Ministering to People With Unwanted Pregnancies

[Ken]

Great example of the soft bigotry of low expectations.

Did you read the actual title of this thread? We are talking about women with unwanted pregnancies. It is pretty much a binary choice. There is no time machine option that allows pregnant women to go back in time and decide not to get pregnant.

If you want to talk about preventing unwanted pregnancies that is a whole different subject.

[Grace]

On ministering to women with unwanted pregnancies. Here in Lancaster County Pa. , we have House of His Creation. As Anabaptist's, if we do not have ministries in this area, there are non-Anabaptist Christian organizations who could use our support.

https://www.hohc.org/

[steve-in-kville]

On ministering to women with unwanted pregnancies. Here in Lancaster County Pa. , we have House of His Creation. As Anabaptist's, if we do not have ministries in this area, there are non-Anabaptist Christian organizations who could use our support.

https://www.hohc.org/

Another one-
https://alignpregnancyservices.com/?utm ... nt=lebanon

[barnhart]

Our church has partnered with Love Life Ministries for some time. We take responsibility for a weekend and prepare during the week by prayer and fasting, then we gather on the sidewalk across the street from an abortion provider and pray and sing. One member has been trained as a "sidewalk counselor" and several others are registered as mentors which is an open category for all types of support. Our church building is registered as a refuge location where women in crisis can appeal for help.

I'm not entirely comfortable with Love Life, and at some point we hope to develop our own resources to the point where the partnership no longer makes sense. Our week is coming up this summer and I wish for more time since the recent court ruling. I would like to avoid association with the type of activism that seizes power.

[Josh]

I think that reducing the health care costs associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and early childhood would be a big help to mothers who are considering an abortion. Some states have expanded Medicare and something like CHIP to cover pregnancy, but women might need help accessing those programs. And if they do have health insurance they likely have sky high deductibles.

This is not something we as conservative Anabaptists have any power to do.

We do run mutual aid programs, for people who want to join the conservative Anabaptist community. Likewise there are many faithful and godly Anabaptist midwives and even birthing and care centres.

However, the Anabaptist community has very little need to help Anabaptist mothers considering an abortion, because that doesn't happen to faithful church members very often. (It does occasionally happen.)

For what it’s worth all this discussion of teaching responsibility or changing behavior seems a bit off track. There’s two issues here, and they can converge, but are not necessarily the same thing.

The first is the importance of sexually moral behavior.
The second is the importance of reducing the number of women who choose abortions.

If you want to reduce the number of women who find themselves in the situation of having an unwanted pregnancy then by all means you are interested in the first issue. However, not all unwanted pregnancies are the result of sexual activities that take place outside of marriage. So, even if you succeed at eliminating any immoral behavior, you will still have unwanted pregnancies.

That's true - many unwanted pregnancies happen inside marriage. The parents just don't want a baby. I consider that to be immoral behaviour in and of itself.

If they don't want to keep their child, adoption is available and easy.

More than one study indicated that 25% or more choose abortion so people won’t know they they had sex. So, maybe this attitude of needing to make sure women know they did something immoral and wrong is part of the problem. How many women chose an abortion because they feared your reaction?

Maybe they should fear God's reaction a bit more. Fornication is a death sin and condemns the fornicator. An excuse to go and murder because you are fearful of "my reaction" is not a valid excuse.

The fornicator, idolator, and adulterer all need to repent, and be baptised or reaccepted into church fellowship, where they will find support to not fall back into sin. I can rejoice to say that in my congregation, fallen church members who "accidentally" got pregnant have since repented and been restored to church fellowship and turned away from a sinful life. Isn't that the whole point of Christianity?

[RZehr]

…. So, maybe this attitude of needing to make sure women know they did something immoral and wrong is part of the problem. How many women chose an abortion because they feared your reaction?

I don’t think it’s a productive pro-life strategy in the moment of crisis to focus on the sin of adultery or fornication. I think we are in agreement there.

But it is also important that people know that sexual sin is sin. Proverbs 6:32-33: “A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, whoever does it destroys his own life. He will be beaten and despised, and his reproach will not be wiped away;”

There is a real cost (“destroys his own life”) to sexual sin. And further, there is and rightly so, an enduring shame that is permanently there. This is how God designed us, to have shame when we do wrong. And it is an evil society that works to remove that shame. Our so society is so evil that we have turned what should be shameful and a reproach, into a celebration, and a monthlong celebration of pride.

I find your proposal to be a little logically inconsistent. If women are choosing abortion out of fear, or stigma, (And I suppose some do) why doesn’t fear and stigma work to combat premarital sex? I think there ought to be a healthy amount of shame and stigma for both premarital sex and abortion. I think the very wrong approach is to de-stigmatize sin.

2 Timothy 3, specifically verse 2 (lovers of themselves) verse 3 (without self control) verse 4 (lover of pleasure) and verses 6 & 7.
But understand this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God.
5 They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these.
6 For some of these insinuate themselves into households and captivate weak women who are overwhelmed with sins and led along by various passions.
7 Such women are always seeking instruction, yet never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

[Ken]

I find your proposal to be a little logically inconsistent. If women are choosing abortion out of fear, or stigma, (And I suppose some do) why doesn’t fear and stigma work to combat premarital sex? I think there ought to be a healthy amount of shame and stigma for both premarital sex and abortion. I think the very wrong approach is to de-stigmatize sin.

Because sex is private while pregnancy and childbirth are public.

The “fear and stigma” you are referring to is PUBLIC fear and stigma from the church and community. Not private fear and stigma from one’s conscience.

[RZehr]

I find your proposal to be a little logically inconsistent. If women are choosing abortion out of fear, or stigma, (And I suppose some do) why doesn’t fear and stigma work to combat premarital sex? I think there ought to be a healthy amount of shame and stigma for both premarital sex and abortion. I think the very wrong approach is to de-stigmatize sin.

Because sex is private while pregnancy and childbirth are public.

The “fear and stigma” you are referring to is PUBLIC fear and stigma from the church and community. Not private fear and stigma from one’s conscience.

That’s the argument?

[Ken]

I find your proposal to be a little logically inconsistent. If women are choosing abortion out of fear, or stigma, (And I suppose some do) why doesn’t fear and stigma work to combat premarital sex? I think there ought to be a healthy amount of shame and stigma for both premarital sex and abortion. I think the very wrong approach is to de-stigmatize sin.

Because sex is private while pregnancy and childbirth are public.

The “fear and stigma” you are referring to is PUBLIC fear and stigma from the church and community. Not private fear and stigma from one’s conscience.

That’s the argument?

It isn’t an argument. It is an explanation. I’m just answering your question as to why single women feel more stigma about pregnancy than premarital sex. It is because one is public and the other is private.

And it isn’t necessarily a religious or conservative thing. Pregnant teens are going to face social stigma no matter what kind of community they live in, religious or secular, and conservative or liberal.

Do you disagree?

[nett]

I find your proposal to be a little logically inconsistent. If women are choosing abortion out of fear, or stigma, (And I suppose some do) why doesn’t fear and stigma work to combat premarital sex? I think there ought to be a healthy amount of shame and stigma for both premarital sex and abortion. I think the very wrong approach is to de-stigmatize sin.

Because sex is private while pregnancy and childbirth are public.

The “fear and stigma” you are referring to is PUBLIC fear and stigma from the church and community. Not private fear and stigma from one’s conscience.

I completely disagree. They absolutely experience fear and stigma from their own conscience for both sins. The law is written on our hearts, Which is why almost all primitive societies with no exposure to the Bible. still have rules about fornication, and adultery.