On the Other Hand ... Part 2

My most recent post discussed George W. Bush’s role in enabling 2 million lives to be saved in Africa via HIV and AIDS relief. Continuing on this theme of American presidents with a say-so in the continuation of lives on foreign sole, I find one of Barack Obama’s first acts in office to be revealing.

On Friday, President Obama struck down a rule that prohibits U.S. money from funding international family-planning clinics that promote abortion or provide counseling or referrals about abortion services. The group Population Action International praised the move, saying it will "save women's lives around the world" and adding that “family planning should not be a political issue; it's about basic healthcare and well-being for women and children.”

I guess it all depends on your perspective and your worldview. I doubt some folks – namely, the unborn children who will die from abortions funded by this money – would agree (if they could speak) that the move was beneficial to their basic healthcare and well-being. I also doubt the same people who call Bush a murderer will level the same charge at Obama.

People are passionate about the protection of all manner of living things – trees, birds, reptiles, dogs, wetlands, the list goes on. These are God's creation and I agree that they are all worthy of our stewardship. I also agree that it’s tragic when human lives are needlessly lost, whatever the cause. So I’m tempted to question why some of the same advocates for human, animal and plant life will so vehemently defend a woman’s “right to choose” whether to end a pregnancy.

But I know why. Setting aside the issues of rape, incest and health problems (because only a very small percentage of abortions occur due to those issues), I know that people defend abortion out of selfishness. “I chose to sleep with someone … I didn’t intend to conceive a child … I don’t want to face the consequences … I want the freedom of choice to undo those consequences … It’s my body … I can do what I want with it.” Pro-choice advocates can sugar-coat the issue all they want, but like every other societal ill, the root cause is me-driven.

This issue has been passionately debated on both sides since 1973, and will continue to be so. With Obama in office, the pro-life cause is not likely to advance. But it still comes down to this: God is the author of human life. An unborn child is a human life. And no other human has the right to choose to take that life away.