No Questions Asked

The story about doctors giving abortions on the basis of gender, “no questions asked”, must be one of the saddest news items of recent years. Let’s be thankful it has come to light, and is being dealt with.

But there’s something illogical about the outcry, too. If an unborn baby girl has the right to life, then surely surely any unborn baby does—whether the sex is known or not, whether the baby is a girl or a boy.

It seems strange to accept you can terminate because you are upset at the prospect of having a baby—but not because you are upset at the prospect of having a baby who happens to be a girl.

And just another thought… in the UK you can opt to find out the gender of your child when he/she is 20 weeks old. You can opt to terminate a pregnancy up to 24 weeks. Which means you can easily abort a girl you don’t want—you simply have to say it’s for social reasons, not sexist ones.

Let’s pray that this news story means no baby loses their life ever again in the UK simply because they’re of an unwanted gender. But let’s also pray that no baby loses their life again in the UK for any other reason. And let’s pray that women, and men, who find themselves in difficult, unplanned situations receive the help and love they need—and that women, and men, who look back at difficult decisions they wouldn’t take now accept and appreciate the forgiveness that Jesus offers all of us.

For some more in depth biblical reflection on the issue of abortion, scroll down a few blogs and see last week's series ...