State of Georgia Bans Abortion After Six Weeks

So Georgia has decided to pass a heartbeat bill that will ban abortion after six weeks.  This seems to be part of a larger strategy by many states to make laws that obviously violate Roe v. Wade so they can overturn it at the Supreme Court.  

Now, I could discuss how six weeks is only two weeks after a missed period.  I could discuss how this will hurt certain women more than others. But, anyone pro-life at that point would call me a baby killer and then walk away.

I could also point out that the best way to prevent abortions is access to sexual health care.  Teach sex education in schools with factual and safe information. Allow free or easy access to birth control, regardless if it is for health or sexual reasons.  Look at states like Colorado that fund sex education and provide free or low cost birth control - their teen pregnancy levels are dropping.

However, I know people will decry “think of the children” and that it will encourage teenagers to have sex, like they need any encouragement at all.  

No, what I want to discuss are consequences of forcing people to have kids when they really shouldn’t.  

I know abortion is a very touchy subject.  There are many who say it should only be used when the mother’s life is in danger.  If you are raped and conceive, God meant for it to happen. If you have unprotected sex and conceive, those are the consequences of your action.  Condoms are cheap.

The list goes on.

But, let’s look at when people keep these babies for whatever reason.  They grow up. Maybe they grow up in a home without running water. Maybe they grow up in a home with a drug-addicted parent.  Maybe they grow up in a home where everyone works once they are old enough to participate (like 10-11) off the clock.

Oh, you say, but that was the parent’s decision!  They should have been more responsible. It is their fault the child is growing up that way.

However, I teach high school.  Let me tell you, I can tell immediately a kid that was raised by parents who wanted them and parents who did not.  And it’s heartbreaking. Sometimes you get kids who do everything in their power to please their parents. I have a student, a senior, who kills herself.  She is taking advanced classes, attempting to graduate, and now works basically full time at a Whataburger to help her parents pay bills. She has two older brothers, and they are not made to work.  If she struggles in school, her parents tell her to drop out and make more money for them.

I have students who are in the foster care system because their parents are so high on their drug of choice they can’t take care of them.

I have students who act out at school and latch on to any adult who has a shred of compassion for them because all they are told at home is that they are worthless, that they will never accomplish anything.

I’m not saying the kids should have been aborted, quite the opposite.  Many of these kids I adore.

But forcing people to have kids that really aren’t ready or don’t want them do have consequences.  

Sometimes the kids rise above it.  I have a student in the foster system who is one of the most brilliant students I have ever taught.  The senior working all the time? She’s kicking butt and taking names. But for those who rise above, I know just as many who are stuck in the cycle of poverty and truly struggle trying to get out of it.

Well, if they really wanted to, they would - I hear people say. Usually good Christian people.

To that, I say this, what would Jesus say of your attitude.

Look, I get it, abortion is touchy.  There are people decrying the murder of babies and how cruel and heartless these women who have abortions are. They claim that all children are gifts from God.  

My question to you is this, supporters of the heartbeat bill, why is it your compassion ends when the child is born?