'Ethics' And Abortion

 Katie Yoder has an article today at Townhall.com that points out the flaws in the supposed ethical arguments in favor of abortion. You can find Yoder's article at Solon Piece Says 'Pro-Choice Ethics' Prove Abortion Isn't Murder. And of course, with mention of "Pro-Choice Ethics,' it took a while to get me to stop laughing before I could manipulate the mouse to click on the article. But when I clicked, realized "'Pro-Choice Ethics' was in scare quotes because what passes for pro-choice ethics is utter nonsense.  The authors of the Salon article use examples that compare apples to oranges and comes up with lasagna.

You will want to read both Yoder's article, and the Salon article she references. Yoder's article touches on, but does not specifically mention that the arguments against abortion are specifically religious. Absent the 6th Commandment telling us "Thou shalt not murder," is there an ethical argument against murder? On what basis do you make such arguments? For instance, one might make the case that sacrificing one life to save many makes the murder of that one person somehow acceptable. Christians will recognize that such an argument is wrong on its face because of the 6th Commandment. We are not permitted to make such judgements, only our Creator has that right.  From that we deduce that each individual life is precious to God.  But a secular ethicist with no absolutes like not killing innocent people, will be able to justify killing others for any number of reasons.

Indeed, historically, abortion was both legal and routinely practice outside of Israelite society. It was only when Christianity began spreading more widely throughout the world that abortion became less and less acceptable, and laws against it appeared. But as our nation has become more secular, less religious, the idea of sacrificing children on the alter of their parents convenience has come back as well. It is not something to be proud of; indeed we should feel guilty and ashamed.

There is something else that we should be worried about here.  And that is that to the degree that 'ethics,' as a field of study, is divorced from Biblical truth, it is highly suspect.  The ethics postulated by the ethicist depends entirely on his individual philosophy of right and wrong, or morality.  But the truth is there are not 7 billion ideas of right and wrong on earth.  There is one, the one commanded by our Lord and Savior.