A child is a child

This image is a simple depiction of a reflection I made this week after seeing part of a report on TV a few days ago about parents who had had abortions for one reason or another.

Let me start by making it clear that everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this. Every parent who has found themselves in such a situation will have had his or her reasons for having an abortion.

However, the main thing that bothers me is that it has become so commonplace. However, this image makes me realize again that it is not the case, that it is rather presented to us in order to lead us astray.

We indeed have laws that go much further to protect animals and nature than they do to protect people. By the way, this is not alone in this matter. Not far from my hometown, dozens of families and their homes are threatened because a new high-voltage line is being built above their homes. It is too expensive to put the pipeline underground there. 20 km further, the same pipeline is laid underground to protect a bird sanctuary. Conclusion: birds are worth more than people?

In the report I noticed that several families who had had an abortion did give their “child” a place. They regularly went to the grave, told siblings about their brother/sister who was no longer there, ... In short, no one doubted that it was indeed about a child, a person with a soul and a predestined place in their family.

Infanticide?

Maybe I'm being very harsh now, but if you look at it that way, you can't help but conclude that you have committed a child murder, right?

I would understand parents better if they only regard a fetus as a child after birth, but if you are a soulmate (and I choose this word consciously) with that child, how can you cut that bond simply depending on the time?

Even harsher perhaps: is the only thing keeping us from “infanticide” the degree of attachment to that child? Is a child we held in our arms for six months more true than a child we cuddled for only a few hours and worth more than a child we only carried (as a mother) or not at all (as a father)?

Does this explain why we hear more and more about baby murders? Because isn't it true that ethically there is no difference between infanticide and abortion, except for the line on the lifeline/timeline that separates the legal from the illegal?

Soul joy

It made me think as a believer. There is also a nuanced position within our religion (fortunately). An abortion is not possible under normal circumstances, unless the mother's life is threatened, the child is not viable or the child is the result of rape (and in the latter case it is recommended to prayerfully consider whether adoption is not a better choice).

Another question that remains officially unanswered is when a fetus gets a soul. For me personally, that is when the heart starts beating. I continue to think that is a wonderful moment. The magic of stem cells dividing is already quite something, but at a certain point there is that first spark of life that makes that tiny little heart beat. That is a sign of life energy and for me it is the sign of the Light of Christ. That's where life begins and it deserves all the respect.

That issue has concerned me personally because we lost a child more than a year ago. Some people then – well-intentioned, I have no doubt – showed that a 9-week fetus was not yet a child, but just something strange in your body. They did this to make it easier for us.

But I can tell you that as soon as you see that ultrasound with that beating heart, you will feel that your child is alive and is a full part of your family.

As a Mormon, the issue of when the soul enters the body is not at all important in connection with the abortion issue, but it is important with the issue of whether this is a spiritual son or daughter of God, who has had a body for a very short time and will therefore be part of the first resurrection. Since we believe in eternal family relationships, it has always been a comfort to me to have confirmation through the Holy Spirit that this is our child and that later in the spirit world we will get to know our child again.

So I am convinced that if I live the way I should, I will have the blessing of one day having my entire family with me. That is an enormous comfort when losing a child.

Maybe that's why the report affected me so much. Hearing how other people share my opinion that their child really was “someone”, but that they did not give that someone a chance.

I hope that anyone who finds themselves in either situation will think carefully about the soul of a child and how our Heavenly Father will judge you if you have not handled that life as He expected or how He can still comfort you because you have lost a child with the blessing of an eternal family.