How many children is it alright to sacrifice to win an election? What about 'exceptions' to abortion?

As the Republican Party considers changes to its historically prolife platform, many politicians and political organizations condone and encourage child sacrifice as the only way to help a political career, win an election, or further a political party.

They agree to participate in the deaths of thousands of children, whether those children are younger than other children, or because those children fall within the ‘exceptions’ category. Few public servants represent all their constituents, including those waiting to be born.

Should there be exceptions to who has a right to live?

Here's a political strategy few have attempted on this subject in the past fifty years - tell the truth! We are talking about children with faces, fingers, toes, and personalities who are just as alive and human as you and I are. They have tiny beating hearts and the ability to love. They are no different than the preborn children each of us used to be. The argument of abortion has nothing to do with 'states rights', 'women's rights', 'healthcare', or 'women's reproductive freedom'.

We can all agree that every woman has, and should have, bodily autonomy over her own body, healthcare decisions, and choice over anything that goes into their body. She gets to decide when, where, and with whom she engages in activity that could have the consequence of creating a child. If she doesn't have that choice, that is a crime against her, and her perpetrator committing the crime should be brought to justice.

Where the argument against abortion lies is in the understanding of a child's humanity and that mothers should not kill their children.

What about Exceptions?

If we look just at the facts, it is not medically necessary to intentionally cause the death of a child through abortion. An abortion is the poisoning or tearing apart of a child’s body. It involves unnaturally stretching a mother’s cervix or causing her to go into preterm labor to deliver her dead infant.

Though not always successful, doctors can attempt to save lives, rather than intentionally destroy them. Doctors used to vow to "first, do no harm", including not providing abortifacients which cause a child to die prior to being born. Doctors can attempt to save all lives and do not have to intentionally tear a child apart through an abortion to save the mother.

In the rare instance where the life of the mother is in imminent danger, a doctor can attempt to save both of his patients by delivering the child early or by caesarian section (c-section) which is much faster and safer for the mother than an abortion. By giving comfort and medical care for the best chance of survival to all patients, rather than dismembering and causing death to a child, less trauma and risk is also added to the mother. Many women, even when encouraged by a doctor to abort a child, choose to let their child live.

In an ectopic pregnancy, which can be dangerous to both mother and child, a doctor can choose to monitor mother and baby, or the doctor may attempt to relocate the child in the uterus, which was first successful in the 1980's. The doctor can also deliver the baby early without treating the infant inhumanely.

In cases of sexual assault (rape and incest), there is no physical or emotional difference between children conceived in rape and children who were not. The choice of a father to commit sexual assault is his choice separate from the genetic makeup of a child created in the image of God. The sin of sexual violence committed against a woman was not her choice, but the mother choosing violence to abort her child is her sin. According to a Scriptural understanding of civilized societies, "children must not be put to death for their fathers" (2 Chronicles 25:4b)

Many women report that having their child helped them overcome the rape. The child was a consolation to them and gave meaning to an otherwise meaningless experience. That child is a gift to them. Many women also report that choosing an elective abortion following a rape was more difficult to overcome than the rape itself. By current Colorado law, if a rape is reported within 48 hours, the rapist is required to pay child support without having access to his child. If molesting a woman to have sex with her is wrong, molesting a child to cause death is also wrong. As previous generations used to say, “two wrongs don’t make a right.”

For children who are expected to die at birth, there are hospice programs available to help parents provide living care and precious time with their baby. Many children with a poor prognosis or thought to be severely handicapped are born healthy and go on to live normal lives. According to a recent study by the New York Times, more than ninety percent of initial genetic tests are wrong. (New York Times, 2022) There are also adoptive parents willing to care for handicapped or terminally ill children and there is financial help available for parents.

As I listen to politicians willing to participate in child sacrifice for the sake of their careers, I read in Scripture about God’s judgement on nations that participate in the idolatry of child sacrifice, the injustice of killing innocent human beings, and how our Creator loves children. I also wonder what leaders we are missing because we justified aborting them. One child with their whole life ahead of them of life, love, faith, and Divinely inspired purpose is one child sacrificed too many.

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed." (Proverbs 31:8-9)

Faye Barnhart is a life-affirming specialist, women's advocate, and Co-Proponent of the Colorado Life Initiative. She raised her children as a single parent and is now married with an adopted special needs son and enjoys each of her grandchildren, including a grandbaby who needed life-saving surgery at birth. She accepted Christ as her personal Savior and Lord as a small child and applies her faith to everyday living.