Pro-Abortion and the Recurring Narrative in the Garden
Written by: Josh Faltot, CPC board of directors, writer and host of The Writers Lens Podcast
A man and a woman are sharing a paradise. They have been granted with an abundance of resources and a place to live and thrive. They share common interests. They share common goals. For the sake of the conversation, we’ll even say they are married.
All appears well, yet their life is at a crossroads. A choice has been presented that could alter the course of their collective futures. They can either take hold of what’s been presented to them, or they can reject the message and remain in an ever-growing and changing paradise. Unfortunately, the woman chooses the invading alternative. And the man stands idly by, letting her go through with the choice, partaking in it - even to the point of endorsing the choice.
The decision sends a ripple effect throughout eternity. Paradise is lost and the man and woman are now at odds with one another. Though they have chosen this “together”, they are still divided. Why? Because the choice is a choice against more life. It’s a selfish decision. The decision has revealed their hearts. They are more invested in themselves than they are in one another.
What’s the choice they made? To abort their unborn child.
The story of these two should sound eerily similar to another tale. One that’s as old as humanity itself: the tragic tale of Adam and Eve. When the Enemy of mankind entered into the Garden of Eden, he knew that the only way to disrupt God’s relationship with His creation was to divide the man and the woman. So when we look at today’s narrative surrounding the abortion camp, we ought to recognize these same tactics - old as they are - being recycled for this same generation. As it says in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The spirit of division has succeeded in pushing the man and the woman into opposition with one another, changing the focus from the death of the unborn and morphing it into a “fight for gender equality.”
Case in point, what’s the tagline of the pro-abortion movement? It’s something to the tune of “my body, my choice.” What exactly does this phrase mean? What is it supposed to ignite in us when we hear it?
At first glance, this might sound like a call-to-rights. Women, after all, are the bearers of the next generation. Men do not partake in the pains of childbirth. It’s an experience that personally I feel blessed to be removed from. However, because of this separation of duties - because the Enemy is quite crafty and clever - he’s found great success in pointing out this difference between the sexes. By placing all of the responsibility; all of the accountability; all of the decision-making, squarely in the woman’s lap, men are now removed from any responsibility; any accountability; and any initiation into fatherhood. And dare I say, into manhood as well.
The Devil has accomplished his goal in this scenario. He’s broken the original union of man and woman. Women, having become fed up with the broken and fallen actions of their counterparts, have listened to the lies of the original liar and convinced themselves that the only way to lead a prosperous and wholesome life is to live it alone. I can’t count on him. I can’t count on any man to step up. I have to do it myself. And to the young boy who is uninitiated, he hears a woman taking responsibility and he shies away. That’s right, it is her problem. It’s not mine. She can handle it because it’s ‘women’s stuff’, not a man’s.
The real narrative unraveling before our eyes is not about gender rights, it’s about the Enemy doing precisely what he did in the Garden.
It’s a disarming of holy functionality. Eve, having been cut off from Adam, falls prey to the lies of her temptor. And Adam, having been passive and unhelpful, takes part in Eve’s descent into sin.
Whether you’re familiar with the Genesis narrative or not, the very next thing that happens after Eve takes the fruit and passes it to Adam, is God shows up. He calls forth Adam and Eve to confront Him. And that’s when the finger-pointing begins. “The snake deceived me,” says Eve. “It was this woman You gave me,” says Adam. See what has happened? The deception, the blame and the responsibility have been thrown upon her all over again. Adam passes blame when he should have been active.
Now, this is not to say that Eve or her daughters are incapable of protecting themselves. But in the context of spiritual warfare - in the context of men and women’s most intimate of relationships, marriage - men are called by God to be spiritual servants and protectors of their wives and children. They are the ones to be shielding their families from the onslaught of spiritual disarray and confusion. And when they are doing this well, their wives respond as spiritual warriors in their own right, supporting them and the children they bear as dual shield maidens on the battlegrounds of spiritual temptation. Once more, in the context of marriage.
Now, it’d be naive to say that abortions only happen within a marriage. If we went by the stats alone, abortions are more liable to happen outside of marriage than within. So in knowing and acknowledging this, can we still say it’s a crime to cry “my body, my choice”? Are men now absolved when abortion is outside the confines of marriage?
The simple answer is: no, of course they aren’t.
And here’s why: marriage was always intended to be the place where sexual intimacy occurred. Any sexual act outside of marriage damages the original design God had for men and women. That includes fornication, same-sex relations, beastiality, adultery, etc. If you don’t believe so, consider people you’ve dated in the past. How well have you detached yourself from the relationships that were mostly physical? Our souls are not made for the continued and casual exchange of romance through sexual intimacy. We get torn into pieces when we share ourselves so readily and it takes time and healing to restore one’s self back to some level of normalcy.
Why else have self-care and self-love movements become so prevalent in American culture? It’s because of what we’ve experienced under the guise of “free love” and “hookup culture”. We are more apt to run to the conclusion of, I’m on my own. I have to look out for me, rather than believe in selfless love. The latter gets buried rather than affirmed.
And what of the more grisly and gruesome stories of conception? Rape and incest account for a small portion (less than 2%) of the “reasons for abortion”, but try telling a woman who’s been raped that she is less important in the larger narrative due to the statistics. Again, every person is special and unique, not just a statistic. As are the children who pile up every year on the abortion table. Be they the result of an accidental pregnancy or of a traumatic rape, their lives are cut short.
The same can be said for the stories of the women afflicted by an abortion. For the women who are raped and abort their children as quietly as they can, there could be unresolved shame and guilt. Facing the reality of a child conceived through rape could be emotionally overwhelming. Shouldn’t a woman have the right to avoid that situation entirely? Wouldn’t abortion protect her from those poisonous emotions? Only if she believes she has no one to support her when the child arrives. Only if she believes she is all on her own, forced to weather the storm by herself.
Can men really stand back and say they are somehow removed from these situations? If they give in to the original lie, then yes, they can be just like their forebearer. They can choose to be dogs and revolve their days around the next big hookup. They can march in parades and shout for women to be burdened with all the responsibility and all the grief of their unborn children, for they are not willing to accept their role in the bigger story at play. They may even mean well, but it is in their ignorance that they may cause the most harm. They are like Adam, passive and unalert.
By pushing the narrative that women are solely accountable, they (men) are separating themselves from their holy partners. Not merely in some physical sense, but in a twisted and degenerative version of what their union is meant to be.
Thus, Eve’s daughters are deceived into thinking they are to eat the fruit (it’s my right). And Adam’s sons refuse to step up and take responsibility (it’s a woman’s choice, not mine). The parallels we find between the Garden and this modern issue are of no coincidence. The setting has changed, but the goals of the Enemy have not.
As Christians, we ought to be on the frontlines of this war. We should know and recognize that this story is nothing new. The players have changed, but the stakes are the same. Restoration, redemption, and renewal are part of the Kingdom narrative. Where should Christians find themselves then on this critical issue? What’s more, where should the men of God find themselves? I can assure you, it’s not off to the side, pointing a finger in Eve’s direction. It looks more like an arm wrapped around her. And with enough grace and mercy to fill any wayward soul, there’ll be a tiny life huddled in there too.