I’m Against Abortion, But: A Pro-Life Response to the Frequent Pro-Abortion Claim
by Bryan Kemper
December 16, 2009
LifeNews.com Note: Bryan Kemper is the president of Stand True Ministries, a pro-life group that reaches out to youth and young adults. He is the author of a new book, Social Justice Begins In The Womb.
I’m against abortion, but…
I think the statement that bugs me most when talking to people about abortion is, “I’m against abortion, but…” I can actually respect someone’s total pro-abortion position more than someone who tells me, “I’m against abortion, but…” It just makes no sense to me at all; how can they be against something as vile and deadly as abortion and have a “but”?
My first response to them is always to ask them first why they are against abortion. What is it about abortion that would make you start your statement with “I’m against abortion”?
It amazes me when they start telling me how killing a baby is so wrong, life is so precious and we should respect it, and babies are innocent and don’t deserve to die. It would seem they have a firm grasp on the pro-life perspective, but. There it is, that little three-letter word that destroys the very foundation of what they just explained to me.
I am boggled at how in one breath you can call killing a baby murder and in the next breath you can justify this murder because you don’t want to tell others what to do. I cannot fathom how someone can say that life is precious and should be protected then turn around and support “the choice” to destroy that very life.
I have said this in past commentaries and I will say it again; this is why people can add the word “but” into a sentence about being against abortion. The problem is we are allowing abortion to fall into a different category than every other act of homicide. But abortion is not a different act; it is a different method of the act of homicide. It is still one person killing another person. Therefore, if we would feel compelled to take action to stop acts of homicide such as those in Darfur, the Congo or anywhere else, shouldn’t we also take action to stop the acts of homicide that take place in abortion clinics?
So many are refusing to take action because they have been able to infuse the word “but” in order to free themselves of the responsibility of standing against evil. As long as that they can insert that word, they can deflect or hide from the truth that is staring them in the face: innocent little babies are being destroyed.
Let’s play a game I like to call “ridiculous analogies”. In this game, I switch the word abortion for some other grave evil and see if you can justify a way to insert the word “but” into the sentence.
1. I am against child molestation, but…
2. I am against what happened to the Jews during the Nazi Holocaust, but…
3. I am against men beating their wives, but….
4. I am against slavery, but…
5. I am against rape, but…
Can you think of any situations where you can use the word “but” to justify any of these evil, deplorable actions? How about this:
A. I am against slavery, but who am I to tell someone else they can’t own slaves?
B. I am against rape but who am I to take away a man’s right to choose?
I hope you find these last two sentences make you cringe with disgust. That is the same way I feel when I hear someone say, “I am against abortion, but…”
Abortion is the act of destroying the life of an innocent human being and there is just no justification for committing this act of homicide. Just as justifying exceptions for these other horrifying acts is unthinkable, so should justifying the act of killing babies.
I truly believe that if the majority of people who claim to be against abortion (with a “but” or not) would start acting the same way we would if something like slavery was suddenly made legal again, we would see an end to the slaughter of the innocents.
When I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, a concentration camp in Poland, I stood outside the gas chambers for some time. I had just gone through most of the camp and was emotionally wrecked, to say the least. As I stood outside this building, I was looking at houses in the distance and wondering what I would have done if I lived in those houses during the time of the Nazi Holocaust. Would I have stood up and taken action, or would I have found a way to insert the word “but” into any statement I made about the mass killing taking place in my back yard?
What I realized is that I do live in those houses; there is a mass killing taking place in my back yard. There in another holocaust taking place to which I must decide how I will respond. There is a holocaust taking place in all our back yards as almost 4,000 people are killed every day in our cities and towns.
I want you to all imagine what it would be like to have a house right next to a concentration camp in Poland during the Nazi Holocaust; would you have used the word “but”? Even more important, knowing that you do have a holocaust happening in your own back yard right now, how will you respond? Will you stand up, or will you find a way to say “but…?”
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