Happy Birthday, Roe v. Wade

Now, let me set the record straight on how I feel about abortion: It is murder. Plain and simple. I don't care if you were raped, your baby is deformed, or the mother's life is in danger. Having an abortion is ending a potential life.

With that said, I believe absolutely that abortion should be legal. A woman who decides to kill her baby should have a safe way to do so. It is her choice.

I heard a sermon today in my Southern Baptist church about the sanctity of life. However, the preacher talked about abortion only. He never mentioned suicide or euthanasia. He used these verses:

• Genesis 2: 7 "Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."
• Deuteronomy 30:19-20 "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

My issue with the first verse is that it seems to indicate that Adam became a living being when he took his first breath. That is a really bad verse to use when your point is that life begins at the moment of conception.

The second verse, in my opinion, deals with choosing eternal life over eternal death, not choosing life on earth. Of course, preachers are very prone to use an interpretation that supports their point, and this preacher's point was life on earth.

My preacher even stated that God wants us to be happy while we are here on earth. Wow. I'd like to see THAT verse in the bible. I can show him where God promises over and over that we will have trials, tribulations, problems, opposition and even death. I really don't see anything pointing directly to being happy here on earth.

So, here is the problem, in a nutshell: the values of today's family. If you teach your children to make good decisions, like not going to a bar, picking up a man, having unprotected sex, and (if you get pregnant), ending your pregnancy as a method of birth control, the problem is pretty much solved. If we are going to stop women's ability to choose, why not make bars illegal? Why not make unprotected sex, unless you want a child, illegal? Why make her last choice of whether or not to terminate her pregnancy the place "ProLifers" draw the line.

Morality starts at home. In strong families with strong ties to a personal Jesus. A bunch of rules and laws is not going to get rid of it. It just makes it dangerous. If the church wants to get rid of abortion, legislation is not the way. Reach out to kids, teach them the ways of the Lord, love families which are hard to love, support their decisions and (here is the hard part), let GOD do the rest.