In my front yard. there exists a 30-foot oak . The tree is old, diseased, and too near to the house. It’s a hazard. I must eliminate it. So, very first thing in the morning, I am going to get a ladder, climb to the very best of the tree, and pluck all of the leaves I could carry. The next day, I will go get a ladder, climb the tree, and pluck leaves. Your day after that, I’ll get the ladder…
I am never going to remove that tree by pulling leaves.
Abortion in Istanbul Turkey
In 1973, Rove v. Wade moved abortion to the frontlines of America’s political conscience. It moved to leading and stayed there. Thirty-five years later, we have been no nearer to resolving to this issue. The “pro-life” movement has been plucking legal leaves. Some anti-abortion activists have so centered on overturning this legal ruling they have forgotten the goal of the fight. Stop abortions.
The law is one really small component in the abortion fight. Legal victories have had little effect on the amount of abortion performed in this country. The Heritage Foundation analyzed abortion data in states which have enacted restrictive abortion laws. They studied four major areas of legislation: parental consent, Medicaid funding restrictions, informed consent, and partial birth abortion prohibitions.[1] Only Medicare funding restrictions had any statistically significant effect on the state’s abortion rates.
Consider the aftereffect of the recent Supreme Court ruling on partial birth abortion.[2] Pro-life legalists wasted fifteen-years to secure a couple of leaves. This pro-life ruling won’t prevent one abortion. This law delineates the acceptable location of the abortion. A doctor may dismember the child in the upper portion of birth canal but not the lower. It generally does not deter legal abortion; it defines legal abortion. Someone forgot the goal.
Likewise, there is no evidence that overturning Rove v. Wade will stop abortion. Rove v. Wade established abortion law as a federal matter. When Roe is reversed, control of abortion law reverts to the states. Even yet in a post Roe era, no American woman will live a lot more than three states away from usage of a legal abortion. We will have a patchwork of fifty state abortion laws. Legal analysts separate states into three positions based on projected law.
22 states will probably impose significant new restrictions on abortion
12 states will probably impose some moderate new restrictions on abortion
16 states and the District of Columbia will probably continue current usage of abortion.[3]
Imagine if all fifty states passed highly restrictive abortion laws? Data indicates that even restrictive abortion laws have little impact on abortion rates. Latin American countries have the most restrictive laws on the globe. However, abortion rates in Latin America’s are 50% greater than current US rates.[4] Abortion may be the primary contraceptive method in these countries.[5] Worldwide, there is virtually no correlation between the stringency of abortion law and national abortion rates. Availability of reliable contraception, economic factors, and social mores tend to be more predictive of a nation’s abortion rate than its legal structure.
So should Christians who hate abortion abandon the legal battle? No, we don’t abandon the legal area. However, we must recognize that legal matters will not be the main front. The legal forays are the most time consuming, most expensive, and least productive area of the abortion battle. And while there is significant evidence that abortion rates tend to be more responsive to economic factors than legal ones, I propose Christians invest their energy into the most productive area of change. Law and economy are not the principal abortion issues. Sin may be the primary abortion issue. We cannot diminish the abortion rate without changing social mores.
95% of Americans take part in premarital sex.[6] Significantly less than 7% of pregnancies within marriage are aborted while 40% of pregnancies to unmarried women end in abortion.[7] Conception beyond marriage is the foremost predictor of abortion. Sex sin may be the primary abortion issue.
This nation won’t pass a law against premarital sex; it could be ridiculously ineffective. Experience teaches that the people would not honor this new law since they don’t honor the old law. In Deuteronomy, God gave law about sex sin and individuals didn’t keep it. God’s law is perfect and His law does not end abortion. The Supreme Court of the United States cannot issue a ruling that will be more effective than God’s preexistent law. The people are sinful. They couldn’t keep the law then; we can not keep carefully the law now.
Except by grace through Jesus Christ. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye aren’t beneath the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14 KJV)
Jesus died on the cross in order that man would have the opportunity to overcome sin. By grace, we are able to steer clear of the sex sin that leads to murder sin. Without this, there is absolutely no ability to keep carefully the law. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to abide in us and keep us from being sin controlled. The remedy to abortion is evangelism.
