The purpose of surgery
The purpose of surgery is to heal, to mend, to rid the body of disease, legions, blockages and the like. Surgery may involve knitting that which has been torn, or removing that which poses danger. To be sure, no surgery is to be taken lightly, as it involves cutting, and the like, and yet its results are often miraculous, restoring mobility, sight, and health.
And then there's surgical abortion, the surgery that lives in a world of euphemisms, and is rightfully ashamed. Surgical abortion, the kind that happens at Planned Parenthood clinic, involves cutting, but brings no health, rids the body of no disease. While surgery can be a life saver, surgical abortion does nothing other than to end the life of a human being, and to do it in a way that no one wants to talk about. In removing a heart blockage, in excising a tumor, there is a sense of accomplishment, but now we are dealing with the body of baby. This is no lumpectomy, but a baby.
While health restoring surgery often involves mending limbs, reattaching tendons, surgical abortion is all about tearing apart. Chemotherapy is meant as a poison to cancer, while the saline solution of abortion is a poison to the child. Then comes the cutting of limbs, and the crushing of the head. Distasteful even to speak about, I know. It's uncomfortable, but there it is, and that is what the pro-choice crowd is fighting like hell (Yes, Gov. Whitmer, you are fighting just like hell.) to preserve.
But then great evil is shrouded in politeness, in niceness, in not speaking the truth, in keeping it hidden, at least to keep it out of our thinking. And for that there are euphemisms. We say we are terminating a pregnancy when we terminating a child. We say that we are bringing an end to the pregnancy when birth would be the natural end and a new beginning. We call the child a fetus, which means child, but hey, people don't generally know that, and it helps to dehumanize the unborn baby.
And so it is, abortion depends not on clear thinking, but on mental and linguistic gymnastics, the kind of bending and jumping that avoids the issue at all costs. And at issue is the child.
The Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer is chairman and professor of Exegetical Theology and director of the M.A. program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Be Informed
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Be Equipped
“K-12 schools must allow boys into girls’ private areas to obtain federal funds for lunches, breakfasts, and snacks, the Biden administration announced this month.” Joy Pullman of The Federalist explains the new rules.
Be Encouraged
“The Lord God loves your neighbors—even the ones that annoy you. He cares so much for them that He sent His Son to die and rise again for them—for all of them. For the thief, the bigot, the liberal, the conservative, the one with the manicured lawn who judges your overgrown lawn, and the one who has let their property become overgrown and run down. He cares for all of them. He cares so much that He called you and He placed you in that neighborhood to seek its welfare.”
