File this under “It’s been tried for decades only to have been proved a failure but let’s try it anyway and call it ‘seeking common ground.'”
LifeSiteNews reports:
The National Association of Evangelicals has issued a new resolution on abortion advocacy that calls for pursuing “common ground” towards reducing the abortion rate in America, and included contraception as among possible means of achieving that goal.
The thing that jumps out at me is that “common ground” is a political term, not one well suited to discussions of ethics.
The NAE wrote that while they are “understandably reluctant to recommend contraception for unmarried sexual partners, given that it cannot condone extramarital sex…it is even more tragic when unmarried individuals compound one sin by conceiving and then destroying the precious gift of life.”
Does the NAE not understand that birth control often acts as an abortifacient? Does the NAE not understand that birth control, far from being a solution for crisis pregnancies, is actually a cause as the two are statistically linked.
As sad as this move by the NAE is, I suspect that it’s just a precursor to an eventual move to legitimize abortion somewhere down the line. As Natalie Hudson wrote
There is no culture or subculture in the world that has permitted contraception and then has not gone on to permit abortion. As acceptance of contraception increases so does acceptance of abortion. Why is this the case? Because at the root of contraception is the notion that a couple can engage in sexual activity and avoid its natural consequences. Couples who unintentionally conceive a child while using contraception are far more likely to resort to abortion than others.
So I fear that the NAE’s acceptance of contraception will likely one day lead to an acceptance of abortion as a way of preventing “unwanted children” or to prevent children from being born with “painful or debilitating diseases.”
Exit thought: I wonder when the NAE is going to announce that getaway cars should be given to all bank robbers. It wouldn’t be that the NAE would be supporting bank robbing it would just be that they don’t want robbers to get into shootouts with police or be forced into standoffs and hostage taking.
God help us.
June 2, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Doesn't this sort of assume that contraception (at best, condoms) are unavailable? What, the abortioners don't have access to contraception? In fact, condoms are quite easily available and yet, they either fail or people fail to use them, which suggests to me that there really isn't a connection between condom availability and a decrease in abortions. People have an ability to get and use them and yet refuse to, sometimes resulting in pregnancy and then abortion.
In fact, it sounds like yet another excuse from Protestants to lessen moral requirements in this area.
Working to get even easier access (send them in the mail to all citizens over the age of 14?) won't reduce abortions, because it won't induce people to use them, and it especially won't induce them not to engage in the first place in behavior that leads to pregnancy.
June 2, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Maybe NAE should subscribe for a day to First Things to read "Christianity Lite" and see how allowing some things (above) can lead down a dark road (a new way, as it were).
gbm3
June 2, 2010 at 8:57 pm
"In fact, it sounds like yet another excuse from Protestants to lessen moral requirements in this area."
Indeed :/
June 2, 2010 at 9:12 pm
So, common ground is permitting fornication in order to reduce instances of murder, as well as promoting the use of drugs and devices which are harmful to men and women (and when dumped in rivers make male fish grow vaginas)?
If folks reason like this nowadays, no wonder we're having one hell of a time plugging the leak in the gulf. I do hope our proposed solutions to that problem are of a much greater caliber than our proposed solutions to this one; but after witnessing the junk shot, I must with great disappointment say that most of our civilization's recent ideas are literally crap.
June 2, 2010 at 9:29 pm
"When you dance with the Devil, he doesn't change. You do."
Taken from the film, "8 Millimeter".
June 3, 2010 at 3:18 am
I just wanted to say I really like your blog! Keep up the great work!!
Steve
Common Cents
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
June 3, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Since when has Christian ethics been about common ground?
June 3, 2010 at 7:05 pm
I had this discussion about contraceptives being abortifacients a few years ago with an evangelical friend. While we agreed wholeheartedly about abortion, she saw contraception as a good thing for women. She had the humility to come to me later and tell me I was right.
And she's planning on starting RCIA this fall.
June 3, 2010 at 8:13 pm
I have often thought that when a couple are contracepting it makes it all that much worse when they 'accidentally' become pregnant, i.e. 'how could this happen??!!' It generally increases the abortion rate when you detach sex from babies.
June 3, 2010 at 8:15 pm
I've seen statistics that claim 95% of Catholics contracept. Does this also mean these same said Catholics are for abortion? When will the pastors stop giving a wink and a nod to this issue? Most won't touch the subject with a ten foot pole. No wonder there are few families producing priests.
June 3, 2010 at 8:17 pm
@ anonymous, I don't ever remember saying, "how did this happen" upon learning that I was pregnant. Even a fifth grade understands how it happens.
The number one leading cause of babies is sex.