Why We Aren't Having an Abortion Jan 17 '05    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line I Corinthians 2:6-10 Our baby isn’t going to make it. The doctor said there’s a 0% chance that it will survive outside of my wife’s body. From sonograms and testing we’ve discovered that it’s a baby girl with Turners syndrome. Turners syndrome in our case means that the baby has hydrops; and hydrops means that it has fluid throughout its entire body. The baby is retaining so much fluid that when the doctor did the amniocentesis he had to take the fluid built up in the baby because there was not enough fluid in the amniotic sack. We went in on a Monday happy and excited to learn the sex of the baby. We came out of the office sad and worried because we knew something was wrong. Three days later on a Thursday we were told what we pretty much knew from the internet…the baby was not going to live. That was a hard week, one of the hardest I’ve experienced. But, we made it through and have returned to happy and pretty normal lives. Except on Thursdays. I don’t look forward to Thursday mornings very much. I get to sleep in a little and go into work a little later than usual. But, in place of work I go to the doctor’s office with my wife to see if the baby’s heart has stopped beating yet. The excess of fluid will eventually cause the baby’s heart to give out. This could happen tomorrow or in 3 or 4 months. Hopefully, it will happen before the nine months finishes up. The thoughts we have are weird and unnatural. How many expectant couples go to the doctor and are disappointed to hear a heart beat? It feels unnatural even typing out the sentence. But, I can’t allow myself to think the most unnatural of thoughts…taking my child’s life. I can’t do it for several reasons. The main reason is that I believe in a big God. And, I think this God is good and loving. I know this is a matter that is up for debate with a lot of people, but I believe it’s true. My purpose here isn’t to apologetically debate the fact of a God or whether He’s loving or mean-spirited, there are books that try to bite off that task. I’m simply going to assume that it’s true for the remainder of this article. Since I believe that it’s true my wife and I feel the need to keep the baby. The suggestion has been brought up to us on numerous occasions, “Why don’t we abort it? Why don’t we induce labor?”. Personally, at this stage of the pregnancy we feel as though both are the same thing. At 19 weeks, if we induce, we might as well be aborting. How does a view of God affect us keeping this baby since it’s going to die anyway? This is how we are viewing it. God wants us to go through this. I’m not sure why. And, I don’t really think it’s important for me to know why. I have a hunch that when God does something He has bigger reasons than I could ever comprehend in mind. If He explained them all to me it might take years. I do know a few things, though. I will learn something from this time of my life. Already my wife and I are praying more, communicating more, spending more time together, treating each other better. If I keep my mind right, I’ll grow spiritually from the event. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. -James 1:2-4 Life is hard. There’s no 5 to 10 step quick-and-easy method to doing anything. If you want good kids – it takes hard work. A good marriage - hard work. Want to be good at sports? …hard work. Becoming a good writer? Hard work. Why should your spiritual life be any different? If I want a meaningful relationship with God, it takes discipline and, yes, hard work. How can a guy like James say to “Consider it pure joy..”? Well, I suppose that’s like a kid in high school asking me “How can you spend your free time writing book reports on the internet?”. It’s because I’ve learned to enjoy the hard work. Seeing the difference between when I started and where I am now is encouraging. I like learning. There’s a sense of fulfillment. The high-schooler doesn’t understand because they never experienced that with a book report. They’ve only seen the inconvenience. And, in my mind, that translates to the spiritual world. I’ve gone through a few hard things in my life. One especially hard thing. And, I’ve come out of the trials a better person, encouraged that God has a plan for my life and that He’s molding me into something better. So, if I’m in the middle of a trial and God is teaching me something, who am I to say “Welp, I’m done with the trial. Let’s move on to something else?”. Maybe some could do that with a clear conscience. Myself, and my wife, we can not. My view is that God allowed the sickness to occur in the baby. And, God knows how long to keep the baby’s heart beating. And, I’ll let Him take care of that worry. Actually, I’m going to try to do my best to let Him take care of all the worries. Who knows the paths of people we’ll cross because of this? Maybe in three months we’ll come across a hurting life that we can encourage. Maybe that person goes on to encourage others and out of those situations a multitude of lives are saved. I don’t know; so, I feel as though I just need to trust what I read in the Bible. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. – Romans 6:3-4 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. This is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – II Corinthians 12:9-10 Here’s where I’m at now. It’s been a few weeks since the initial shock hit us. In those weeks life has been about as normal and as happy as you can imagine concerning the circumstances. We are lucky enough to be in the prayers of many, many people. And, we have peace, calm, and contentment. Why would we want anything else? If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Maybe things will get harder as we move along. Okay, I’m not too naive, I know they’ll get harder. But, if life is so good now, with these big problems in our lives, why would we want to go against what our consciences allow to do what others assume will ease our pain? Those are my thoughts tonight; thoughts on our lives, our baby’s life, and whether or not we will take it. I express them publicly, not because I think I have all the answers. I’m sharing this with the internet world, because maybe it will help encourage others in similar situations; and, at the least, maybe it will provoke the thoughts of a few.

Read all comments (51)|Write your own comment

Write an essay on this topic.