I want to thank the many of you who prayed for the Faith & Choice Forum last Tuesday at MCG. Hosted annually by a student organization, the purpose is to allow medical students (mainly first and second years) to hear how different faiths address reproductive health issues like abortion and contraception. The following religious perspectives were represented: Southern Baptist (Cooperative), Unity, Unitarian/Universalist, Islam, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Judaism, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian Church in America. Only the representative of Roman Catholicism and I professed to be unequivocally pro-life. A couple of ministers would not commit either way saying that they just want to support and comfort desperate women regardless of their choice. The rest were decidedly pro-choice, which meant for each of them that a fetus within the womb sometime before the third trimester is not a human life that demands protection. It is disposable for “many reasons.” I say “many” because none of the pro-choice panelists would say that someone should terminate a pregnancy because it was “inconvenient.” Acceptable reasons for them included health of the mother, deformity of the child, poverty, an abusive home, or single motherhood. There were a couple of remarkable examples of casuistry. The Rabbi said that in Reformed Judaism, a fetus is not considered a life until it takes its first breath. Before then, it is an appendage of the mother’s body which may be removed if unhealthy. There were visible expressions of shock by the audience to that statement. Another example of convoluted reasoning was by the representative from Islam, a retired professor of obstetrics. He argued that a commentary on the Koran allowed that a fetus is not a human life until anywhere from 40 to 120 days after gestation.

My Roman Catholic friend, a physician who has also taken orders in his church, spoke very passionately about his own “conversion” to a pro-life position during medical school. His profound “aha” moment came when two babies who had survived a saline abortion were rushed to the neo-natal unit for emergent care. Suddenly he realized the evil hypocrisy of a perspective that argues effectively that a child is only worth saving when it can’t be killed. He also eloquently made the case for abstinence only sex education to the consternation of most of the rest of the panel.

Below is a reconstruction of my comments, since they were mostly extemporaneous:

I. Authority

Today I represent First Presbyterian Church of Augusta, which is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America. For us the final authority for all matters of faith and life is the Bible, which is the word of God. In it we have a record of God’s mind and heart of grace. The Bible further reveals that all of history is outlined by creation, fall and redemption. That means that we affirm that human beings and all the world were created originally good but have fallen and become victims of sin. However, the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ is the redeemer who is able to save anyone from his or her sin and promises to put back together a broken world.

II. Key Biblical Principles

Given that the Bible is our foundational authority, it only makes sense that we would look to it for principled instruction on matters touching reproductive health. In short, the Bible records God’s singular high regard for all of life. Allow me to give you a few examples from representative portions of the Scriptures:

1. Genesis 1:27, 28; 2:18-25: Moses teaches that man and woman both were created in the image of God and therefore bear inherent dignity regardless of abilities. Whom he called “very good” we must regard with equal worth. Later Eve will testify that every child comes only by “the help of the Lord.”

2. Psalm 139:13-18: Herein the psalmist captures in stunningly beautiful and intimate language the individual crafting work of God in the formation of each human life.

3. Mark 10:13-16: Jesus fervently expressed his love for children when he welcomed babies into his arms, despite his disciples’ protests.

4. Luke and Acts: These books are sometimes referred to as the Gospel of Women because of Luke’s frequent descriptions of Jesus’ care for disenfranchised women by healing, advocacy or inclusion in his band of disciples.

5. Exodus 21:23-25: One of the most important texts for us is this one from the Mosaic law which prescribed a particular justice for a woman and her baby if attacked by a vicious man. Some (like the Rabbi on the panel) have inferred from the text that the baby’s premature birth is an abortion. Therefore, they conclude that the Bible presents a double standard for mother and baby because retribution (lex talionis) is only required if the mother is injured, not the baby. However, the text is intentionally vague. If Moses had intended to describe a spontaneous abortion he had words at his disposal for such (shachol and nephel). In fact he uses one just a couple of chapters later (Ex. 23:26; cf. Ps. 58:8). Instead he used the generic word yeled which merely denotes a birth. Rather than spelling out the eight possible scenarios (e.g. mother hurt, child ok; mother ok, child killed; mother killed, child hurt, etc.), God just says that if either is hurt or killed like retribution is necessary (“eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life”).

Together those passages teach us that because every life is a gift from God and inherently bears his dignity regardless of limitations, we must be pro-life for all life.

III. Practical Outworkings of Pro-Life Convictions

But talk is cheap, so let me outline briefly a few ways we attempt as a church to advocate for all of life. We are far from perfect so our efforts are flawed with many inadequacies but we are trying at least to do something. To start we have structured ourselves to provide intensely personal life-on-life help to the smallest, weakest and most forgotten of our community. Here are a few examples of what my people do as an expression of their faith-commitment to be pro-life for all of life:

1. Care for children: The structure and programming of our church is prejudicially bent toward extending holistic and community-wide nurture to the children of our church. But we also feel a burden for children outside of our church who are in need of the culture of grace God has given to us at FPC. Our people have adopted minority children, special needs children, international children, and international children with special needs. We provide support for families of children with special needs. And recently our families helped dignify a child with a severe chromosomal defect by praying for him by name, celebrating his life in the womb through worship and providing a memorial service for him upon his death.

2. Care for women: Like Jesus, we desire to be committed to women especially in need. In cases where women’s lives have been compromised by an unwed pregnancy or rape or poverty our people have mobilized with networks of men, women, healthcare professionals, jobs, support for job training, legal advocacy, and showers for supplies. Some of our physicians are offering healthcare to the prostitutes and dancers downtown and coordinating to provide a way out of those degrading lifestyles. Teen mothers have been taken into our homes, provided with transportation, and assisted with GEDs. Members of FPC led the way in establishing the Crisis Pregnancy Center downtown across from Planned Parenthood to provide compassionate counseling to women in need. And given that poor education is often named as a factor for unwed pregnancies, our people have led the way with establishing excellent educational and tutoring ministries through Heritage Academy, Released Time Christian Education and Westminster Schools with more mentoring ministries to come.

3. Dignity accorded to women: Contrary to accusations, we believe the women of our congregation must be honored in the name of Christ and as ones specially crafted by God in the beginning. We have staff dedicated to the development of support networks for women in all stages of life: single, married, motherhood and widowed. Our women are some of the most influential professional leaders in the CSRA and many key leadership roles in our church are occupied by women.

4. Care for the elderly and infirm: We give prominence and honor to our elderly and provide social networking ministries that encourage them to stay active and keep using their gifts. A number of our healthcare professionals act as de-facto “parish health providers” by caring for minor needs in the homes of the elderly. And household or financial needs are addressed by teams within our parishes.

5. Care for mentally ill or indigent: Our people have organized themselves into armies of dozens at times to care for one bi-polar person. One of our ministries, Christ Community Health Services treats thousands of uninsured patients every year with expert compassionate care for body and soul. We have mainstreamed special needs children in our educational ministries. And a number of our people provide the primary leadership for the sheltered workshops in town for handicapped adults.

This is not to mention the numerous counseling sessions we conduct with the sexually and physically abused, women who have had abortions, and those with chemical, sexual, or homosexual addictions.

 IV. The gospel is good news

Everything we do is to declare that the gospel is good news for everyone and every category of persons, especially the “least” of these, “Christ’s brethren.” To specifically address the main focus of this forum today, we oppose abortion because it is bad news for people made in the image of God. The gospel is good news for any child because it tells her that she is inherently dignified by God and loved by Jesus. Abortion is bad news because it says the child is a nuisance or not worth living because of her limitations. To justify a mother’s right to choose the death of her child based on her whims is to provide a relativity to all of life that leaves all those not able to defend themselves in jeopardy. It was this realization— that if a mother could choose the fate of her child because she had more power, then a more powerful adult could choose to end anyone else’s life—that led Elizabeth Foxe-Genovese, the founder of Emory’s Women Studies program, not only from pro-choice to a pro-life perspective, but also from Marxist atheism to Christianity.

And abortion is bad news for women because abortion is harmful to their physical and emotional health. Until recently about a dozen deaths per year were attributed by the CDC to complications from legal abortions. However, in the last five years studies have been tracking the mortality rates of aborting women internationally. The latest statistics for American women having abortions show that there is a 154 percent higher risk of suicide and an 82 percent higher risk of death from accidental injuries.

As a pastor, I can tell you that abortion is bad news for fathers too. Unless he has developed a seared conscience, abortion has never “solved the problem” for a father. It will haunt his conscience for the rest of his life.

At the last day Jesus will ask what we did for the “least of these.” Some will claim to have done miracles in his name but Jesus will deny knowing them, because his sheep are those who out of love for him and his redemptive work, pursue and care for the most wounded of sheep. Jesus said he came to bring abundant life to the world.  That is why we are pro-life.”

While the gasps, guffaws and patronizing remarks from the other panelists are always annoying, the interaction with the students (who on the whole seem much more rational and compassionate than most of the religious presenters) is always very rewarding. This year the moderator had this to say after the forum: “Dr. Robertson, your church seems to be the only one offering resources for women in desperate situations. Since we have no such services to offer at the Medical School, would it be ok if I referred my patients to your church when they are in need?” It was only because I serve the noble people of First Presbyterian Church of Augusta that I could say with confidence, “Send every one of them to us and we will do our best to help them.”

My Favorite People: Thanks for praying but thank you even more for being you.