Recently, the state of New York passed a bill to allow partial-birth and at-birth abortion–or infanticide. Sadly, other states are considering the same thing. The determining factor for killing these babies is the condition of the mother’s physical and mental health. In other words, if a mother’s hormones are out of whack during pregnancy and she’s not thinking rationally (which happens to many women), she can, in a moment of emotional confusion, choose to not keep the baby. The alternative: Death at birth.
Surprisingly, partial-birth abortion is not new. It was promoted in Egypt under Pharaoh, when he was concerned about the growing population of the Israelites. (Read Exodus 1-2). In order to limit the multiplication of the Jews, he ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all male babies born to Hebrew women. Fortunately, their fear of the Lord was greater than their fear of Pharaoh. When he learned that the boy babies were living, he confronted the midwives:
“Why have you let the boys live?” Exodus 1:18
They gave him a valid reason (the babies were born before they arrived); but Pharaoh was relentless. He commanded all male babies be thrown into the crocodile-filled Nile River. Appalling, isn’t it?
We live in sobering times where the moral fiber is quickly unraveling and precious God-given life is being tossed aside as worthless chattel. People in places of influence are becoming like Pharaoh–relentlessly and unashamedly determining who lives and who dies.
What can we do? Of course, pray that God will have mercy on our nation and turn the course of these immoral decisions. But, we also need to know how to answer Pharaoh’s question–Why let the babies live? If we can clearly articulate that, then we can speak with unrelenting confidence that it is God, not man, who determines when life begins and when it ends.
How would you answer Pharaoh’s question?