My Essay for the Board of Trustee's Scholarship at Drury University

A Woman’s Choice

As a Bible-believing Christian, I consider life as sacred at all stages, including growth in the womb. Once the zygote is embedded into the uterine wall, it needs only oxygen and nutrients to develop into the fully-grown baby capable of life outside the womb. These nutrients and oxygen are just what you and I need to stay alive, develop, and grow.

I also believe God is intimately involved at an infant’s conception. The Bible says in Psalms 139:13b-14, “Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Because of this, I believe abortion is wrong. The exception is in situations where failure to terminate the baby would result in the death of both the mother and child, when an abortion may save one of the lives.

Right alongside the issue of abortion comes Senate Bill 1173, also called the Freedom of Choice Act. This bill will codify the 1973 Roe v. Wade Court decision, eliminate and rescind all progress towards the sanctity of life that the States’ and the Bush Administration have attempted, and nullify laws currently in existence. Laws like: parental consent and notification laws, health and safety regulations for abortion clinics, and limits on public funding for elective abortions (thus, making American taxpayers fund a procedure that many find morally objectionable). This bill will also rescind what is referred to as “Freedom of Conscience”, which currently allows any heath-care worker to refuse to participate in any part of the abortion process if their faith or conscience prohibits it. This is a direct extension of “freedom of religion.”

I want to become a general surgeon. Although FOCA does not directly affect my area of health care, the potential abolition of “Freedom of Conscience” will most surely bleed over into the other areas of healthcare. It is probable that once FOCA is passed, eventually other areas of healthcare (including mine) will lose the ability to practice their freedom of conscience.

A remark frequently heard from the pro-choice proponents is: “Women have the right to choose what they want!” So what about the women in the womb, who can’t yet talk, but are very viable lives?

In Senate Bill 1173, the first finding of Congress was: “The United States was founded on core principles, such as liberty, personal privacy, and equality, which ensure that individuals are free to make their most intimate decisions without governmental interference and discrimination.” I do believe that Congress didn’t “find” very well. I think what they meant to say was “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Notice something missing? Life.

Always err on the side of Life. This allows for freedom of conscience, and also gives the unborn person a chance to live the life God gave them.