Large Church on a Mountain

This building is on the top of a mountain in West Virginia. I pulled into the parking lot to see the view.

This church has a flashy electronic sign that posted at least four alternating messages, including a graphic of a simplified American flag, which probably offends those who believe churches are for worshiping God rather than the State. Reinforcing their political involvement is this message:

“Thank you Supreme Court. Babies lives matter too.“

The sign made me cringe. Of course babies matter! So do their mothers. But things like this just reinforce the misunderstandings that divide people. Hardly anyone kills actual babies, although certainly they did in ancient times. 

But we don’t even have an agreement on terms and concepts so that we can discuss abortion rationally. When does a zygote become a baby? One person’s opinion is different than another’s. The “soul” is a religious construct, not a physical thing. When I say soul, I mean self-awareness; you might mean something else. And we may have different opinions about when human life begins depending on our religious background. 

I remember when abortion was illegal in this country. People had them anyway. Many women lost their lives having non-sanitary abortions or doing risky things to bring on a miscarriage. Often these were women who already had children and left these children motherless. Is this what we want? 

I realize that people think birth control works. Sometimes it does. Often it doesn’t! If some of the popular methods were parts to a car, they’d be recalled as unsafe. 

I also realize that we have the Internet now and it is full of information on self-abortions. Some of these methods (even some common herbs) are unsafe in the recommended quantity. How many women will die as a result of the Supreme Court decision? Do people not care because they think sex is a sin? Or do they feel that women are unimportant? 

Yes, I am old enough to remember when abortion was illegal, and an older friend did risky things trying to miscarry her second pregnancy. It’s fortunate that she did not break her neck when she threw herself down the stairs! I also remember another friend who was molested by her stepfather and I wonder what would’ve happened if she had gotten pregnant at 13?

The “good old days” were not really that good.