Abortion: A Woman's Right to Choose?

My brother and his wife are having twins. Identical twin girls, very rare. This is not a coincidence. God has His purposes, and He wants as many of His spirit children as possible to come to Earth to have a physical body. So when two righteous Latter-day Saint parents decided to welcome one more baby into their family of six, God decided to let them welcome two.

I'm devastated over the abortion battle, that there even is such a thing. Every time I think about it, my soul cries for those sweet spirits in Heaven who are waiting to be born, but the evil deeds of men prevent them from coming.

One of the lowest evils is the taking of a human life before it's even had a chance to begin. Our President-elect Obama wants to sign into law an act that will allow this to happen on an even more enormous scale than it already does. Abortions will be legal well into the pregnancy, babies from botched abortion attempts will be left to die on a sterile table in a doctor's office or hospital, and many, many babies will be denied the right to be born.

A woman's choice? Hogwash. Why on earth does her freedom of choice include the right to decide the fate of another's life? I’m appalled that so many people have been deceived and lulled into thinking that this is a matter of personal choice. How is another person’s life the matter of choice for someone else? In God’s eyes, abortion is murder, plain and simple.

Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a medical doctor has made this perfectly clear:

Elective abortion has been legalized in many countries on the premise that a woman is free to choose what she does with her own body. To an extent this is true for each of us, male or female. We are free to think. We are free to plan. And we are free to do. But once an action has been taken, we are never free from its consequences.

To understand this concept more clearly, we can learn from the astronaut. Anytime during selection or preparation, he or she is free to withdraw from the program. But once the spacecraft has lifted off, the astronaut is bound to the consequences of the previous choice to make the journey.

So it is with people who choose to embark on a journey that leads to parenthood. They have freedom of choice—to begin or not to begin that course. When conception does occur, that choice has already been made.

Yes, a woman is free to choose what she will do with her body. Whether her choice leads to an astronaut’s mission or to a baby, her choice to begin the journey binds her to the consequences of that choice. She cannot “unchoose.”

When the controversies about abortion are debated, “individual right of choice” is invoked as though it were the one supreme virtue. That could only be true if but one person were involved. The rights of any one individual do not allow the rights of another individual to be abused. In or out of marriage, abortion is not solely an individual matter. Terminating the life of a developing baby involves two individuals with separate bodies, brains, and hearts. A woman’s choice for her own body does not include the right to deprive her baby of life—and a lifetime of choices that her child would make. (Ensign, October 2008)

There are rare instances when abortions are performed because the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or the mother’s health is in jeopardy. It is being used today as a form of birth control. Despite this evil and disgusting practice, the work of God will not be thwarted. My brother and his wife are supreme examples of this. Instead of one baby, they will have two. I have so many friends who are raising righteous, good families who’ve been blessed with twins or multiples, sometimes more than once. I applaud these people and I truly believe that God, our Heavenly Father, is sending His precious children down in groups to families who will welcome them in order to combat this abhorrent man-made practice.