“My job pays poorly, Doc.” The nervous father-to-be tried to justify his decision. “We’ve already got one child, and we’re barely making ends meet. Another kid will bankrupt us.”
“That’s right,” his pregnant wife agreed. “We can’t feed another mouth. Our only real option is abortion.”
“If you can afford to raise only one child,” the doctor responded, “let me suggest a solution that will be both safer for you and less expensive than an abortion.” He put his hand on the head of the toddler in the young mother’s lap. “Let’s just kill this one instead.”
Wrapping the child in her arms to shield him, the mother gasped, “You can’t be serious!”
“Well,” the doctor answered quietly, “we’ve already established the fact that you want to kill one of your children. Now we’re just trying to decide which one.”
This is not a true story, I hope, but it clarifies the shocking truth of what it really means to be pro-choice.
Most of us are like the mother in this tale. We are horrified at the truth involved in the choice.
Regret from a Sunday many years past still clouded the face of my eminently gracious colleague when he first shared this tale with me. He told me it had been his opening illustration in a hard-hitting sermon detailing the sinfulness of abortions-for-convenience.
My friend still believes what he preached that morning, but his heart hurts when he remembers that day. This may be the only time a preacher wished his church had gossiped more. Then he could have known.
For among the worshipers he preached to that Sunday sat dear friends, a couple with their 17-year-old. Just a few days before, this sweet girl had found out she was pregnant. Her parents opted for a quick abortion.
Several in the church knew this family’s sensitive secret, so the family just assumed that their preacher did, too. Mistakenly they thought his devastating sermon was aimed squarely at them. Angry, ashamed, and deeply hurt, they left the church.
No minister worth the name intentionally sets out to wound another human being. Most of us agonize over how to preach clearly against sin without drowning out the Gospel message of God’s limitless grace.
The blood of Jesus can cleanse us from every sin. Even the sin of unwarranted abortion.