lacking in comparison to those of God Himself, who is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and is from everlasting to everlasting. The Christian, however, has the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide and teach him through the Bible, and can begin to know the mind of Christ ~ I Cor. 2:6-16; Romans 12:1-2.
To answer your question, Christianity has continued to change my view of everything, including the value of life. I agree that prior to becoming a Christian, I was definitely inconsistent. And it really humbles me to see how my mind was caught up in such a web of deception: though I did believe life did begin at conception, I still continued to justify myself, that it was all right for me to advocate for other women to have abortions.
@BooksForMe - You're welcome! Psalm 44:8.
@ANVRSADDAY - Thanks, Frank. And yes, prayer is definitely key; the Holy Spirit has to come and move in power. Impossible with men, but possible with God!
@Ancient_Scribe - You're welcome. Christ is a beautiful Savior! The whole incident was really bizarre because though I didn't really see it at the time, in retrospect it was clear that it was God who was turning my heart so contrary to what *I'd* planned ~ Proverbs 21:1. Man proposes; God disposes!
@gokellyjo - All glory to God!
@flapper_femme_fatale - What you see as limiting rights, is actually true freedom. Following God's ways and God's commandments is always for our good and for our blessing (though to the unregenerate/unsaved mind, it appears to be bad and burdensome). Christ came to set us free from the power of sin, self, and the devil, so we might be able to love and serve and enjoy and worship God as He intended.
Isaiah 55
1 Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
John 10:7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep..."
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
So the title is throwing me off, are you against contraception and abortion? or just abortion?
@naphtali_deer -
Yeah, the last paragraph of your response was what I was getting at. Christianity didn't suddenly make abortion wrong to you--it just gave you a moral backbone that you had been missing up until that point. God didn't need to "open your eyes"--you could have opened them up yourself, if you already thought it was wrong (and you just willing to admit it).
There are people with moral backbones (religious and nonreligious) on both sides of the abortion issue (and I'm sure there are plenty of people with no moral backbone on both sides as well). And while you might rely on scripture to shape your worldview on when life begins, you need to remember a lot of people won't find that convincing. And if a person does not believe a fetus is equivalent to a human life, than you at least need to recognize that they could be taking a consistent moral position, with just a very fundamental disagreement with your position.
@PrisonerxOfxLove -
Hey Curtis,
Morality and politics definitely have significant overlap, but the two sets do not have a perfect overlap with each other. An action could be completely moral and still outlawed by the state for policy reasons (or vice versa).
@naphtali_deer - if you want to argue that Christians shouldn't have an abortion, that's fine. but... i'm not Christian. my mom isn't a Christian anymore, either. there's no reason we have to be pro-life.
@Sake_Tatsuyo - Good comment. I'm definitely against abortion. As for contraception, that's another matter, though some forms of contraception are actually abortifacients.
God designed human marriage to be a picture of Christ's relationship with His Church (the Bridegroom to His bride), and sex to be exclusively between one man and one woman within the confines of marriage. As I heard it reported that Sandra Fluke was a "contraceptive advocate," that phrase really struck me. I found it to be so sad and tragic because the so-called sexual revolution has made women believe that they're truly liberated and happy when they get to have sex whenever they want, however often they want, with whomever they want, but that's so far from God's design for women. Our greatest happiness and fulfillment comes from knowing God through Jesus Christ. Even the marriage relationship, though it's a very precious gift, isn't to be elevated above our relationship to God. Of course, many people will get married and our spouses can provide great fulfillment and satisfaction for us in many ways (including sexually), but all of that still falls short of the satisfaction God alone provides. Can even the very best that flawed and finite men provide really compare at all to what the perfect and infinite God can provide?
Thank you for sharing this, and pointing to the one who changes our thinking to His truth!
@ABAHM - You're welcome! We're in a continuing battle between truth and lies. Thank God for the gift of His Spirit who leads us into all truth. May God continue to give us ears to hear and hearts to respond to Him.