Abortion has to top the list of issues that divide us. How can we come together?
Of all the things that Politics-As-Usual has driven to the extremes, abortion has to top the list.
One side believes that women have an absolute right to bodily autonomy and that abortion is a protected individual right. The other side believes that abortion is murder and it must be outlawed and harshly punished. Most of us fall somewhere between those extremes, but don’t talk about it much, because whatever we say will bring a storm of criticism from hyper-politicized extremists on one side or the other. Or both.
I am a believing, somewhat practicing, Christian. I believe the Bible has a clear answer that falls between the all-or-nothing battle that is wracking our country.
The King James Version is my personal favorite. It has a dramatic, poetic flair that I associate with God’s Word; but its language is not always clear to modern English-speakers. For that reason, Exodus 21:22-25 follows both in King James and New American Standard versions.
“If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
“If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”
Whatever your religious beliefs, I believe good people of good will can come together to find a solution to the acrimony – and even hatred – that currently envelops the question of abortion. I am ready to try.