What will you do with your right to choose?
The slogans Pro-Life and Pro-Choice have always caught my attention. These phrases are meant to polarize and pretend to be exclusive. What I wonder is: Who is going to say they are “anti” either of these? Anti-life? Anti-choice? After giving this some thought, I realized, it would be hard for me to get behind the slogan Pro-choice, not only in the context of abortion, but in any context. This phrase has an underlying assumption that any choice you want to make is the right choice, because you’re making it. This is your right. Who should be able to tell you otherwise?
But we all know there are many choices that are not good or right for us or the people around us. Countless times per day we consider different choices, weigh our options and make decisions. We know that sometimes even a choice that seems right may have unexpected consequences. Proverbs 14:12 tells us, “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” There is a lot of weight on our choices! We often battle between two apparent right and wrong choices and and allow both to tug on our conscience (those little angels and demons whispering in our ears). We have all experienced making the wrong choice and often the repercussions are felt not only by ourselves but those around us. (Galatians 6:7-8)
This gets more personal when we start to talk about a woman’s right to choose and then a step further, a woman’s right to choose in regards to her body. Again the “choice” logic breaks down. There is an unspoken assumption that if the woman makes a choice affecting her body, it can’t possibly be the wrong one. There is another assumption that what a woman does with her body only impacts herself and no one else. We know that this is not true. Ask most women and they will have some regret regarding a choice they made with their body. Whether it be some physical intimacy that you wish you could take back, an unhealthy choice in terms of what you put in your body, or how you approach fitness or care of your body.
Just because it is your body, doesn’t mean you always make the right choices. I know women who chose to use their body to inflict physical harm on others. I know women who don’t care for themselves physically and have health problems as a result. I know women who chose a physical relationship with men that were not their husbands and devastated their families in the process. Would you still be content to say you are Pro-choice, that because a woman makes a choice, that it is always the right one? We are faced with many choices and knowing that we have a choice often does not make the decision any easier. We must not pretend that all of our choices are inherently good. There has to be more to it than that.
Instead of asking if a woman has a right to choose, we must look deeper. To say you are pro-choice begs the question: what particular choice you are referring to? Who will this impact? Is the choice solely mine? What are possible outcomes? What may I celebrate or regret? Is this harmful to myself or others? Simply being pro-choice does not give one any insight into these questions. Women are created uniquely, in the image of God with the exclusive gift to bear life! We have many important decisions to make, but scripture gives utmost importance to the decisions we make with our bodies. Your body is a temple which houses the Holy Spirit. Do not simply settle for pro-choice but ask the tough questions, and consider the greater calling within your ability to choose. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) What will you do with your right to choose?
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