If we value life, we don't get to choose which lives we value
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I promised last Friday that I would post about abortion this week, and – to be honest – I’ve been putting it off. Tammy did an eloquent job of conveying reasons why a mother carrying a baby with Down syndrome should consider life instead of abortion. And I’m praying that I will be able to approach the topic with the grace and compassion she did.
Before I get into the specific of how this impacts the special needs community, let’s talk about the issue itself as it relates to any person. Nicholas Kristof, columnist for the NY Times, put out his 2011 religion quiz this week. The first question? “The Bible’s stance on abortion is:” And the answer, according to Kristof? “Never mentioned.”
My first inclination is to say that he must read the same Bible as some false prophets who have been in the news lately. I do understand his technical point, though: you won’t find the word “abortion” in the Bible. However, it is rich with the value of life, from the first two chapters of Genesis when God creates life as we know it. In Psalm 139, we read that God formed us in a beautiful way and recorded our days before we were conceived. In Exodus 21:22-25, God lays out strict punishment – stricter even than what most states legislate now – for the assault of a pregnant woman that results in injury or death to her unborn child. In Leviticus and throughout the books of the prophets, the practice of sacrificing infants and children to false gods is decried. Jeremiah was consecrated by God as a prophet before he was born (Jeremiah 1:5). Job declares that God fashions us in the womb (Job 10:9-12; 31:15). In Psalm 125:3-5, Matthew 18:5-6, and Mark 9:36-37, the blessing and importance of children is made clear.
When I taught biology, I also learned that – upon the moment of biological conception, when egg and sperm join – the zygote formed has unique qualities separate from the two sex cells that joined to create it. Without interference or trauma, it will continue to develop in the womb and be born about 38 weeks later. A zygote has unique DNA, is able to reproduce through cell division, is highly organized, responds to its environment, uses energy, and is able to adapt to a certain extent.
Based on all that, I am unashamedly and unapologetically pro-life.
(However, I also am saddened by the treatment of those considering abortion or those who have had one or more abortions by those who claim faith. Often, that faith perspective only offers judgment and proclamation of sin with little to no grace or mercy. If you are reading this and expecting that sort of response, please know that you won’t find it here. Is ending a life good? No. Was Christ’s death and resurrection insufficient to forgive sins, though? No. I am too covered in my own sin and too grateful for His forgiveness of mine to look down on you. And I am too focused on Christ to want to do anything other than point you to Him.)
Because I am pro-life and because I love people with special needs, I have sobbed over the study I’m about to share with you. An article (cited below) published in 1999 analyzed rates of pregnancy termination following prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome and four other conditions from studies conducted in the US, UK, New Zealand, France, Singapore, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Holland, Finland, Australia, and Germany, with most data pulled from the US and UK. The findings? On average, 92% of babies with Down syndrome were aborted when the diagnosis was made early enough in pregnancy for that to be an option. The range was 71% from a small study in France published in 1990 to 100% in four separate studies in the UK (2 studies), France, and New Zealand in 1990, 1982, 1995, and 1992 respectively. The largest study was done in the UK in 1998 and included 4,824 diagnoses of Down syndrome; out of those, 4,438 – or 92% - ended in abortion.
The data for the other four conditions showed lower rates of abortion (and also included fewer data points), but the numbers are hardly encouraging. For spina bifida, the abortion rate was 64%; for anencephaly, 84%; for Turner syndrome, 72%; and for Klinefelter syndrome, 58%.
I've been drafting a statement of vision and purpose for our church's special needs ministry. One of the aims listed in it is “esteeming the value of each person, preborn or born, as a vital part of the body, as defined in 1 Corinthians 12. With regard to people with disabilities, this includes welcoming them with respect and love, sharing the good news of Christ with them, serving alongside them as they use their giftedness, and otherwise including them as a contributor in God’s church. It also includes supporting them and their families after prenatal or postnatal diagnosis.”
The preborn part matters. It matters because how you act toward people with disabilities at your church now could influence the choices made by would-be parents in your pews. It would be naïve to think that all 92% of those babies with Down syndrome who were aborted – all 4,636 of those lives terminated – were pregnancies to non-Christians. It would be highly statistically improbable for each of them to have been pregnancies to women who were pro-choice. No, given that only 8% continued their pregnancies, some who didn’t must have been Christians. Some who didn’t must have been church attendees or members. Some who didn’t must have been pro-life until that circumstance presented a difficult choice.
Could it be that, for some of those individuals, the choice was made more difficult because they saw no children like theirs represented in their faith communities? Could it make a difference if those of us who are called ambassadors of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:20 acted like it? Could it help families choose life for their child if they knew that the church loved their family, including their unborn child, and was willing to put that love into action?
I’m just speculating here, so I don’t know the answers to those questions. But I would love to find out.
Wouldn’t you?
(1) Mansfield, C., Hopfer, S., & Marteau, T. (1999). Termination rates after prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, spina bifida, anencephaly, and Turner and Klinefelter syndromes: A systematic literature review. Prenatal Diagnosis. 19; 808-812.
Also, if you'd like to read another post I wrote about abortion statistics - these related to NYC instead of special needs - see this post on my personal blog.
Before I get into the specific of how this impacts the special needs community, let’s talk about the issue itself as it relates to any person. Nicholas Kristof, columnist for the NY Times, put out his 2011 religion quiz this week. The first question? “The Bible’s stance on abortion is:” And the answer, according to Kristof? “Never mentioned.”
My first inclination is to say that he must read the same Bible as some false prophets who have been in the news lately. I do understand his technical point, though: you won’t find the word “abortion” in the Bible. However, it is rich with the value of life, from the first two chapters of Genesis when God creates life as we know it. In Psalm 139, we read that God formed us in a beautiful way and recorded our days before we were conceived. In Exodus 21:22-25, God lays out strict punishment – stricter even than what most states legislate now – for the assault of a pregnant woman that results in injury or death to her unborn child. In Leviticus and throughout the books of the prophets, the practice of sacrificing infants and children to false gods is decried. Jeremiah was consecrated by God as a prophet before he was born (Jeremiah 1:5). Job declares that God fashions us in the womb (Job 10:9-12; 31:15). In Psalm 125:3-5, Matthew 18:5-6, and Mark 9:36-37, the blessing and importance of children is made clear.
When I taught biology, I also learned that – upon the moment of biological conception, when egg and sperm join – the zygote formed has unique qualities separate from the two sex cells that joined to create it. Without interference or trauma, it will continue to develop in the womb and be born about 38 weeks later. A zygote has unique DNA, is able to reproduce through cell division, is highly organized, responds to its environment, uses energy, and is able to adapt to a certain extent.
Based on all that, I am unashamedly and unapologetically pro-life.
(However, I also am saddened by the treatment of those considering abortion or those who have had one or more abortions by those who claim faith. Often, that faith perspective only offers judgment and proclamation of sin with little to no grace or mercy. If you are reading this and expecting that sort of response, please know that you won’t find it here. Is ending a life good? No. Was Christ’s death and resurrection insufficient to forgive sins, though? No. I am too covered in my own sin and too grateful for His forgiveness of mine to look down on you. And I am too focused on Christ to want to do anything other than point you to Him.)
Because I am pro-life and because I love people with special needs, I have sobbed over the study I’m about to share with you. An article (cited below) published in 1999 analyzed rates of pregnancy termination following prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome and four other conditions from studies conducted in the US, UK, New Zealand, France, Singapore, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Holland, Finland, Australia, and Germany, with most data pulled from the US and UK. The findings? On average, 92% of babies with Down syndrome were aborted when the diagnosis was made early enough in pregnancy for that to be an option. The range was 71% from a small study in France published in 1990 to 100% in four separate studies in the UK (2 studies), France, and New Zealand in 1990, 1982, 1995, and 1992 respectively. The largest study was done in the UK in 1998 and included 4,824 diagnoses of Down syndrome; out of those, 4,438 – or 92% - ended in abortion.
The data for the other four conditions showed lower rates of abortion (and also included fewer data points), but the numbers are hardly encouraging. For spina bifida, the abortion rate was 64%; for anencephaly, 84%; for Turner syndrome, 72%; and for Klinefelter syndrome, 58%.
I've been drafting a statement of vision and purpose for our church's special needs ministry. One of the aims listed in it is “esteeming the value of each person, preborn or born, as a vital part of the body, as defined in 1 Corinthians 12. With regard to people with disabilities, this includes welcoming them with respect and love, sharing the good news of Christ with them, serving alongside them as they use their giftedness, and otherwise including them as a contributor in God’s church. It also includes supporting them and their families after prenatal or postnatal diagnosis.”
The preborn part matters. It matters because how you act toward people with disabilities at your church now could influence the choices made by would-be parents in your pews. It would be naïve to think that all 92% of those babies with Down syndrome who were aborted – all 4,636 of those lives terminated – were pregnancies to non-Christians. It would be highly statistically improbable for each of them to have been pregnancies to women who were pro-choice. No, given that only 8% continued their pregnancies, some who didn’t must have been Christians. Some who didn’t must have been church attendees or members. Some who didn’t must have been pro-life until that circumstance presented a difficult choice.
Could it be that, for some of those individuals, the choice was made more difficult because they saw no children like theirs represented in their faith communities? Could it make a difference if those of us who are called ambassadors of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:20 acted like it? Could it help families choose life for their child if they knew that the church loved their family, including their unborn child, and was willing to put that love into action?
I’m just speculating here, so I don’t know the answers to those questions. But I would love to find out.
Wouldn’t you?
(1) Mansfield, C., Hopfer, S., & Marteau, T. (1999). Termination rates after prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, spina bifida, anencephaly, and Turner and Klinefelter syndromes: A systematic literature review. Prenatal Diagnosis. 19; 808-812.
Also, if you'd like to read another post I wrote about abortion statistics - these related to NYC instead of special needs - see this post on my personal blog.