By Miriam Orr
Trigger warning. What you are about to read is equal parts highly-opinionated and blunt. If this is an issue for you, back out now. Otherwise, put a helmet on.
Fifty years. Sixty-three million voiceless innocents.
But, here we are.
On June 24, 2022, SCOTUS overturned the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade and declared that abortions were no longer a Constitutional right. Decisions regarding the procedure return as burdens to the states. Many have outlawed the practice, others offer it fervently and without repose.
Companies have already announced their support to reproductive rights (can no longer call it women’s rights because, apparently, not all people who get abortions are women Can you say 'confused'?) by offering compensation, time off, even coverage of travel expenses for those needing to travel to “more liberated” states. All of this in retaliation of the states banning the practice, of course.
I find it phenomenally ridiculous that it has taken us 50 years as a country to realize that ending the lives of other human beings is not a Constitutional right. If I remember correctly, the founding documentation of our nation states that all men are created equal and that we have, endowed by our Creator, certain and unalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
A point in that statement alone I want to discuss is this: created equal. This makes the (apparently) bold claim that all men - you, me, Joe Biden even! - are created the same, with intention, by a Creator. We go through the same developmental stages as Joe Shmoe down the street, our greatest enemy (no, I’m not talking about Russia), or one of those 63 million babies we have lost since ‘73.
We hit all the same developmental milestones in the womb because we are created equal. Even the Founding Fathers, who were sorely lacking in modern medical developments, understood that we develop the same in the womb regardless of the color of our skin, our cultural circumstances, disadvantages, or how we are conceived. Rape and incest existed in those days, rest assured. Financial hardship was a cultural norm. Seeing John and Jane Doe bunking in the barn with the horses and pigs because it's cold outside was nothing to print above the fold.
They, maybe better than many of us today, understood what it meant to be born into tough times. Didn’t matter, though.
Life was still inherently valuable. Undeniably so that the idea warranted print in the founding documentation of a nation.
So why are lives being led like lambs to the slaughter? Why are the lives of babies conceived from 1973 to 2022 suddenly less equal than the lives before them?
I can answer this in one single word: selfishness.
Now before you jump the gun (you mean you still have one of those? C’mon, man) and get ready to shred me to ribbons, let me make my argument. Selfishness is not always a derogatory term. Most often, yes, but not always. It is equal parts putting-on -your-own-oxygen-mask-when-the-plane’s- going-down- before- helping-anyone-else as it is throwing-your-buddy-under-the-bus-to-save-your-own-hide. I understand the difference between self preservation and selfishness, but when we are talking about senseless murder of innocent lives conceived unintentionally, this is always used in a sense of selfishness.
Babies killed on the basis of inconvenience and circumstances is selfishness. Oh, it’s a rape baby and carrying it to term is “too traumatic?” Does ending a life suddenly wipe away and undermine the traumatic event of rape? Does it make everything better? Does it hold the rapist or abuser accountable?
No. No, no, no.
It is, however, convenient. An escape pod from the shuttle of Circumstances, Responsibility, and Consequences. This is the equivalent of a get-out-of-trouble-free card. It erases sexual responsibility by acting as the safety net for careless decisions (of all and any party, whether it be recreational sex or criminal) and poor planning. We as a society can now consent into mind-bending amounts of sexual intercourse or illegal activity without having to worry, because abortion or Plan B is the backup plan.
And we downplay it.
'Oh, it’s just abortion of a clump of cells.'
'It isn’t alive until X, Y, Z.'
It’s this, that, and everything else that is a convenient argument that lets me do whatever I want without any accountability.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not underscoring the effects of sexual violence – they are, in fact, extensive – but they are not extensive enough for me to greenlight the slaughter of a life. I know people who have been raped and incested and molested. I even know people who have gotten abortions because of those things (and have nothing but bottomless regrets, mind you). I understand that unfortunate things happen to good people and that our best laid plans, sometimes, fail. However, abortion is far more traumatizing than people give it credit for. And, I don’t care how much of a stony persona you are, a mother will always wonder.
That being said, on June 24 when I was rejoicing on my drive to work, I felt like the Lord revealed something to my heart about this momentous SCOTUS decision. Anyone who knows me understands that my relationship with God is deep, without border, and no holds barred. I’ve opened myself to God’s free, unapprised openness to any given situation of my life. He can say anything He’d like to without asking, and as He’s the Lover of my Soul, I am more than willing to listen. I sit in rapt anticipation, waiting on God’s revelations. I am craven for Him to speak and share things with me.
Genesis 4 records this first murder. The slaughter of an innocent man who had found favor with God is the lesson for the day, He pressed into me. See the passage taken from Genesis 4 below.
The parallel with Roe v. Wade is that the unborn today are the innocents given the chance at relationship with God as human vessels, given life. Divine favor indeed! Even angels are not given the honor of being crafted in the image of God (not sure if you knew that or not).
Cain, as Genesis records, was jealous of Abel's favor with God and he killed him in cold blood. Abel's cruor cried out to God, and the result was restlessness and a cursed earth. Ouch.
This verse does not speak directly to abortion, no. But it does speak of the innocent. Blood which had been needlessly spilled that cried out and was avenged by God cursing Abel’s tormentor.
How much innocent blood have we spilled in the land since 1973?
Rape aside. Incest aside. Convenience aside. Living conditions aside. There is no adjective before "life" that can justify the death of a being God has breathed into. God had a plan for each of the 63 million lives that have been aborted. Generations have been lost.
This isn’t even taking into account the millions of people who have been born despite abortions and the trauma a message of justified abortions brings. Rape babies, survivors of abortions, incest babies are bludgeoned every day with the message that they could’ve been aborted and it would’ve been alright, that their lives are lesser.
And pro-choicers want to play the trauma card? I’ll put a pin in this before I lose my composure.
But I digress. What have we as a species lost in the slaying of a generation? Maybe the cure for cancer; the greatest POTUS the world has ever seen. Maybe the answer to taking life to Mars, or ending world hunger. Solution to the perceived ecology crisis perhaps? We have selfishly sacrificed a generation of people who may have changed the world.
Why? (Pause for dramatic effect)
Because it hurt, was inconvenient and scary. Because it was an option. Because, for fifty years, it starkly contrasted the foundational American belief that all lives are created equally.
Abel's blood was avenged by God himself. That is the price of slaying the innocent - God's personal, unhindered wrath. Holy moly.
I believe the Lord revealed that the justice of Abel is upon us. That the curse of Cain is coming. But, in my stupefied horror, I realized – it's already here. Livestock is dying by the dozens. Crops are threatened by drought. There are endless shortages and the fuel to produce fruit from the ground is outrageous.
Our modern way of "toiling the ground" is out of control. It can only get worse.
But, things don’t have to get worse, folks. We can still as a nation under God repent and ask for forgiveness. We can still turn from wickedness, and God will still hear from heaven and forgive us. He’ll still heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14). It isn’t too late, not over until He says it’s over. He wants to forgive us as a people for condoning wickedness. His hand is not too short for those who have had abortions, performed them, justified them, lobbied for them. There is still time. God delights and desires to show mercy (Micah 7:8).
In the meantime, rest assured you in the pro-choice camp. This decision by SCOTUS is not the apocalypse.
Women still have access to abortions in states that allow the practice (Minnesota is one of them). You still have reproductive rights, and no, guns don’t have more rights than you; guns aren’t sentient beings, they are objects (there is more gun policy than there will ever be laws against the slaying of innocent lives). Abortions are still readily available without question and without prejudice.
We don’t forget this fact as we discuss this with the other side of the aisle. At the end of the day, this decision only gave the state’s back the rights that were taken away from them.
We did win this one, however – we reversed the idea that abortion was a Constitutional right. That’s what’s important; we are back in line with the Biblically-accurate foundation that‘s in our national documentation.
All lives, again, are created equal in the sight of Constitutional law. It's been too long.
Frankly, I’m blown away. For so many years the United States has been on an upward progressive trend that’s left the rest of the planet slackjaw and shaking its head at us. We’ve lost a bit of our moxie when it comes to international affairs, mostly due to our current leadership, but we won’t talk about that today. Once, we were a titanic force to be reckoned with. International leadership tread lightly around us.
And now, we are the subject of hushed whispers and pointing fingers. But we won’t talk about that — yet.
Again, I digress, but in light of all the progressive decisions of our nation, SCOTUS has been on a roll. Now, the idea of a “Month of Life” is rising at a federal level in light of this ruling. There are so many other Conservative decisions that need to be made, but for now, I’m taking this as a win and resting in thankfulness that there is a sliver of justice and decency in America.
All this being said, our conscious as a nation is still there, yawning itself awake, eking by. With bloody, broken fingers our Republic is clawing for purchase. The Stars and Stripes still wave, at least for a little while longer, by the grace of God. I await the next Conservative SCOTUS decision with joyous trepidation.
I am Miriam, and I approve this message. Thank you, and may God Bless us all. Happy Independence Day!
The Story of Cain and Abel Genesis 4:1-15, NIV
Adam[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[b] She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth[c] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
On. Point. (Holds up glass to cheers) Love your writing style, Miriam!