I want to take a moment and respond to a front-page article that appeared in the Wednesday Gazette, Oct. 29th, entitled, “Ad Campaign Focuses on UP Abortion Access”. The article informed us that advertisements and public service announcements about the availability of this procedure would be broadcast throughout the UP.

According to the article, the Upper Peninsula is underserved by this information. I want to draw your attention to one of the groups that is underwriting the campaign, “Shout Your Abortion.” They have partnered with Hydra Mutual Aid Fund and Plan C to target the Upper Peninsula. On reading the publications of “Shout Your Abortion”, they underscore their intentions to make this procedure, the termination of a child’s life, to put it in their words, “Together, we can build a future where abortion is normalized and participation in abortion access is commonplace.” They desire to normalize this procedure.

The people of this organization show no understanding of what they are normalizing. To terminate one’s own flesh is an act that, because we are human beings with consciousness and feelings, the disregard for the psychological and emotional harm that can occur in this procedure is not addressed. What kind of human beings can set aside their humanity and see this procedure as a common, ordinary undertaking?

As human beings, we come with preset inclinations and desires; there is a need for love and sacrificial love that fuels our souls and community spirit. How do we see our neighbor and honor him or her, if we do not have any sensitivity and moral reflection on what we have done to our own child?

It is a Christian precept to honor life and love our children as God’s gift. Think deeper, what kind of society and what kind of humans inhabit that society, if abortion becomes commonplace? What values do we hold if our own children are disposable? We are verging on a society that is becoming increasingly dominated by a machine-like culture. Is this the future that we want? Robots have no emotions, no values. Is that the expectation of our coming world?

We are charged right from Genesis to be servants of our beautiful earth and to cherish our children. We are commanded to love one another. We are feeling entities that by our nature are meant for an eternal home. Does this mean that killing our own child, as a commonplace event, does not impact our dealings with others, impact the laws, and the expectation of justice that we live under? Human beings are complex and often do not see the results of their actions. Immediate gratification seems to be the mantra of our current culture. However, we must recognize that we possess a set of emotions, standards, and values that enable us to live in harmony with others. How does destigmatizing abortion by making it commonplace play out in the community of the future?

The sanctity and beauty of sexuality have been eroded by the casual sense of what sexuality is. A child needs a father and a mother to care for them. But when sex is only seen as entertainment, the child becomes a burden and an unwanted result. The child, like the rest of the undesirable things in our culture, can be disposed of. What kind of a world does this create?

I am currently reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Discipleship,” written in 1937, just as Hitler was making his way to World War II. He warns about Cheap grace and extols Costly grace. Cheap grace, he defines as “Grace that amounts to the justification of sin …”

In other words, what he saw in Germany in 1937 was many good people who said nothing and seemed to ignore the coming Nazi regime and the inhuman agenda they would bring. His concept of costly grace is” confronts us to follow Jesus.” It stands up and speaks the truth, regardless of the cost; it follows grace and love even unto death. He, himself, was martyred by the Nazi’s for his insistence on Jesus’s truth of love of neighbor.

If you are a disciple of Jesus, you must speak the truth as well. We cannot discard our children or turn our back and smugly think we are not involved in the moral disaster that abortion brings to the community. As Christians, we are called to live the truth that Jesus brought: to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. These are his commands, not suggestions. We cannot justify sin, but we do by ignoring it. To make the disposal of a child a commonplace occurrence in our culture is not only terribly sad all around, but a sign that we are heading in the wrong direction for the future.

Disciples of Christ, pray and ask God to guide us through these times that we may have the courage to witness to God’s love and truth for all people to see and hear.

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be Discouraged.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)