Does Abortion Allow a Woman to Avoid the Consequences of Sin

I remember back in the late sixties listening to a preacher get worked up over abortion. He was a young guy; probably mid-twenties clearly without much life experience with short-medium length hair slicked back, horn rimed glasses and that typical young Republican clean shaven look. The guy worked himself into a vein bulging rage over the idea that a woman could sin and then get pregnant and then avoid the consequences of that sin by getting an abortion; kind of like she was cheating God.

In the intervening decades I have watched as the anti-abortion movement has evolved away from “the woman is avoiding the consequences of her sin” to “compassion for the life of the unborn”. This argument has brought new adherents into the anti-abortion movement because, let's face it, it has some justification. It's perfectly reasonable that we should care about the unborn; just as we should care about the born, the sick or the disadvantaged. When I see it displayed so ardently though, I wonder if the intense compassion for the life of the unborn is real or is just a cover for “the woman is avoiding the consequences of her sin” rage.

A clue as to the true motivation of the anti-choicers can be found in their attitude toward others in need of compassion. The telling point for me is the simple fact that in most cases that I have witnessed the “compassion for the life of the unborn” disappears once the kid is born. I can't help but suspect that in many cases the outward show of compassion is largely fake and what lurks behind it is that hate-filled preacher from the sixties.