The Tragedy of Abortion

American culture has become so decadent when
it comes to sex that anything goes. 

Abortion becomes a way to save face, reputation, and ambition. 

I need to say, as I write this, that
I am absolutely pro-choice when it comes to abortion.  That any person has to even contemplate going
through such a painful ordeal is punishment enough in and of itself , and it is
clear, in spite of anti-abortion movements, that the furor seems to be over a
child's life before it is born and
not after.  Sadly, we don't see marches
or protests against child poverty or against a system which denies health care
to millions of children in the United States, a right, I think, which would afford them to have a
chance to succeed, once born.

But that being said, something
really needs to be done about this American culture which is so decadent when
it comes to sex that anything goes anymore. 
People use their vaginas or penises for selfish reasons, for immediate
sexual gratification, or to satisfy a perversion which has never been treated,
creating far too many babies in the process. 
Abortion becomes a way to save face, reputation and ambition.  In this day and age, where nobody really has
to get pregnant because of all of the birth control methods available, unwanted
babies being created is unconscionable.

The tragedy of abortion is that
precious talents and contributions to this life are being thrown away, like
old, unwanted shoes.  In this Christian
nation, where we say we are close to God and that we honor God, we seem to
forget that one cannot honor God and take away life that God creates!  Taking away the life of an unborn baby
through abortion deprives this world of human contribution as much as much as
does a drive-by shooting.  We seem to
have forgotten that God gives life and God should take it away.

In a political conversation, though,
what can really be done about abortion? 
One cannot legislate morality, meaning, laws cannot stop abortions any
more than they can stop drive-by shootings or people murdering their spouses
when they're tired of them or want insurance money.  One cannot legislate how and when people
sleep together.  One cannot even
legislate or mandate it that everybody use birth control.  We've got free will and the United States
Constitution, protecting our "inalienable rights"  navigating the course, so it seems. 

One cannot stop abortions by
marching outside abortion clinics with those horrible placards calling the
women having abortions "murderers," or, worse, 
by bombing the clinics!  That
scenario has always been ridiculous and hypocritical to me:  those calling people involved in abortion in
any way "murderers" engaging in murder themselves. Certainly, the God who
abhors murder abhors it on every level!

But maybe this culture, this
society, can reduce the number of abortions by working on reforming the way
people in this country think about sex. 
We're too uptight about it, and too unwilling to look at the problems so
many people have with sex.  Why is it
that law-abiding men engage in sex with children, in person and over the
internet?  It's like it's America's big, ugly secret … only it's not a secret.  We are at once fascinated and frightened by
sex, and we seem to not know how to act responsibly.  I truly don't know what a politician can
do.  I truly don't know that all the
hoopla over abortion is a wise investment of energy, because a person who wants
an abortion is going to get it, be it legal or not.

What needs to happen is that we stop
looking at our bodies and the manufacture of babies as just a happenstance, an
"oh well" result of us being irresponsible and selfish, and start thinking
about the tragedy of abortion: the wasting of human potential.  We who engage in sex without thinking don't
think about that, and we're doing the world a great disservice.