We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby

A popular slogan for people who support abortion is “Trust Women.” The idea, of course, is that women are capable of making their own decisions and we should not interfere. In some ways, I agree. The truth is, if we stopped deceiving women, most of them would make the right choice—which is for Life.

One of the greatest innovations for Life is the ultrasound.  It’s been curious to me how controversial such an innovative technology has been.  Various ultrasound legislation has been introduced recently. In Oklahoma, a law was passed requiring ultrasounds prior to abortions, and soon thereafter a lawsuit was filed to keep it from going into effect. Recently in Florida, the governor vetoed ultrasound legislation, much to the chagrin of pro-life folks. And on and on the debate rages.

If it’s not a baby but “only a fetus,” as we hear time and again, then why would an ultrasound be worrisome? The Christian Post reported that according to the Center for Reproductive Rights the (Oklahoma) law is “detrimental to women in the state.” The Center argued that the ultrasound requirement “profoundly intrudes upon a patient’s privacy and is the most extreme ultrasound law in the country.”

Gov. Crist in Florida insisted that the bill paved an undue burden on women seeking abortions. However, it’s really more of a burden to not allow a woman to have all the facts. Another argument he and other makes is that it’s about the right to privacy. In Oklahoma, it was two abortion providers who sued to stop its implementation. But it’s not a violation of patients’ rights to privacy to give them more information.

Abortion may be the only area in the medical field where less information is lauded as a wise thing. On every other medical issue, we seek second opinions, read every article we can find online, ask all our friends, and post it on our Facebook statuses. But with abortion, we hide, probably because of the stigma, but that’s the darkness the enemy wants.

Using terms such as “right to privacy,” “choice,” “freedom,” and other positive-sounding words doesn’t help women. Women need all the facts.

When they see the child, when they realize adoption is the ultimate act of love, when they can embrace without shame the thing that others would use to stigmatize them, the thing the enemy would use to stigmatize them, then they can walk in truth and light and see healing.

“It’s only a fetus; it doesn’t become a baby until it’s born,” they tell women. And the mother who is often in such a crisis state wants to believe this voice of authority before her, wants to believe anything to make herself feel better. At that point she needs our love and the facts to realize the truth and make it. We don’t serve anyone’s needs by limiting anything.

The real reason for ultrasounds isn’t to violate the woman but to save her from being deceived in her vulnerable state. Ultrasounds are the reason people like former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson saw the truth; she is now a pro-life advocate. It’s what Jesus said, simply and powerfully, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32).

When you consider that that medical protocol is to give patients all the information they need to make informed decisions, it just makes sense. If an oncologist didn’t do this and the cancer spread as a result, we would consider the doctor incompetent and sue him for malpractice. When a woman is not informed and given truth, it can create an emotional cancer that can have grievous effects on her life. Now that technology and information has come so far, we can use it to save the woman’s emotional life, as well as the life of a baby. It’s a double blessing.

This week I was encouraged by a friend of mine who had a close relative discover she was pregnant. It was definitely unplanned and the result of an unmarried union. Sadly, one of the relatives of the couple assumed the young lady would want to have an abortion and sent her several hundred dollars for it. The woman took the money—and promptly had work done on her car instead! What joy filled me to hear this story, to realize that more and more we are becoming a people who realize that is life in the womb, and even in a time of crisis, this woman, and many others, still choose the best path—life.

Trust women. The abortion advocates have the slogan right. They just need to give them the right information.