Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Speaking of Choices

I've enjoyed lots of good discussion regarding the last post about choice, the octuplet's mother, and about abortion and sex in general. There are some good comments here on the blog too so I wanted to follow up with some more thoughts.


I think that it's clear that the time to educate is before action is taken. Whether that be before implantation of several embryos or having unprotected sex, there are possible consequences for our actions. Sometimes we might escape them but sometimes we do get stung. What I think is ironic is that this woman couldn't have children naturally. She was married and tried and tried to conceive. She had many physical complications. For her, extreme measures had to be taken to achieve something that, for some people, happens accidentally. She was educated that the risk of implanting several embryos was a possible outcome of several babies. Each time she implanted several embryos she took that risk. One time that possible consequence happened big time. Ouch! But she decided to keep all the babies.


I doubt there are many people out there who do not know that unprotected sex can lead to pregnancy, among other things. I think less people are educated about the failure rates of birth "control" (control, oh, that's a whole other topic!) and assume that they are all 100% trustworthy. I think it's unfortunate that there is an "out" for those that do suffer the consequences of that choice simply because the "out" carries heavy consequences as well. And, as I said in the previous post, I don't think we'll ever know the depth of those consequences. The extremely tempting bait is that you can continue on with your life plan without the interruption of an unplanned child or too many children at once. We really value our plans don't we!


Carrying a child, or in this case the children, or aborting them are secondary decisions, the first choices, sex or implantation of multiple embryos, are over with and the results are there to be dealt with. The secondary decision is the one that I feel should be weighed equally. Just because we don't realize the loss that abortion causes doesn't make it a better choice even if it is more convenient than adding 8 more babies to an already struggling family.


Sex is more often a slippery slope where implantation is a calculated climb. You don't need lots of money or a doctors appointment to have sex! I think this is what has most people upset and asking, "What was she thinking!" But in our worst decisions and failures God meets us to restore and redeem. He gives beauty for ashes, strength for fear, gladness for mourning, peace for despair. So, despite the fact that, from my perspective, her choice to have many children on her own may be an unwise decision and that on her 6th time her gambling didn't pay off, I would still say that these children might possibly change the world or at least their world and one way or another I hope they grow up in loving homes and come to know the love of a Savior that died for them and desires a relationship with them.

1 comment:

More Love, Less Debt said...

Beautiful! Right on the nose. What a blessing to have these reminders amidst our judging. As we know there is one judge. And it is not US.

Lord, lift me above my own narrow horizons, that I might fulfill your true vision for me. - B.J. Hoff