Sunday, June 2, 2013

Abortion and Ectopic Pregnancy...What do you think???

Well I've been thinking about ectopic pregnancy and abortion a lot lately.  Before we started this blog it crossed my mind briefly, but I don't really remember thinking much about it. I've now had to think about it a lot, and I want you to think about it as well.

A week or so ago I was at a conference and there was a speaker there teaching about pro-life foundations and how to have a good debate and such.  This speaker said he believed abortion was necessary, and morally acceptable if the pregnancy was ectopic.  I had jotted down some good notes on his lesson, but when I heard this I couldn't concentrate on anything else (in his session or any other).  Out of the whole conference, this was the one BIG thought I came out with. Is abortion ok if you're having an ectopic pregnancy?

For those of you who don't know what an ectopic pregnancy is, let my try and explain.  Ectopic means "out of place", so an ectopic pregnancy is when your baby is not in the womb where it should be.  Instead of settling in the uterus, it accidentally implants in the fallopian tube (path of travel to the uterus) and begins to grow and develop there.  The problem is, that because it's a tube and not an expandable uterus, the baby will grow too large for the tube and then it will rupture and the mom will bleed internally until she dies.  The baby will die also.  Not all ectopic pregnancies cause the tube to rupture though.  Studies have shown that more than 60% of ectopic pregnancies end in a natural miscarriage.  This is normal and does not harm the mother at all.
   
Anyways, with this being said, I had to ask myself, does scripture say it is ok to murder your child if your life is in danger?  It is still just as much human as a baby growing inside the womb, just as much human as myself.  Would it be Biblically acceptable for us to take that life and end it?  If it's wrong according to the Bible to kill an innocent human being, then it's wrong to kill an innocent human being.  And since the baby in an ectopic pregnancy is an innocent human being, wouldn't that mean it is wrong to kill him/her?
   
This morning I got to thinking about this topic some more, and I recalled something I had seen in the clip, 180. I remember one part when Ray gave this analogy in comparison to the value of human life and abortion.  He said, suppose you are in Germany in a Nazi camp during WW2.  There is a large pit filled with dead and dying Jews.  The officer commands you to drive a bulldozer forward and bury them alive.  If you don't, they'll kill you and do it anyway. Would you do it?  And of course my answer would be, "No!  Kill people to save my life, when they not doing anything wrong?  That would still be murder!" This is my example for ectopic pregnancy.  Would it be ok to kill the baby, that is doing nothing wrong, to save your life?  The baby is going to die anyway, right?  How can I say "no" to the first example and "yes" to the second?  But, even if I do say yes to the latter, do I have scripture to back myself up?  I cannot find a verse(s) that say that God makes exceptions for murder in certain scenarios.  I find where he states that murder is wrong, and that he will punish those who shed innocent blood, but none for it ever being ok.
 
Another thing I thought about was playing God. Would it be ok to take matters of life and death into my own hands and play God?  I believe God is the giver and taker of life.  I believe that if it's His will that someone die of cancer or in a car accident when they're 8-that's His will.  He gave him/her life, He can take it.  I also believe that abortion is murder.  I believe it's selfish and that it's wrong.  So then shouldn't I believe that to kill an innocent child because I don't want to die yet is wrong?  If He decides I have come to the end of my numbered days, He is in control and can take my life.  Just because I don't want to die yet, or I don't want to die a certain way should not mean I can slaughter my son or daughter to avoid it.  If I didn't believe this to be true there would be a loop hole in my stance, correct?
   
But, then we've got intent.  I've read many articles now on whether or not it's ok because of the intent of the procedure. That it's not the same as abortion because the intent is to save the life of the mother, not kill the baby. And that sounds nice.  But then I thought, wait a minute, what is abortion intended to do?  We can say it's intended to enable a girl to go to school, or intended to ease emotional pain of rape, or intended to save the life of the mother, but are those things the true intent of an abortion? I don't think so.  Those reasons might be a side effect. Abortion is intended for one reason.  It's intended to terminate a pregnancy.  To end the life a living human being, made in the image of God.  It's intent is not anything else.  No matter what reason I could give, I cannot deny that the intent of abortion is to kill a baby.  So, if the procedure is to "remove the pregnancy" so that the mother will "get better", and the pregnancy (a.k.a. baby) is still alive, then the intent of the procedure is to abort.  To kill the baby.

If I say that it's never ok to have an abortion, even if you'll die without one, then I'm thinking this...  people (even people I know) will say "Theresa!  You mean you'd rather have your mom die and leave little children behind? And her husband?  She would never get to see ya'll get married, or graduate, or anything! Are you saying she should sacrifice being the mother of all her other family members for this one that is going to die anyway?" And I'm thinking that it sounds really harsh, that I would be for all of those sad things.  But what is worse?  Dying and leaving your family, ministry, and life behind because God says your time is up, or killing your child so you can continue your life on earth, only to have the eternal punishment of his/her murder later?

All of this thinking brings me to my conclusion.  I've decided in my heart that abortion is murder and is never ok or excusable.  I believe that abortion in the case of ectopic pregnancy is really no different than abortion in the case of anything else.  I believe that abortion in the case of ectopic pregnancy is wrong.  What have you decided?  I challenge you to think and pray about it, and then tell us what you think by commenting on this post. (Please be polite when sharing your opinion, opposing comments will not be deleted but inappropriate comments will.)

For further reading, here are some interesting links:
http://www.personhoodinitiative.com/successful-ectopic-pregnancies.html

http://www.personhoodinitiative.com/ectopic-personhood.html

http://www.lifenews.com/2008/06/02/int-770/

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_ParentingResource/baby-born-deformed-misdiagnosed-ectopic-pregnancy/story?id=15421441#.UavqGbXD-M-

~Theresa


10 comments:

  1. Excellent post, as always! I had an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy, but I didn't choose to abort, but instead chose to wait it out via "expectant management" and I am SO GLAD I did. Here is my story. http://www.a2ndgenerationofhomeschooling.com/2012/11/my-ectopic-baby.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you are an absolute idiot who cannot pass judgement unless you have been through it yourself. You are suggesting that women should wait to see if the tube ruptures, in otherwords, wait to see if you might die! You need a reality check!
    A tubal or ectopic pregnancy is never going to be a successful pregnancy, so you are not 'murdering' the baby by choosing to have it removed, simply stopping the risk of further trauma and the possibility of reduced fertility or death! You are a horrible person for making such accusations against vulnerable women.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are not passing judgement. What we're saying is that it's wrong to murder unborn children to save their mother's lives. You would say the same if the child was born, wouldn't you? Being of the opinion that something is wrong is not passing judgement; this blog is simply a way for us to put our beliefs and convictions out there and, hopefully, wake people up to what abortion really is.

      "A tubal or ectopic pregnancy is never going to be a successful pregnancy" False-there have been successful ectopic pregnancies. You should Google it. Even if that statement was true, that would not change the fact that abortion during an ectopic pregnancy is murder.

      Yes, you are murdering the baby if you choose to have him or her "removed". The baby is alive, and when you "remove" him or her, the baby will die. We cannot put ourselves in God's place and decide who will live and who will die. You should check out the link in the comment above yours.

      We won't resort to name calling, so we would appreciate it if you didn't either :)

      ~Kaitlin

      Delete
    2. @July 12, 2013 Anonymous: Finally someone with sense!!

      Delete
  3. This is a doozy. I'm not sure what I would do. I definately see abortion as murder, however, etopic pregnancies are so rarely successful it does not strike me as murder. Also, if you went to Hell for the murder of one child who would have died and possibly brought you with it because your husband and young children needed you, wouldn't that be as selfless as giving yourself ip for that innocent life?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Annelise, if we kill people because they have cancer, and they might not survive, would that be acceptable? Picture an 18 year old, would it be ok to cut him to pieces because there was a pretty good chance he wouldn't make it through treatment? What about you? If something happened to you at your age now, that would cause you imminent death, do you believe that God would not hold a person accountable if they killed you? Just because something happens rarely does not excuse murder. If someone only rapes rarely, that doesn’t make it ok, it’s still rape. If you murder rarely, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s murder. If the baby in the tube will only live rarely, that doesn’t make it any less human or less alive. It’s still a baby, and you’d still be killing it. Changing the reason for murder does not change the act itself.

      God does not want us to go to Hell. It would not be selfless to be turning down His gift of salvation and choosing to go to hell. He says to put Him first over man, so if we choose to kill our children and go to hell, that is not being selfless for the sake of our family here on earth, it's actually being selfish, and doing things the way we want instead of the way He wants. God is the one in control of all things, not us. By refusing to have an abortion you are not killing yourself, but instead being selfless and letting God use the situation for his glory. But I agree that it’s a doozy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
      ~Theresa

      Delete
  4. I know a young woman who had a ectopic pregnancy. She had a lot of pain and she was rushed to the ER and they found out she was bleeding internally. Only if one discover a tubal pregnancy early on and move the baby to the uterus then it would be able to grow and can survive. But tubal rarely survive because the baby cannot grow and it will burst the tube causing a rupture and bleeding occurs and the baby dies. Her ep wasn't in the uterus where it could grow and the surrounding place can expand. This is not an abortion. Abortion is selecting to end a term pregnancy usually when the fetus is in 1st trimester. Dr.s cannot not save ep because it usually isn't determine within the first 2 months. This makes it hard for Dr.s to save the fetus and have to take it out of the mother. It's life threatening to the mom and baby and should never be considered leaving it in an area where it cannot grow. You could say nature terminate the fetus but not the mother. She didn't select an abortion. No different than if the baby was still born or aborted itself while in the womb. It's natures' way of saying it wasn't the right time. EP can reoccur and this could be a problem for want to be moms. So don't feel you aborted a EP. It wasn't you, it was something that wasn't meant to happen. An oops! Otherwise the baby would be in the uterus where it's suppose to be in order to grow and have higher rate of suvival.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry folks, forgot to sign name as Terri M.

      Delete
  5. The baby can not survive with out the mother. A ectopic pregency is excruciatingly pain full and to say a women should have to endore that kind of pain is selfish and cural.My husband is a registered nurse he will tell you the baby will not survive and to risk kiling both is wrong and selfish.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ignoring and saving an ectopic pregnancy that will almost always kill a mother and the baby simply because you feel it's wrong. Knowingly killing yourself in most cases to try to save a baby that's most likely going to die. . Umm, isn't that suicide? Isn't suicide against gods laws?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting! We love hearing from you!