Abortion is Boring

Now that the title and photo of a cute yawning baby have grabbed your attention, let me explain what I don’t mean when I say that abortion is boring. I don’t mean that abortion is not a very important moral issue. I certainly don’t mean to make light of the fact that some 55 million legal abortions have been performed in this country since Roe v Wade. Abortion is a very important moral issue. But it is a boring moral issue.

What I mean by that is that it’s rather cut and dry. The intentional killing of an innocent human being is wrong. Always. Abortion is an intentional killing of an innocent human being. Therefore abortion is wrong. Always. For those who like to discuss complex moral issues, abortion does not provide a lot of fodder. It’s boring.

I think that is why, when I held a discussion this past Sunday on campus with some 20+ college students about the 5th commandment (“Thou shalt not kill”), the topic of abortion wasn’t even brought up. We spent an hour and a half discussing the matters of killing in self-defense, the just war theory, and issues relating to end-of-life health care decisions. These issues are complex. Abortion, by contrast, is straightforward. I did mention it at the beginning of our time together as one of the possible topics for discussion, but there were no takers. It’s not because my students were not sufficiently pro-life, or are not concerned about abortion. I know that they are. They just didn’t have any questions about it.

Arguments that claim abortion is morally permissible ring hollow. A person with any sort of background in logic or moral philosophy can rip a hole in such arguments blindfolded with one hand tied behind their back.

This is why pro-life folks tend to be single issue voters. It is because the immortality of abortion is so clear that we deeply mistrust the decision making skills of anyone who does not understand this. If you cannot see that innocent human beings have the right to life, then how can you be trusted to defend any of our other rights?

Saying that abortion is boring does not mean that those who choose abortion do not struggle with this issue. Being pregnant and caring for a baby is hard. Motherhood is difficult. Especially when you were not planning for it. Especially when you have no money. Especially when your friends, boyfriend, and even parents are telling you to “get rid of it.” Especially when “getting rid of it” is legal. Especially when “getting rid of it” is described to you as safe. Especially when you have people offering to drive you to the clinic, and pay for the “procedure.”

It can be very hard to stand up to that pressure, despite all of your fears, and say, “No. I am not going to end the life of my child.” Because no matter how hard things get, taking an innocent human life is never OK. To accept abortion means somehow making yourself blind to this most basic moral truth.

It has been reported recently that the number of abortions performed in America is now at the lowest its been since Roe v Wade. Thanks be to God! I think that is in large part because people are opening their eyes to the reality of abortion. They are rejecting the easy and evil way, and choosing life instead. The choice for life can be difficult. But it is most definitely not boring!