Never born

I have been putting this post off for a long, long time. It's about abortion you see and I sometimes find it really difficult to talk about, like it's too much to bear. But I wanted you all to be aware of what I learned last year. I was researching for a pro-life prayer group I started at college. I don't trust anyones' second-hand stats, so I went to the effort of finding stuff out for myself. But before I tell you the facts, I'd like to urge you to look at photos of aborted babies. I've only done it once, sometime last year, and don't feel up to doing it again. But the reason I'd encourage you to do it is because it makes the situation plain. These foetuses have perfect, tiny little hands and feet, funny looking heads with eyes, noses and mouths, little rib cages and spindly arms and legs. And they're lying there lifeless and crushed, with blood all around. And it's not some advertising fabrication to pull at your heart strings - that's actually what it is. It's hard to go on talking about it until you can grasp what it is I'm talking about. So here's a link. You might want to ask God for his strength and hope before you look at the photos though.

Okay now you are ready to find out how much of a problem this is in Australia. Before I tell you, you need to understand about how people of all ages die in Australia and in what numbers. The only reputable figure for numbers of abortions in Australia is for the 2003-2004 financial year. So I looked at the deaths recorded by the ABS for the 2004 calender year (abortion is not included in these statistics).

In 2004 the total number of people who died in Australia was 132, 508. The ABS found that the leading cause of death was 'malignant neoplasms', which killed 37, 989 people. The number of children and adults who were murdered was 164.

Meanwhile on the 31st January 2005 Senator Boswell asked the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Aging a number of questions about abortion figures in Australia. These questions were answered by the Minister, Senator Patterson, on the 10th May 2005. Abortion statistics aren't recorded anywhere centrally, so the Minister had to compile the statistics from a number of sources (eg Medicare rebates). The figure he came up with for all of Australia (in roughly the same time period as the ABS statistics I quoted above) was appoximately 90, 000 abortions. He then forwarded his findings to each state health minister and they all agreed with this figure (except the NSW minister who didn't reply in time).

This means that for approximately the same time period, deaths due to abortion accounted for more than double the highest recorded number of deaths due to any other single cause. If they were to be included in the ABS figures, the 90, 000 deaths because of abortion would add a further 68% to the total number of people who died in Australia that year. This figure of 90, 000 far outshadows the 164 people that the ABS recorded as murdered.

So you see why I think this is one of the most major issues to face the church today. And why I think that history will be even more confounded and disgusted by our inaction than we are at those German Christians who stood by while their Jewish neighbours disappeared. But I also think this is a highly complex and clearly sensitive issue, and that ignorance and tragically misplaced good intention are part of the mix. So I'm in no way advocating a heavy-handed approach. In fact, I'm inclined to think that only those who are particularly gifted should do things like lobby. But that doesn't mean there's nothing for the rest of us to do. We can pray hard. We can celebrate pregnancies and families. We can care for single Mums and families in crisis. And we can share God's forgiveness and comfort with women who've had abortions.