Those marching for abortion rights may be unprepared to answer the most fundamental questions about their protests.
On September 1st, 2021, Texas passed a law that prohibits abortions after a heartbeat can be detected, virtually outlawing abortion in that state.[1] As a result, around the country there were dozens of women’s marches, protesting that the Texas Heartbeat Law violated women’s rights and was an act of discrimination against a woman’s rightful choice over her body.[2]
Signs read:
“I march for women’s rights and reproductive rights and human rights for all people, regardless of gender, race, religion, nationality, sexual identity or sexual orientation.”
“Men of quality do not fear equality”
“My freedom begins with my body”
“The hardest decision a woman can make isn’t yours.”
…among others.
Many concerned with abortion rights desire to protect women and children, make the abortion decision one that is protected from government interference, and free women from being forced into childbirth.
Those all seem like good things to fight for, right?
But once again it is the enemy’s work of half-truths and deception.
At the heart of the women’s rights marches are fundamental questions that many of the protestors may be unprepared to handle:
1. What is a woman?
2. Does abortion really add to a woman’s freedom?
Many women who are caught in the trap of unplanned pregnancies are forced to make a decision that they never wanted to make. Suddenly in a literal life-and-death position, the woman must make a choice that will impact her life forever. Thousands of thoughts and emotions crowd her mind, and she is often terrified to think them through with anyone close to her. In the moment of indecision, her own personal insecurities, fears, beliefs, and values are what are most influential to sway her one way or the other.
So often the story that a woman believes about herself determines the pregnancy decision she makes.
It is essential to understand the root of our identity as women and distinguish the world’s lies from God’s truth.
What is a Woman?
Culture’s Answer
A simple Google search of “what is a woman?” demonstrates the confusion that exists.
An article written by The Economist columnist Helen Joyce offers a number of definitions:
“A loose, shifting constellation of biological, political and cultural phenomena which varies according to context, place & time” (Shon Faye, British transwoman and activist)
‘Someone who “experiences the norms that are associated with women in her social context as relevant to her”’ (Katharine Jenkins, British philosopher)
“People who want to be so defined. I think people should be able to be who they want to be” (John Nicolson, British member of parliament)[3]
There are a lot of confused and varying opinions about what really constitutes a woman. But of all the attributes that could be used to define womanhood, there is one that stands out: victimhood.
An article by Susan Stryker, appearing in Time magazine’s “100 Women of the Year” section of 2020, describes womanhood as being derived from one’s level of victimhood:
“Who gets ‘womaned’ by society and subjected to misogynistic discrimination as a result, and who answers yes to the question, posed publicly or in the innermost realms of thought, as to whether they’re a woman or not? The intersection of those two conditions arguably marks the status of belonging to womanhood in ways that do not depend on reproductive biology.
Labeling others contrary to how they have labeled themselves is an ethically loaded act, but ‘woman’ remains a useful shorthand for the entanglement of femininity and social status regardless of biology—not as an identity, but as the name for an imagined community that honors the female, enacts the feminine and exceeds the limitations of a sexist society.”[4]
Amnesty International agrees with this notion by including an aspect of intersectionality within the idea of feminism, arguing that there are many aspects of a person that contribute to a person’s victimhood or oppression, not only one of gender. These all, Amnesty asserts, should be included in one’s idea of “feminism.”
“Intersectional feminism is the idea that all of the reasons someone might be discriminated against, including race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic class, and disability, among others, overlap and intersect with each other.”[5]
A Woman’s Rights website says it another way:
“…Many women all around the world are still discriminated against in many aspects of life, including their community, workplace and even their own homes. Women in power are continuing to rise up and make a change for the better, voicing the cause and making change….”[6]
…and these are just a few among many.
Are they right? Is the only way to define a woman the level of oppression a person feels on the basis of their gender? I would argue no.
There is another way to understand the definition of a woman. One that is far more fulfilling, affirming, and perfecting to who she is as a person.
God’s Answer
While the world tells us that by definition a woman is an oppressed person, God’s answer is relational, affirming not what others have done to her, but who God made her to be: the inherent value and beauty that arises from a woman being made as God’s workmanship. As Elisabeth Elliot puts it,
“There is, no doubt, a superficial sort of consolation and reassurance to be gained from sitting around telling how you feel about things. You generally find several others who feel the same way, or (what is even more reassuring and consoling) they feel worse than you do. But it is no way to come at the truth.
In order to learn what it means to be a woman we must start with the One who made her.”[7]
When God made woman, it was because there was something incomplete about a man who was alone. He made her to be a “helper suitable,” someone who could be supportive and at the same time constructive to a man’s ambition and work.
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’…And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man”[8]
There is something invaluable and unique about a woman that a man cannot offer. Even after the Fall, the first ray of hope is found in the woman and the most incredible gift God has given her: the ability to conceive.
“The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”[9]
It is not mere outward beauty that makes a woman precious. The depth and strength of her character, the treasure of her identity as a human made with purpose, in the image of God, makes her far more precious than any gold or jewel, even than any desire that a man could have of her.[10] In fact, a woman is so treasured in the sight of God that He uses the metaphor of a bride to describe the joining of the church to Himself.[11]
What an honor, a joy, to be the one in whom Christ delights.[12] Woman is the beautiful image of God, distinct and unique from man, offering so many powerful characteristics that would be lost were there only one gender created.
Of those characteristics, one of the most essential and unique aspects of a woman is her amazing ability to give life. The first woman was named Eve, for she is “the mother of all living.” Her offspring was the one who would trample evil forever.[13] The biological ability to bear children is a beautiful gift that is uniquely given not to man, but to woman.
With that in mind, we will move on to the second question.
Does abortion free or imprison women?
Culture’s Answer
The Clergy Advocacy Board of Planned Parenthood says in their statement about “Who We Are”:
“We believe that both men and women have an inherent right to reproductive freedom, that this freedom includes the right to abortion, and that abortion is a complex moral and ethical issue that cannot be resolved by solutions that are simplistic or cruel.”[14]
In the view of Planned Parenthood, abortion is an inherent right of all human beings. Women’s rights advocates as well as the abortion industry promote the idea that women (and men) have a right to perform sexual intercourse however and with whomever they wish without dealing with the moral consequences of that decision.[15]
The National Organization of Women writes, “During the debate over health care reform, we often heard that health care is a basic human right. That’s true — and just as true is the fact that women have the basic human right to safe, legal abortion care. And that means all women, not just the ones with the resources to overcome medically unnecessary, demeaning and stigmatizing regulations.”
According to culture, abortion is an inherent right, one that is vital to ensuring equality and dignity to all citizens.
But is it really?
God’s Answer
Rather than promoting bodily freedom, “Arguments defending abortion demean the body to the subpersonal level. They trivialize the body as a form of raw material that can be tinkered with, manipulated, experimented on, or destroyed with no moral consequences.”[16]
While the women’s rights advocates argue that abortion is an activity that gives a woman more freedom, the facts argue otherwise.
A study done in 2018 published in the Journal of Physicians and Surgeons found that nearly 75% of women seeking post-abortive care felt pressured into their abortions.[17]
A 2020 study done through a nonpartisian site #abortionchangesyou found that 77% of women who experienced a medication abortion regretted it later, many experiencing severe depression, anxiety, guilt, and grief.[18]
A study done in 2011 analyzing research published from 1995-2009 on the effects of abortion found that “Women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81% increased risk of mental health problems, and nearly 10% of the incidence of mental health problems was shown to be attributable to abortion.” [19] Issues that were found to be associated with this percentage included alcoholism, child abuse, divorce and relationship problems, post abortion syndrome, psychological impairment, sleep disorders, and suicide.[20]
Do these women sound free to you?
Early feminists such as Susan B. Anthony recognized the degrading nature of abortion, labeling it as “child murder.”[21]Elizabeth Cady Stanton, an influential figure in the woman’s right to vote, said, “When we consider that women have been treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.”[22]
Abortion allows men to use women and not have to deal with the consequences of it.
Abortion chews up a woman’s God-given dignity and spits her out on the other side.
Abortion effects a woman’s life forever.
Abortion puts a woman in chains of guilt and grief.
There is no kind of freedom to be found in access to abortion.
Do not be deceived.
[1] S.B. no. 8. Chapter 171, Health and Safety Code, Sec. 171.204. https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/pdf/SB00008F.pdf [2] https://womensmarch.com/mobilize/?source=tw20210903 [3] https://thehelenjoyce.com/what-is-a-woman/ [4] Stryker, Susan. “What Does It Mean to be a Woman? It’s Complicated.” “100 Women of the Year.” Time. 2020. Web. https://time.com/5795626/what-womanhood-means/ [5] https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/discrimination/womens-rights/ [6] https://womensrightsprojectsite.wordpress.com/where-are-we-now/hello/ [7] Elliot, Elisabeth. Let Me Be a Woman. Tyndale, Carol Stream, IL. 1976. Print. [8] Genesis 2:18, 22-23 [9] Genesis 3:20 [10] Psalm 31 [11] Revelation 21:2 [12] Hosea 2:14-16 [13] Genesis 3:15 [14] https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/our-leadership/clergy-advocacy-board/who-we-are [15] Pearcey, Nancy R. Love Thy Body. Baker Publishing Group; Grand Rapids MI. 2018. Print. [16] Pearcey, Nancy R. Love Thy Body. Baker Publishing Group; Grand Rapids MI. 2018. Print. [17] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/study-almost-75-of-american-women-having-abortions-were-pressured/ [18] Katherine A. Rafferty & Tessa Longbons (2021) #AbortionChangesYou: A Case Study to Understand the Communicative Tensions in Women’s Medication Abortion Narratives, Health Communication, 36:12, 1485-1494, DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1770507 [19] Priscilla K. Coleman, Abortion and mental health: quantitative synthesis and analysis of research published 1995-2009, 199 Brit. J. of Psychiatry 180, 183 (2011). [20] https://nebraskafamilyalliance.org/policy/life/abortion-harms-women/ [21] https://www.feministsforlife.org/herstory-susan-b-anthony/ [22] https://www.liveaction.org/news/feminists-never-wanted-abortion/
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