Today, my brother sent me a link which discussed the statistics of abortion rates in countries where abortion is legal – http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2504499.html. For instance, for every 1000 pregnancies, roughly 2.5% have ended in abortion since Roe v. Wade. Also, in the United States, and other developed countries, birth control methods are available, and abstinence is not the only means of “protection” that is being taught. In other words, even though abortions do occur, the rates are not only low, but have decreased in most developed countries fitting these criteria. In contrast, “In Uganda, where abortion is illegal and sex education programs focus only on abstinence, the estimated abortion rate was 54 per 1,000 women in 2003, more than twice the rate in the United States, 21 per 1,000 in that year.” – http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/world/12abortion.html
So, my question is not whether abortion is right or wrong – I believe it is wrong myself, but whether a single minded approach should be made in dealing with pregnancies that are unwanted, etc. Should birth control, and the use of condoms not be considered? Should abstinence be the only way taught?
First, people have been “copulating” since the beginning of time, married, unmarried, extra-marital, pre-marital, post marital, and so on and so on (and so on). Its a historical fact. In fact, the very nature of sexual activity is mandated by God – “Be fruitful and multiply,” and the only way to do that is to have sex (unless your the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary). To tell someone not to have sex is, in essence, telling that person to go against there nature. Now through cultural development, both through the Judaic and Hellenistic codes of culture, the with who, and with how many have slowly, through the course of history, become defined. For example, as Christians, we receive the idea of marriage from the Old Testament. On the other hand, we receive the idea of the number of spouses from the Hellenistic side of things (Greek then eventually Roman). But even with all of the cultural, and even moral growth, the simple fact of the matter is that men and women have sex, and one could argue that a majority of them due, regardless of being married or not.
Now, the point of the article is not to establish proper mating rites, nor to argue the sinfulness of pre-marital sexual relations, but ot make a point that maybe the foundation of those trying to prevent abortions, unwanted pregnancies, and so on, might need to shift slightly. To me, the two biggest arguments against the use of birth control (i.e. pills, condoms, “pulling out,” etc) is that a. it “spills the seed,” and b. that is kills the life that is in the sperm – which of course, goes back to the spilling of the seed. The second argument is that its “playing God,” but to me that side of the argument lacks any foundation due to the fact that once you wake up, you play “god” all day long, freely making choices… freely choosing to sin or not to sin, and therefore lacks any fortitude as an argument, but the spilling the seed, thats were I would like to go.
The argument, simply is, life is in the sperm… generations are held within the sperm, etc. Now, keep in mind, scientifically, there are millions of sperm in a man’s reproductive organ. These sperm do not stay still, in fact, even without intercourse or some other sexual experience, can, and do leave the body, even with out the provocation of the said man in which the sperm reside. So, even without sexual activity, the “seed will spill.” Again, the man, married, along with his wife, decide to try and “make” a baby. So, as men and women due, the try, and try, and try again, but, alas, she does not get pregnant. The sperm, along with the eggs from the female, eventually get flushed from her body… is this killing the seed? Again they try, and to no avail, she still does not get pregnant. Again, flushed. So, they go to the doctor, and they discover she is not able to have kids. So, the dilemma is… now that THEY KNOW they cannot have kids together, is the husband simply “spilling/killing his seed” just to have a pleasurable experience. I mean, they are not having sex to follow the mandate from God to be fruitful and multiply… his seed is dying by the millions each time… so, is this wrong? On the other side… when I man uses a condom… its the same process, the sperm die in the same way (except one is in rubber), or when a woman uses birth control… which most pills do not kill the sperm, they just make the eggs inert… which is possibly the same condition woman mentioned above had… whats the difference? Now, you could argue that in the last mentioned instances, they were preventing a pregnancy for the sake of pleasure… and that the God mandated sex drive is for reproduction, not pleasure, but if thats the case, if one cannot reproduce, then what the point of sex? And if the only point of sex is reproduction, then all sexual activity not for reproduction – married or not – would be sin. And any seed killed by such sexual activity should be considered killed.
Now, I seriously doubt you would consider the fictional married couple to be killing the man’s seed and living in sin… but all I ask you to do is think about it. Abortion is a great atrocity… if not the greatest of our time. We should not be single-minded in our approach to stop these murders, and we should also not be naive and think that people will stop having sex because we tell them to, or show them pictures of venereal diseases, or scare them with AIDs… or even worse, the fires of hell… All people have sinned and fall end short of the glory of God, all men (and women) are human… the majority of which will succumb to the desires of the flesh, and yes, they will suffer consequences, and yes, they, as well all, need to repent, but please, open you minds, and get your heads our of where ever they are.
JZ Holloway
