Disability Does Not Justify Abortion- Article
I don’t expect non-Christians to understand why
Christians see unborn children as intrinsically
valuable creations of the living God. But I would
like abortion advocates to answer why they think
aborting children is an appropriate response to a
public health crisis.
Abortion advocates are taking advantage of the Zika
virus outbreak to encourage liberalizing abortion
laws in Brazil. It is shamefully prejudicial against
unborn children with disabilities and does not
address real public health issues.
According to the Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission (ERLC), the Zika virus has infected as
many as 1.5 million Brazilians in the past year. At
the same time, a distressing number of children
were being born there with microcephaly, or an
unusually small head, that can lead to
developmental and other disabilities. On February 1
Dr. Margaret Chan, The World Health Organization
Director-General, declared:
The recent cluster of microcephaly cases and
other neurological disorders reported in
Brazil, following a similar cluster in French
Polynesia in 2014, constitutes a Public Health
Emergency of International Concern.
Abortion proponents are now using the Zika
outbreak to advocate for more abortions in Brazil
and elsewhere in Central and South America. A
February 3rd New York Times article reported that,
The surging medical reports of babies being
born with unusually small heads during the
Zika epidemic in Brazil are igniting a fierce
debate over the country’s abortion laws,
which make the procedure illegal under most
circumstances.
The essence of this “fierce debate” is that it is
preferable that children with disabilities related to
microcephaly be aborted rather than be born.
Better If They Were Never Born?
Everyone, even those in favor of unrestricted
abortion at any stage of pregnancy, grants that the
decision to abort is serious. And most people
believe that it should be an informed decision.
Thus, we would assume that more information
about microcephaly would be offered, including
how it impacts those living with it and their
families. What is noteworthy by its absence in the
New York Times article, no people living with
microcephaly or their families are interviewed and
no case studies are presented. The writer ignores
how people with disabilities are responding to such
efforts to destroy unborn people like them.
It is simply assumed that a diagnosis of
microcephaly is sufficient reason to destroy the
child in the womb.
Since I live with a young man who doesn’t have
microcephaly but does have severe developmental
disabilities, I can confirm that many days are
difficult and it is expensive (and we also laugh a lot
in our family!). Even harder, though, is living in a
world where many people believe and behave
according to those beliefs that people like my son
shouldn’t have been born at all.
It can be frightening to live in such a world. But I
have a greater hope: God. And God made him. As
Pastor John noted in a sermon on John 1:
Wherever you turn on this planet and see a
living person, you are seeing an image of
absolute reality, ultimate reality, original
reality — the Word, who was with God and
was God, and was Life. You have never met
an ordinary human being. There are none.
They are all extraordinary. They are all
amazing.
We are all image bearers. Notice that Pastor John
does not modify his statement with “except if they
have a disability.” He would have been
blasphemously wrong if he had. God kindly and
specifically informs us in his word that disability is
also under his sovereign authority ( Exodus 4:11;
John 9:1–3).
Again, I do not expect non-Christians to understand
our hope. But I do encourage Christians to cling in
faith to God’s word and behave accordingly:
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self
is wasting away, our inner self is being
renewed day by day. For this light momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight
of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not
to the things that are seen but to the things
that are unseen. For the things that are seen
are transient, but the things that are unseen
are eternal. ( 2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
As Christians, we do not address suffering by
destroying the person who is suffering. We attack
viruses to prevent outbreaks and eliminate
mosquitos and develop vaccines and send medical
professionals and go ourselves — we don’t kill little
human beings. We trust that his promises of supply
( Philippians 4:19) are true and his predestined
plans ( Acts 4:28) are perfect. We can respond in
proactive, loving ways to families experiencing
microcephaly, and every other disability, because
our hope is in God and not ourselves.
Don’t Believe the Lie
If you claim Christ as Savior and are generally pro-
life yet feel abortion in these circumstances is
reasonable, you’re believing a lie. I beg you to read
the entirety of Scripture and see how God presents
the purposes of suffering and hardship of every
kind. Or read, watch, or listen to these resources on
suffering at desiringGod.org .
The extent the Zika virus is causing microcephaly is
not yet fully understood, but clearly something is
happening in Brazil. Let us pray for God to provide
answers and relief and to show how the church can
be involved. Some of the affected children are being
handed over by their parents to the Brazilian
government; maybe one of those children is meant
for your family!
And let us attack the satanic argument that it might
be “better” for the child with microcephaly and for
his family if he was aborted. We should pity those
who think that way because they are unable to see
God’s extraordinary power and are headed for an
eternal reality that is worse than any of us can
imagine. Rather, let us pray and evangelize and
engage with those who support abortion, for the
sake of their own joy and for the very lives of
vulnerable little ones and their families.
Christians see unborn children as intrinsically
valuable creations of the living God. But I would
like abortion advocates to answer why they think
aborting children is an appropriate response to a
public health crisis.
Abortion advocates are taking advantage of the Zika
virus outbreak to encourage liberalizing abortion
laws in Brazil. It is shamefully prejudicial against
unborn children with disabilities and does not
address real public health issues.
According to the Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission (ERLC), the Zika virus has infected as
many as 1.5 million Brazilians in the past year. At
the same time, a distressing number of children
were being born there with microcephaly, or an
unusually small head, that can lead to
developmental and other disabilities. On February 1
Dr. Margaret Chan, The World Health Organization
Director-General, declared:
The recent cluster of microcephaly cases and
other neurological disorders reported in
Brazil, following a similar cluster in French
Polynesia in 2014, constitutes a Public Health
Emergency of International Concern.
Abortion proponents are now using the Zika
outbreak to advocate for more abortions in Brazil
and elsewhere in Central and South America. A
February 3rd New York Times article reported that,
The surging medical reports of babies being
born with unusually small heads during the
Zika epidemic in Brazil are igniting a fierce
debate over the country’s abortion laws,
which make the procedure illegal under most
circumstances.
The essence of this “fierce debate” is that it is
preferable that children with disabilities related to
microcephaly be aborted rather than be born.
Better If They Were Never Born?
Everyone, even those in favor of unrestricted
abortion at any stage of pregnancy, grants that the
decision to abort is serious. And most people
believe that it should be an informed decision.
Thus, we would assume that more information
about microcephaly would be offered, including
how it impacts those living with it and their
families. What is noteworthy by its absence in the
New York Times article, no people living with
microcephaly or their families are interviewed and
no case studies are presented. The writer ignores
how people with disabilities are responding to such
efforts to destroy unborn people like them.
It is simply assumed that a diagnosis of
microcephaly is sufficient reason to destroy the
child in the womb.
Since I live with a young man who doesn’t have
microcephaly but does have severe developmental
disabilities, I can confirm that many days are
difficult and it is expensive (and we also laugh a lot
in our family!). Even harder, though, is living in a
world where many people believe and behave
according to those beliefs that people like my son
shouldn’t have been born at all.
It can be frightening to live in such a world. But I
have a greater hope: God. And God made him. As
Pastor John noted in a sermon on John 1:
Wherever you turn on this planet and see a
living person, you are seeing an image of
absolute reality, ultimate reality, original
reality — the Word, who was with God and
was God, and was Life. You have never met
an ordinary human being. There are none.
They are all extraordinary. They are all
amazing.
We are all image bearers. Notice that Pastor John
does not modify his statement with “except if they
have a disability.” He would have been
blasphemously wrong if he had. God kindly and
specifically informs us in his word that disability is
also under his sovereign authority ( Exodus 4:11;
John 9:1–3).
Again, I do not expect non-Christians to understand
our hope. But I do encourage Christians to cling in
faith to God’s word and behave accordingly:
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self
is wasting away, our inner self is being
renewed day by day. For this light momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight
of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not
to the things that are seen but to the things
that are unseen. For the things that are seen
are transient, but the things that are unseen
are eternal. ( 2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
As Christians, we do not address suffering by
destroying the person who is suffering. We attack
viruses to prevent outbreaks and eliminate
mosquitos and develop vaccines and send medical
professionals and go ourselves — we don’t kill little
human beings. We trust that his promises of supply
( Philippians 4:19) are true and his predestined
plans ( Acts 4:28) are perfect. We can respond in
proactive, loving ways to families experiencing
microcephaly, and every other disability, because
our hope is in God and not ourselves.
Don’t Believe the Lie
If you claim Christ as Savior and are generally pro-
life yet feel abortion in these circumstances is
reasonable, you’re believing a lie. I beg you to read
the entirety of Scripture and see how God presents
the purposes of suffering and hardship of every
kind. Or read, watch, or listen to these resources on
suffering at desiringGod.org .
The extent the Zika virus is causing microcephaly is
not yet fully understood, but clearly something is
happening in Brazil. Let us pray for God to provide
answers and relief and to show how the church can
be involved. Some of the affected children are being
handed over by their parents to the Brazilian
government; maybe one of those children is meant
for your family!
And let us attack the satanic argument that it might
be “better” for the child with microcephaly and for
his family if he was aborted. We should pity those
who think that way because they are unable to see
God’s extraordinary power and are headed for an
eternal reality that is worse than any of us can
imagine. Rather, let us pray and evangelize and
engage with those who support abortion, for the
sake of their own joy and for the very lives of
vulnerable little ones and their families.
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