Mission: Abort! (Controversial Essay)

Statistics are rapidly rising as the apparent “trend,” entailing unmarried women having abortions performed on them, grows increasingly popular in our society today. Approximately sixty-four percent of all abortions are carried out on never-married women. Women who are married make up about eighteen percent, and women who are divorced acquire nearly ten percent. About ninety-three percent of all abortions take place for social reasons (e.g. if the child is “ill-timed” or unwanted). Six percent of abortions result because of prospective health problems concerning either the mother or the child, and one percent of all abortions occur because of incest or even rape (The Centre for Bio-ethical Reform). The majority of women, who have abortions done on them, only do it for selfish reasons. They really don’t care about the child growing inside of them. Despite popular belief that the mother has the right to do what she likes with her body, the unborn baby has the right to his or her own life, and the choice shouldn’t be made for him or her.

Those who are Pro-life believe that abortion is murder. Timothy “Tim” Richard Tebow, who was born on August 14, 1987, is the “American football quarterback for the Florida Gators” (Tim Tebow Zone). He was the very first college football player ever to both “rush and pass for 20 touchdowns in a season and was the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy” (Tim Tebow Zone). Before discussing his numerous successes, however, we shall backtrack to before he was even born. His parents, Bob and Pam Tebow, were serving as Christian missionaries in Makati City in the Philippines at the time. While pregnant, Pam experienced a severe infection with a “pathogenic amoeba.” Due to the drugs used to revive her from her coma and to remedy her dysentery, the unborn baby experienced a critical placental abruption. Because the doctors expected a stillbirth, they suggested an abortion in order to protect her life. Pam refused, however, and carried her child to term. Both survived (Tim Tebow Zone). Abortion was not something that either she or her husband, Bob, believed in. Pam chose to risk her life instead of ending the life of her unborn son. Her actions were truly selfless. She knew that a life was (and is) a life, and it wasn’t up to her to choose whether her baby was meant to live or not.

Those who are Pro-choice deem the unborn child as simply a fetus and nothing more. Those who claim to be Pro-choice would’ve said that Pam Tebow should have had an abortion instead of risking her life to give birth to her child. They would maintain that aborting a zygote or an embryo is not the same as “killing a baby.” They would say that a miniature mass of maturing cells is not a baby because “it doesn’t have the neural mass, organization or experience to have much sentience” (43). For the beginning stages of pregnancy, when most of all abortions take place, “supposing otherwise is far-fetched speculation” (43).

While both sides have their “valid” points, only one group can be right. In Tim Tebow’s short lifetime, so far, he has accomplished a huge amount of success, often referred to as “A Walking Freight Truck” (Tim Tebow Biography). Tebow played quarterback for Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where he became a Division I-A recruit and placed among the top quarterback prospects in the nation as a senior (Tim Tebow Biography). He chose to attend the University of Florida over the University of Alabama, after a tough recruiting battle. “Tebow, being a dual threat quarterback adept at rushing and passing the football, was used in his freshman season largely as a change of pace to the Gator’s more traditional quarterback, Chris Leak” (Tim Tebow Zone). As a junior, Tim Tebow ’s stock rose as he became a prestigious, highly recruited major college quarterback prospect. Tebow, as quarterback, continued to amaze during his senior season, leading the Nease Panthers to a state title, receiving All-State honors, was named Florida's Mr. Football and a Parade All-American. Tim Tebow finished his high school career with 9,810 passing yards, 3,186 rushing yards, 95 passing touchdowns and 62 rushing touchdowns. “He played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Game in San Antonio, Texas, which features the top 78 senior high school football players in the nation and is shown nationally on NBC television” (Tim Tebow Biography). Timothy Tebow is 6’3” and 225 lb (1.91 m, 102 kg). He’s incredibly healthy, at the optimum level of fitness, and thriving! In addition to all of this, he's also known by virtually everyone for something else - his "eye black". Tim Tebow has become legendary for displaying Bible verses on his face during his football games. It’s a tribute to his Christian faith, and it’s an endeavor to send a message to a large audience! Imagine if Bob and Pam Tebow had decided to toss away the risks and abort the unborn Timothy. His Christian witness on the football field would not and could not possibly exist. Tim Tebow’s strategy with his “eye black” has caught much media attention. He has such a unique opportunity to spread the Word of God, and he’s using it! But, again, where would we be (where would the Florida Gators be) if Tim Tebow’s parents had taken the doctor’s advice and aborted him? As someone, in an article published in the Democrat Gazette in ‘93, once said:

“The test of a civilized society, it seems to us, is how it treats the most vulnerable - the old and sick, the young and ignorant, the poor and disabled, the homeless and despised, the dispossessed and imprisoned. The least among us. Once upon a time there would have been no hesitation to include in such a category life in the womb. Now there is a ‘serious’ question about whether it is human life at all. (What else could it be– an aardvark?) Once there was a folk metaphor for security- ‘as safe as a child in its mother’s womb.’ At the rate of 1.6 million abortions a year in America… surely few would make any such assumptions now. Abortion is wrong. If abortion is not wrong, then nothing is” (19).

The author of this brilliant article, whoever he or she was, was right! If abortion isn’t wrong, then, really, nothing is! Nothing at all.

Every child has the right to life. No child would choose to die! A baby, who hasn’t even been given the chance to live yet, wouldn’t choose to end his or her own life. Society needs to realize that it’s not just about what the mother wants. The baby has a right to life, and it’s not up to her to decide whether the child should live or die. It is imperative to bring to the attention of these women the fact that they are responsible for the life of the child growing inside of them. An expecting mother can’t just make a decision on a whim, for her decision will not just affect her life, but it will significantly affect the life of her child as well. Christians need to motivate the church to educate women on the alternative of adoption or even raising the child herself. Rather than condemning them, the church needs to let women who are in a crisis pregnancy situation know that they are going to be encouraged, loved, and protected. The future of this world is in the hands of citizens in society today. Society needs to take action against the rising statistics of unborn babies being murdered, or, eventually, there won’t even be a future generation.