This is a continuation of #79 – Christianity and Abortion: Child sacrifice, you best go read it if you haven’t already xx
In this blog post, I’m going to dissect the bodily autonomy narrative concerning abortion.
Social justice warriors stand up.
Consensual sex and bodily autonomy
Bodily autonomy (or body autonomy) can be defined as the right to govern or make decisions about what happens to your own body.
I’m here for it. I feel like that makes sense.
We should have ownership of our own bodies.
So banning abortion is taking away bodily autonomy. It’s taking away a human right, right? It’s taking away a women’s choice to decide what happens to her body. It’s taking away her choice of deciding when she wants to have a baby.
, let just throw a spanner in the works real quick: does my body really belong to me?According to 1 Corinthians 6:19, my body belongs to God so it doesn’t really belong to me. , I need to honour Him with my body and take good care of it. If my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, then I can’t be engaging in Molech worship and child sacrifice. The two just don’t go.
When a woman has consensual sex (which means you decide to have sex) she’s not oblivious to the fact that there is a possibility she can become pregnant. One could argue that when you decide to have consensual unprotected sex, you’re okay with the possibility of having a baby as one of the most well-known outcomes of sex is procreation. One could also argue that when you decide to have consensual unprotected sex, it’s because you enjoy it and you’re not thinking about the outcome. Each to their own sha.
Personally, my view is: if you’re having unprotected sex, how can you be surprised when you become pregnant?
Different interpretations of scripture
It’s so interesting how ‘pro-choicers’ or ‘pro-lifers’ can read the same thing but interpret it so differently.
Pro-choice is the belief that it’s a human right for you to decide when you have children. So you can decide to have an abortion if you don’t want a child. Pro-life on the other hand, is against abortion, so anti-abortion.
Whilst doing research, I came across this page on Wikipedia that explained so clearly how both sides can interpret the same scripture so differently.
Let’s look at Jeremiah 1:5 for example: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.
Pro-abortionists: argue that this scripture relates to Jeremiah alone and that it’s a ‘reference to a special plan for one man rather than a general approach to biology and reproduction’.
Anti-abortionists: argue that this scripture is evidence that life begins before birth, so abortion is murder.
Your upbringing, life experiences, and even your current feelings and emotions at that current point in time will affect how you interpret scripture. So before you even read the Bible, ask God for wisdom and understanding and that your eyes would be open (Ephesians 1:17-18), so you can hear from God clearly.
Hearing from God
Even the scripture I referenced previously in 1 Corinthians 6:19, some can easily argue that Christianity is oppressive, as it takes away bodily autonomy if you don’t get to own your body. You could argue that it’s taking away your freedom if you have to wait till marriage to have sex.
It’s all about perspective.
God really does have our best interest at heart, even though sometimes it doesn’t seem like it. If God tells us not to do something, or to wait for a season, there’s always a purpose in it. He won’t just tell us to do something for no reason.
I’m just saying, don’t allow ‘freedom’ to lead you into sin.
When it comes to interpreting scripture and hearing from God, I think it also takes maturity.
I’m reminded of an Instagram live I watched with Jackie Hill Perry and Jordan Welch that was about Bible teaching and leading worship. Jackie said, “If the primary way you hear God is through Instagram captions, then something is wrong.” I hope some of y’all were triggered because that is a wordddd.
She explained how you can easily fall into false doctrine. There’s so much information out there, and yes some of it is good, but not all of it is true. Opinions are mixed in with facts, making it difficult to decipher the truth.
Even with this blog, go and fact-check, go do your own Google’s. Don’t just believe everything you see written on this page. Do your own research for yourself please. I’m not claiming to know everything.
Now, as we draw to a close, read on for the last blog in the Christianity and abortion series:
Resources
Song
My life is not my own, to you I belong…
Jackie Hill Perry and Jordan – Bible Teaching and Leading Worship
