Abortion I just finished reading Mike Moscoe's short story "The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Ann." The story dealt with a nun who is dying of cancer. She was once married and used artificial fertilization to have eight fertilized eggs implanted in her uterus. Four of them came to term, four didn't. In her last days she hears the voices of her four unborn children. The story is thought provoking and draws into the argument surrounding abortion.

I can't say what Moscoe's belief is here. I think the point he tried to make is this: If human beings get a soul at conception, and up to one half of pregnancies are lost through miscarriage naturally, then all of those lost children go straight to heaven.

The implications are far reaching. Original Sin goes out the window. If unbaptized souls go to Hell, then these souls who are lost due to natural or unnatural abortion are suffering eternity because of a failure of biology. Who set up the laws of biology? God. Would God send unbaptized souls to Hell? Sinners, maybe. The unborn? Can we accept a god who does this? My God would not do this. God is Love. God is not a celestial hall monitor.

Of course I don't know when a soul inhabits a human being, but I believe human beings have a soul. This is why I do think that abortion is a tragedy. A human soul doesn't get the chance to try this world. If we allow for reincarnation then there is hope for these souls.

I think abortion takes a soul away. I don't think I can support reincarnation. I have no problem abandoning original sin (in fact I have already, this is just another supporting argument in favor of my position). I don't believe that we should outlaw abortion in any way. Making it illegal makes more criminals, it does not make a better society or a more just society or a more moral society. All it does is increase our need for prisons. There has to be a better way to stop arbortions.

As Christians we need to love our neighbors. That is the second part of what Jesus calls us to do. Forget anything that Peter, Paul, or any Pope says. Jesus told us to love one another. The only way to trump a command from Jesus is for God to come out and say it. Why do we need abortion? What is it in our society that makes abortion necessary?

We can't blame it all on premarital or unprotected sex. Married women get abortions and condoms can fail 1 out of 1000 times, leaving a pregnancy up to chance the same way unprotected sex leaves pregnancy up to chance. Granted if there was no premarital sex then most abortions would not be needed, and if every child was a wanted child then we'd have even fewer abortions. It will take a society where each child is wanted and can be taken care of by loving parents to stop abortion, and that would be a better, more just, and more moral society.  ¶ 1:11 PM