“Mommy, what does abortion mean?” asked the seven-year-old.
His mom took a deep breath and explained, on a level which her child could understand, how abortion is the willful ending of a child’s life while he or she is growing in Mommy’s tummy.
Upon hearing the word “abortion,” most of us think first of this definition—that is, to terminate a pregnancy before term.
It’s interesting to drill into alternative meanings of the word. Sometimes variant shades of meaning shed light on a primary definition.
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According to Meriam-Websters Dictionary, the term “abort” can mean “the premature termination of a flight (as of an aircraft or spacecraft), a mission, or an action or procedure relating to a flight.”
In that light, to abort means “to terminate a procedure prematurely, i.e., the pilot decided to abort due to mechanical difficulties.”
To abort is “to terminate prematurely; to cancel” (as in a project or space flight).
What does all this talk of flights and space missions and projects have to do with terminated pregnancies?
Let’s zero in on two terms in these alternative definitions, beginning with “mission.”
Consider the work of God in this favorite life-affirming passage of Scripture:
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place… Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” –Psalm 13-16
Here is a God on mission, creating both a unique masterpiece and the story line to accompany it. He is both Artisan and Author, Designer and Developer.
As I put it in Unleashing Your Courageous Compassion, “Every unborn person brings delight to the heart of our heavenly Father. Every abortion is an assault on one of His precious image-bearers.”
Every abortion literally aborts the mission which God had in mind for a particular human life.
(While we don’t know what kinds of choices a person may make during their days under the sun, we don’t worry about that. Our job is to make those days under the sun possible in the first place.)
The other word within the above definitions which caught my attention is the word “cancel,” a term has become popular in today’s rage-filled culture.
Disagreements escalate in a millisecond, and individuals are smeared on social media so intensely that no one dares take their side anymore.
They’ve been cancelled.
I’m not generally an inventor of clever slogans, but how about this one for cancel culture?
Stop cancelling preborn children.
Here’s the thing: with every abortion, a mission and a story are aborted along with a human life.
An innocent person is cancelled.
We have ended something we have no business ending.
Abortion advocates use positive verbiage to make abortion seem like a good thing for women.
They like to use terms like choice, freedom, and equality.
However, once such words are tied to abortion, their meaning morphs. They become euphemisms with a dark underbelly.
Speaking of definitions, the German word for abortion is “Abtreibung,” which means to drive away.
Put bluntly, abortion is the most intense, ultimate way to reject one’s own child.
As many post-abortive women can verify, real choice and freedom and equality do not require such an unthinkable price tag.
As you continue to put your hands to this labor of love, keep in mind you are participating with God as He creates and plans out human lives.
You are helping to make it possible for those plans and those stories to unfold.
You are cancelling the cancellations of innocent human lives.
As you reach out with compassionate care to those considering abortion (or healing from it), be aware that you have a spiritual enemy who wants to get you to abort your mission.
Don’t abort. Stay on mission—for the sake of many missions.
