#Abortion Is A #Religious Matter

Your remark “in God we trust” has validated what I wrote, which is that “Abortion is a religious matter. It is NOT one for the government.”

On a strictly PERSONAL RELIGIOUS level, I oppose abortion. And yet, as a strictly legal, Constitutional matter, I acknowledge that our United States Supreme Court has decided that we the people have the FREEDOM to make deeply personal decisions for ourselves, WITHOUT governmental interference.

Imagine, if you can, if the government told you that you must have a tubal ligation, or that you must have a hysterectomy… or, for a man, that he must have a vasectomy, or an orchidectomy (surgical removal of the testicles) so that they could no longer reproduce. Would you like that? Would you think that would be good? What if your neighbor could have a say in your private health decisions? What if your neighbor could say that you (or anyone else) must have any of those procedures? Would that be a pleasant thought – that the government could force you (or anyone else) to have a hysterectomy, or have your tubes tied?

When the government begins to say that you, or anyone, can, or cannot have a medical procedure performed, that is when we have become slaves to the state. In fact, I submit to you, that the idea of opposing abortion to the extent that it should be outlawed is contradictory to the idea that we are FREE people, because we are, in effect, telling the government that we want them to control our lives, that we DO NOT want FREEDOM to decide for ourselves what we want, or need. It is the antithesis of FREEDOM. It is also the very opposite of the thing that “anti-ObamaCare” people say they want… intrusion of government in their lives, and government control of health and healthcare.

At this point, I hasten to add that it bears mentioning that abortion is NOT just a thing which a woman undergoes in a purely willy-nilly fashion, as if she were changing her panties. It is a heart-wrenching, deeply personal decision to her, which should ONLY be made by her, and her physician. It should NOT be made by the government, nor should the government deny her the FREEDOM to make a decision… like they do in Communist China.

In the United States, the “anti-abortion” movement came about in part as a result of the Catholic Church’s teaching from the 1st Century from the Didache (sometimes also called “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”), which in part states, “thou shalt not kill a child by abortion, neither shalt thou slay it when born.”
See: Didache 2:2, https://carm.org/didache
See also: Catechism 2270, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm

At the time when discussion of abortion re-entered the political sphere (after the Roe decision) in the United States, most – if not all – Protestants were NOT in harmony with Catholic teaching, and did not oppose abortion. And yet, strangely enough, they have chosen to adopt that position OUT OF CONTEXT, because the Church teaches that ALL life is sacred. Which by extension, specifically means that the Church (and I mean to refer to the Catholic Church) also opposes the Death Penalty. But opposing things is NOT what the Church does. The Church is FOR LIFE. And by being FOR LIFE it SUPPORTS LIFE AT ALL STAGES, which includes everything that one needs to live life – food, medicine, clothing, shelter… indeed, those are the teachings we read that Jesus the Christ shared, endorsed, supported, and encouraged others to adopt, and live by. Concerning the Death Penalty, Jesus the Christ was also victimized by a Government, because He was KILLED at the hands of a governmental official. So, we see that there has been no change – at least in the United States – when it comes to state-sponsored executions.

See: Respect for Human Life, Catechism 2258-2330, in PART THREE, LIFE IN CHRIST;
SECTION TWO, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS; CHAPTER TWO, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”; ARTICLE 5, THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm