That title might be a little misleading. It would be more accurate to say why about ten years ago I stopped being indifferent on the issue of abortion. But that was too long.
About ten years ago I was having a discussion with a woman that I highly respect and care very deeply for. For some reason we started talking about abortion. 
I gave my opinion (as a relatively new believer) that I did not really see the point in people arguing about it. Why even bother trying to convince someone that abortion is wrong? I was trying to make the point that it’s really not a gospel issue. Therefore, we are just alienating people by entering into this debate when we should just share the gospel with them. No sense even talking about abortion.
Then she hit me with a 2 x 4 across the face. Not literally but the words that came out of her mouth floored me.
“You know, I was almost aborted”.
Immediately it wasn’t just debating talking points. Though I would not have ever supported an abortion for someone in my own life, I was still largely indifferent. Why not just give women the right to choose. Honestly, I was probably very close to what Joe Biden said last night. Personally, and because of religious convictions, I am not for abortion. But I just don’t see the reason to legislate this.
Then I thought about my dear friend having been aborted. She wouldn’t be here right now. Nor would her children. For the first time I really began to understand what it means that life begins at conception. Of course at the time it just seems like you are aborting something like a bean. But here I was staring at one of those “beans” that was full of life, and hopes, and dreams. Those would not be in existence had her mother not being talked out of an abortion.
This is why what I believed 10 years ago and what Joe Biden said last night is backwards thinking. You cannot say, “I believe that it is life, I personally agree with the stance of the Roman Catholic Church, but I do not believe that should be legislated”. If it’s really “life” why is it not okay to abort your child when he/she is 2 years old instead of still in the womb? I mean how dare we infringe upon the rights of parents to “abort” their children. Especially, the way this economy goes. If we lose our jobs and we are starving, what kind of parent am I to allow my child to suffer? What kind of parent am I to allow my child to live in a world where he/she does not have a bunch of options to be successful? Why am I not loving just to “abort” them when they are 2 or 4 or 7 or 11?
The reason why we can defend a woman’s freedom while letting another little woman’s or little man’s freedom not be protected is because we do not see them as people. On that day when my friend said, “I was almost aborted”, I realized that this isn’t merely about words. This is about life. This is about real people. That is why I mourn the legality of abortion and every instance of it. I mourn those 50 million deaths in the same way as I mourn with those that have a miscarriage, or lose a child to SIDS, or even lose a child later in life. Every case of abortion isn’t a political win for a woman’s choice. Every abortion is a death of a child. That is why I am no longer indifferent to the issue of abortion.
And it is a real gospel issue. Come back later today and I’ll explain why this is a gospel issue…
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