Would you consider abortion in the following situations?

1. There’s a preacher and wife who are very, very, poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she’s pregnant with her 15th. They’re living in tremendous poverty.

2. The father is sick, the mother has TB. They have 4 children. The first is blind, second is dead, third is deaf, fourth has TB. She finds she’s pregnant again.

3. A white man raped a 13 year old black girl and she got pregnant.

4. A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancé is not the father of the baby, and he’s very upset.

If you chose to terminate, in the first case, you have terminated John Wesley, one of the great evangelists in the 19th century. In the second case, you have terminated Ludwig Van Beethoven, Composer and pianist, widely considered the greatest composer of all time. In the third case, you have terminated Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer. In the fourth case you have terminated Jesus.*

“Don’t you see that children are God ’s best gift? the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you; you’ll sweep them right off your doorstep. (Psalm 127:3-5 MSG).  Children are God’s generous legacy and a reward to parents. In the words of Matthew Henry, “Children are God’s gifts, a heritage, and a reward; and are to be accounted blessings, and not burdens: he who sends mouths, will send meat, if we trust in him. They are a great support and defense to a family. Children who are young, may be directed aright to the mark, God’s glory, and the service of their generation; but when they are gone into the world, they are arrows out of the hand, it is too late to direct them then. But these arrows in the hand too often prove arrows in the heart, a grief to godly parents. Yet, if trained according to God’s word, they generally prove the best defense in declining years, remembering their obligations to their parents, and taking care of them in old age.”

Since children are arrows in the hand of their parents, what happens to the arrows which have been broken and thrown away by ruthless parents? There are so many unborn children who’s destiny have  been aborted by wicked parents. There are so much more who were born but have gone into the world and lost, and have become arrows out of the hands of their parents. Others have either through the neglect of parents, or through the negative influence of the society have been marred and broken.

Just recently, a body of a new born baby boy was found floating in a gutter beside the Ikotun BRT terminal near Ikotun market. The body of the dead child was discovered by passersby Friday, at about 12 pm shortly after the rains which started in the area since the early hours of the morning stopped.

Unsafe abortion is a major cause of injury and death among women worldwide. Although data are imprecise, it is estimated that approximately 20 million unsafe abortions are performed annually, with 97 per cent taking place in developing countries. Unsafe abortion is believed to result in approximately 68,000 deaths and millions of injuries annually. People give different reasons for terminating pregnancies. It is either they are too young, single or married but uninterested in having more children. As far as Nigeria’s laws are concerned, induced abortion is legal only if it is done to save the woman’s life. And before abortion can take place on medical grounds, the doctor must seek the second opinion of another doctor.

Since children are God’s heritage, He does not abandon them no matter how broken and shattered they are. He is in the business of gathering the abandoned and discarded children, who, like arrows, have been thrown away from the quiver of cruel and unsparing parents. His hands are always widely opened to receive all those who have been discarded in the refuse of our confused society. In the seventeenth century France a humanist scholar by the name of Muretus was an ailing fugitive. When he presented himself to the medical doctors he was dressed in the rags of a pauper. The doctors discussed his case in Latin, thinking he would not be able to understand them. “Faciamus experimentum in anima vili” one said, which means “Let us try an experiment with this worthless creature”. Imagine their shock when this pauper replied, also in Latin, “Vilem animam appellas pro qua Christus non dedignatus est mori?”, “Will you call worthless one for whom Christ did not disdain to die?”**

I speak to every heart who holds a secret they cannot keep and could not tell. I write to every lady who hides behind silk dresses and leather purses a terrible secret that makeup can’t seem to cover and long showers will not wash. I write to those who have been abused, disappointed, victimized, and  brokenhearted. The good news is that no matter how dark your night is, there will be a morning after! Release your hurts and old fears, and allow God to reconstruct your broken places, so that the peace that passes all understanding can keep your mind at rest. Lift up your head in confidence and shout it aloud: “I am not worthless!  ‘I’m Winning!’ Yes, we are wining!

GreatMark

Source: *Unknown.

Source: **Reported in Charles Birch, Regaining Compassion (University of NSW Press, 1993)