[rant]

Abortion. Yeah... I said it. ABORTION. It seems to be a hot topic these days, and the more I read posts about it on Facebook the more angry I get. I am not ashamed to be Pro-Choice... and I am not ashamed to say that my faith SUPPORTS my being Pro-Choice. Many people dont realize that when they use their Bible or their God to support their being Pro-Life, they really dont have a leg to stand on. The people who are the WORST about this are the crooked politicians that insist on using religious rhetoric to impose laws.

In our pluralistic society, politicians should NOT be allowed to impose laws about childbearing based on any particular "belief" about when life begins. The notion that life begins at the moment of conception is a belief held by some, but not ALL religious groups.

The Bible tells us that God acts within human beings to set us free and enable us to assume responsibility for ourselves. If we make wrong choices, God forgives us. Humans, by the grace of God, have developed medicine, surgery, and psychiatry to prolong and enhance life. These same medical approaches can be chosen to prolong or enhance the life of a woman for whom a specific pregnancy would be dangerous.

Created in God's image, we are endowed with the ability to make moral choices. This ability is the very basis of an individuals dignity and autonomy. Being pro-choice is not being pro-abortion. In reality, there are many of us who believe that choice is the most logical and the most responsible position any religious institution can take on this issue. We are dealing with something that is deeply spiritual and cannot be left to those who would choose to politicize this issue and further victimize those who must ultimately decide for themselves.

For those who insist that the Bible is strictly Pro-Life and that "person hood" starts at the time the sperm meets the egg, scripture can, in fact, be used to argue that it isn't and doesn't. In Leviticus 27:6 a monetary value was placed on children, but not until they reached one month old (any younger had no value). Likewise, in Numbers 3:15 a census was commanded, but the Jews were told only to count those one month old and above - anything less, particularly a fetus, was not counted as a human person. In Ezekiel 37:8-10 we watch as God re-animates dead bones into living soldiers, but the passage makes the interesting note that they were not alive as persons until their first breath. Likewise, in Genesis 2:7, Adam had a human form and a vibrant new body but he only becomes a fully-alive human person after God makes him breathe. And in the same book, in Genesis 38:24, we read about a pregnant woman condemned to death by burning. Though the leaders of Israel knew the woman was carrying a fetus, this was not taken into consideration. If indeed the Jews, and the God who instructed them, believed the fetus to be an equal human person to the mother, then why would they let the fetus die for the mother's crimes? The truth is simple. A fetus is not a human person, and its destruction is not a murder. Period.

Abortion was well-known and widely practiced in ancient times, during Old Testament domination by the Israelites as well as under the Roman domination at the time Jesus lived, as it has been in even the most primitive societies. The Old AND New Testaments are very outspoken on even very minute aspects of daily life, especially the Law of Moses. Jesus later clarified many of these laws to remove ambiguity or to add motive and intent to the spirit of the law. If the commandments against murder were intended to apply to fetuses, then the Law of Moses, the later prophets and judges would have said so. Or, if there were some misunderstanding or confusion about the subject, Jesus speaking many hundreds of years later, could have provided some clarification on the subject. At the very least, an omnipotent and omniscient God would have been able to foresee the future conflict in our time and state specifically that commandments against killing were also applicable to abortion. Yet, while the Law of Moses outlines penalties and conditions for various types of killing (neighbors, foreigners, intentional, etc.), along with various types of permissible and forbidden killing (self-defense, executions, wartime vs. homicides), there is not a single place in the Bible where abortion is condemned, forbidden or even frowned upon.

In fact, the Bible on several occasions discusses fetal life and existence. These would have been perfect opportunities to include a prohibition against abortion, if such had been intended (or was God guilty of a sin of omission?) BUT THEY DIDN'T. Since abortion was well-known but not forbidden, the Bible's silence reveals much. Many aspects of personal behavior are not addressed in the Bible. The Bible doesn't say what color our houses should be painted or how long we should wear our hair -- matters of personal preference are left to individual CHOICE, separate from issues of moral law. Conversely, the Bible also does not encourage, support or promote abortion. It is neither pro-abortion nor anti-abortion; like most people it takes a neutral (silent) position, leaving the matter to individual discretion, or CHOICE. Since the scriptures are completely silent on the issue, they obviously intended this to be left to individual preference (i.e. CHOICE). Those who claim Biblical authority to justify their human interpretations about a subject on which the Bible is silent are dishonest and hypocritical.