My husband is a pastor. Pastors are called upon to do many things. Probably the most unusual request my husband has ever received in his pastoral role is to officiate at a funeral service. Pastors participate in funeral services all the time, so what's so unusual about that?
The uniqueness is in the circumstances surrounding that funeral service. The focus of the service was a group of women - all of whom had had an abortion. One woman in particular asked John to help her put closure on a terrible choice she made many years before - the choice to abort her baby.
She made her choice scared and alone. She made her choice outside a framework of Biblical parameters. She made her choice for expediency.
Today - January 22 - is the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision legalizing abortion. In those 35 years millions and millions of unborn children have been murdered by abortion.
The crucial question is "When does life begin?" If life begins at birth, then abortion isn't really such a big deal.
In China, once a baby takes its first breath, then it is safe from euthanasia by law. Prior to breathing, however, the baby can be euthanized legally in China. In China the definition of life is taking the first breath.
However, if life begins the moment the egg and sperm connect. From that instant on, the life process proceeds until birth takes place. OR if life begins at some intermediate point between conception and viable birth, then it is from that time on that life exists prior to birth.
These are all technical ethical, moral and scientific considerations for which we have no definitive answer.
There is one additional ethical and moral choice which is: is abortion indicated either to save the mother's life or due to significant birth defects? There are no quick or easy answers to most of these questions.
One thing we do know, however, is that there is significant emotional trauma (particularly for the mother) connected with a decision to abort a baby. These mothers, like our friend who asked for a funeral for her aborted baby, suffer life-long grief and pain from a poor choice made years before.
Organizations like WEBA (Women Exploited By Abortion) are specifically designed to minister to these women in their pain. In our country alone over 4000 women a day choose death for their unborn child by abortion.
In Deuteronomy 30:19, God tells us to "Choose life so that you and your children will live..."
Everyday in America thousands of women and teenagers seek medically-induced abortions. Often the women and teenagers who seek to have an abortion have been deceived to believe that their pregnancy is little more than a mass of tissue, a non-living blood clot. Most of them would recoil in horror if they realized that an abortion always stops the beating heart of a baby.
While "pro-choice" feminists push abortion as a "woman's right," the truth is that women are being exploited by abortion. Our friend knew the pain and loss of that exploitation and wanted "closure" through appropriate repentance, forgiveness and giving her abortion choice over to the God Who forgives all sin confessed to Him.
My husband agreed (after serious study and prayer) to hold the funeral service. It was an occasion of great joy in the end. A number of women attended who had also chosen abortion. They too heard of God's love, grace and forgiveness. It was "abortion evangelism" and God used all that pain to advance His kingdom. God healed hurting hearts in that cemetery that day as only He can! It was beautiful to see.

Remembering Roe v. Wade

35 terrible years after Roe v. Wade - 35 years of legalized abortions and millions of babies slaughtered in the name of choice and convenience - we remember Roe v. Wade as the nightmare that has shaped and damaged lives forever!
"Jane Roe" was the faceless, silent woman who would be famous for the Supreme Court's landmark decision to legalize abortion. Abortion is easily the single most galvanizing issue in our culture since the US "Civil War." Whether for LIFE or choice, the issue of abortion has dramatically impacted our society. Roe v. Wade made it possible to walk into an abortion clinic (often even without parental permission) and kill the child living in utero.
No one warns the mother of the years of grief, guilt and agony she will experience as a result of her choice to abort her baby. Widely disseminated is the idea that the "fetus" is not a baby - that it's just a blob of tissue. The logical conclusion is then that getting rid of unwanted tissue has no moral consequence - of little more significance than taking a bath and scrubbing off dirt.
Roe v. Wade was so much more than a judicial case and judgment. Roe v. Wade opened the gate for all kinds of brokenness. "Jane Roe" (aka Norma McCorvey) floundered for many years with substance abuse and guilt. 12 years ago Norma met a man who had the answer for her battered heart. His name is Jesus!
According to today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Norma McCorvey finally found the peace she sought in the "change of heart that turned her life around." Jesus restored her heart and filled the empty spaces with Himself! So this Tuesday Norma McCorvey (aka "Jane Roe") will participate in the March for Life in Washington DC - another story of restoration happening one heart at a time!