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Abortion Is Not A Poverty Issue
May 26, 2010
Pro-choice Christians view abortion as a “benefit” for the poor
In this article of our series Bringing Christians Home On Abortion we will address a common position taken by pro-choice Christian organizations. Their overwhelming concern for the poor is a far more important Christian issue than abortion.
The gospels do recount Jesus’ love for the poor and His admonitions to His followers to care for the poor. And all Christian denominations work to support the poor and to address the root causes of poverty.
But Our Lord was equally concerned for the dignity of the poor and, without doubt, the fate of their souls. As in “Man does not live by bread alone”.
Many, very well intentioned, pro-choice Christians have allowed themselves be led astray by the political argument that abortion is somehow a poverty issue. In that political argument, abortion is framed as a “benefit” to the poor, relieving women or families in poverty from having to care for children they would have difficulty supporting. Some take the argument to the extreme in claiming that an aborted child, whose life is terminated by the vacuums, surgical shears or poisons of an abortion clinic, is actually “better off” than a child who might have to begin life at the poverty level.
This “abortion benefits the poor” argument is, in fact, one which degrades women and families in poverty in the ugliest manner possible. And the problem with pro-choice Christians who are misled by the “poverty issue” argument is that they do not look past their support of “abortion rights” to the very common, detrimental consequences of abortion which especially affect the poor.
The abortion industry exploits the poor
As Christians, we recognize that God created women as His vessels to bring new life into the world. Women are endowed, to varying degrees, with that innate sense of loving and nurturing children we recognize as “maternal instinct”. And a certain portion of a woman’s fundamental self image and self esteem are tied to her natural capability to give life. Most, not all, women instinctively want to bring children into the world, care for them and nurture them into adulthood.
What charity, then, is there in encouraging a woman to terminate the life of her child because of her economic circumstances? And that is exactly what the abortion industry does. Planned Parenthood abortion clinics are predominantly concentrated in low income areas. As a consequence, African American women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women twice as likely.
What does that say to black or Hispanic women, as a class? That their children are more expendable than other women’s. What does it do to their self esteem as women, when they routinely terminate the lives of their children because they are told they are just not “economically viable” enough to care for a child? And what does it say about our society’s concern for them as women and individuals?
Tens of thousands of women can testify to the physical damage done to their reproductive systems as the result of abortion. Hundreds of thousands can testify to the often long term psychological damage, brought on by guilt and depression, commonly experienced by women who have undergone abortions. These feelings of remorse can haunt women for years to come, and in ways they might not necessarily expect. The aftermath of abortion has driven many women into alcohol or drug addiction.
And if poor women undergo the majority of abortions, then it is women already suffering from effects of poverty who suffer most of the physical and psychological after effects of abortion. What aspect of Christian Charity is involved here? Where is the “social justice’?
And most pro-choice proponents, Christian or otherwise, never take take the time to think about the depth of sorrow experienced by men who have lost children to abortion. What does it do to the already deflated self esteem of working poor men, when their wives accept the advice of Planned Parenthood “counselors” to abort their children as the solution to an “economic problem”?
Abortion does not relieve poverty. But far more often than not, abortion intensifies poverty’s feeling of despair and exacerbates it’s misery. Christians truly concerned for the plight of the poor should be standing in the corner of the poor, helping desperate women resist the abortion industry’s encouragement to accept the demeaning act of abortion as a by product of their economic circumstances.
Rather than supporting Planned Parenthood, Christians truly concerned for the plight of the poor should be supporting, or volunteering at, the over 2000 Pregnancy Resource Centers offering clear alternatives to abortion, no matter how dire an expectant mother’s circumstances. Services at these resource centers include pregnancy testing, counseling, parenting classes, complete prenatal care, obstetric services, and, if desired, adoption placement with loving, stable families. Many centers can also provide access to employment services or job training programs. Heartbeat International is the largest group of pregnancy resource centers in America and throughout the world.
We ask only that pro-choice Christians ask themselves if their support of Roe v Wade has ever truly aided the plight of the poor. Or only increased the depth of their despair. Learn for yourself how the abortion industry exploits women in poverty. The frightened, desperate women most vulnerable to persuasion. Take some serious time to reflect upon the horrible ramifications of abortion as they affect the innocent life in the womb, the mother and the father.
Talk to our loving God who bestows life as the greatest of His gifts and ask Him if supporting “abortion rights” is how He wants you to aid your brothers and sisters in poverty. And then just listen.
Category: Bringing Christians Home On Abortion
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