I don't really know what to say about this other than sin really sucks. How do you even begin to approach a situation like this? Sure, you never want to take a life by abortion because through meditation on the scripture (with the help of the Church), we know that every child is a gift from God even if conceived by rape, invitro-fertilization, etc. At the same time, a 9 year old body is likely to have a hard time gestating twins and her life is just as precious. Furthermore, this decision is actually a product of consequence from the (allegedly) sinful actions of the girl's step-father. And so it goes.
To me, this problem goes away if the step-father was able to receive full healing for his lust which is why I continue to seek out Christ's healing power and transformation. However, we live in a broken world and so we find ourselves with these pro-life/pro-choice debate fringe cases.
Brazil: 9-Year-Old Has Abortion Despite Church's Objections
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 5, 2009
ABORTION A 9-year-old girl who was carrying twins, and whose stepfather is suspected of raping her, underwent an abortion on Wednesday despite complaints from Brazil’s Roman Catholic Church. The stepfather has been jailed since last week, the police said. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, the country with the most Roman Catholics, but judges can make exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger or the fetus has no chance of survival. Fatima Maia, director of the public university hospital where the abortion was performed, said the pregnancy, which was in its 15th week, posed a serious risk to the girl, who weighs 80 pounds. But Marcio Miranda, a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife in northeastern Brazil, said the girl should have carried the twins to term and had a Caesarean section. “It’s the law of God: Do not kill,” he said in comments reported by the newspaper O Globo.
We can never partner with evil to do good. So what do we do here?
Posts
2 comments:
I think it's pretty clear, the Bible, the Church all echo God's command. I think it's the writer of the article that has spun what is clearly black and white into a grey area.
All pregnancies that are more than one child in the womb of the mother (twins or more) are considered to be "high risk pregnancies." Yet, we have glamorized news and tv shows (Something about Kate and 8? I obviously don't watch that show) about women using immoral scientific techniques (in-vitro fertiliation)to have large amounts of babies at the same time, which is of even GREATER risk. We have allowed women well beyond the age of menopause to give birth (google "oldest mother to give birth). We can perform surgical procedures on fetuses still in the womb to correct abnormalities (and yet legalized abortion is still VERY unsafe and we don't hear the feminists outrage about that!)
So, is it really a justifiable reason TODAY to say that that 9 year old mother's life was at risk to the point of taking two innocent babies' lives? It was a "risk" to the mother, but it's a death sentence to those children. I would say, 50 years ago, MAYBE even 20 years ago, it could be seen as a debatable decision from a secular perspective.
There can be no compromise with sin. To call sin by any other name but evil is the first step in compromise. And to compromise with evil would be the opposite of love. Think of what this little girl has to deal with in her life now, not only what her step-father did, but now what was done to her babies. (from other articles it sounds like it was the family's decision and not even hers...I wonder what she really wanted...) If she didn't want the abortion, isn't that another form of rape? A lot of women who regret their abortion always say they weren't fully informed at the time and in their hearts, they knew they truly were already mothers....
i second henry. we do what is right, whether it's easy or not. sin more than sucks. sin separates us from God and prevents us from receiving his graces to do good and sin no more.
Post a Comment