Saturday, October 24, 2009

Pro-Abortion Argument: Are you willing to take in all the "unwanted" children in the world?

"I don't think that anybody has the right to object to abortions unless they're willing to take care of all of the unwanted children brought into the world if abortion was made illegal."

Have you heard of this argument before? I have from both Christians and non-Christians. At first, it seems like the argument handcuffs you. Are you willing to take in the "unwanted" children of the world? After stammering for a while, you might think that you should say, "Yes, of course!" However, realistically, this is impossible. The next dart thrown your way may be phrased this way: "Well, if you say that you are pro-life, what have you done to help the single moms who have to raise their unwanted children on their own?" If you haven't done anything, you're the fool. If you have done something, it is not enough; you're in a double bind. Thankfully, you don't have to worry about such pro-abortion rhetoric.

Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason suggests that you respond this way:
"What would you say if I suggested that we solve the homeless problem in this way. We herd all of the homeless together, who are really a drag on our resources, and inject them with a poison or gas them. Let's just kill them and get them out of the way. Would you object to that?" I presume the answer would be yes and then the response that I would offer would be: "What if I told you that you have no right to object to killing the homeless unless you're willing to take some of the homeless into your home or help to pay for them out of your own pocket. Your moral objection isn't sound if you aren't willing to take care of the needs that accrue as a result of letting them live."

Obviously in a circumstance like that the person is going to say that it's not an appropriate kind of argument for the same reason that it's not appropriate to say that the United States couldn't object to the killing of Jews in Nazi Germany unless we were willing to take all six million Jews onto our own soil. The reason is because we're talking about human beings. We're talking about people's lives and you don't make a trade off like that. If a person's life is in jeopardy it doesn't matter whether you're willing to care for that life or not for you to have a legitimate moral objection against the taking of that innocent life.

That's the point.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Jack


Here are some pics of Jack. He is such a joy to have and to play with. I still can't believe I am a dad!