When Roe v. Wade was overturned, I literally wept tears of joy. As a sister missionary serving in rural Appalachia at the time, I never thought I would live to see it happen. When I returned to university, however, I read an article from the BYU Political Review in which another young woman wept for the opposite reason. She was devastated by what she considered a loss of female agency and a regression to patriarchal norms. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by this – but I was.
Since then I have met many well-meaning LDS young adult women, and even some mothers, who express sympathy for and identification with the “pro-choice” cause. At best, they argue that though they would never have abortions themselves, the option should be left open to other, more desperate women. At worst, they embrace a morally relativistic disregard for the lives of the preborn.
For women “who know” the truth of the Plan of Salvation, this is wrong.
It seems that amid seductive feminist rallying cries, the cultural denigration of motherhood, and the pressures of a post-modern world, female compassion has been weaponized against those whom it was designed to protect. In short, many women have forgotten who they are: guardians at the gate of mortality and protectors of the vulnerable.
The Complexity of Abortion
I understand that for many, the topic of abortion is painful, personal, and complicated. In no way is this article meant to minimize the pain and fear of a woman who finds herself in a desperate situation. Nor is it intended to condemn women who have had abortions. Rather, my hope is that a discussion of the roles and gifts of womanhood will inspire more young LDS women to become vocal advocates for life.
In the secular world, most debates about abortion revolve around the question of whether a preborn baby is a human life. I think most women in the Church would agree that children in the womb are living beings, so I will not address that question in this article.
The problem that I see most LDS women grappling with is the reality that abortion often comes as a result of painful, messy life circumstances. Such concerns are born out of compassion, but they are misguided when they lead to the justification of killing babies in the womb.
Symbols of Birth
In order to demonstrate why LDS women in particular should be pro-life, we need to understand the unique role women play in the Plan of Salvation. For me, the symbols of birth have been a powerful way to learn about this role. Birth is both richly symbolic and alarmingly physical. It is the meeting of heaven and earth, a rarefied moment of pain and beauty.
Anyone who has witnessed a woman in labor can easily draw parallels to the suffering Savior in Gethsemane. I have witnessed my own sister give birth twice. Each time, I was struck by her sacrifice of personal pain and discomfort in order to bring her babies into the world.
When Jesus Christ gave up His life on the cross, the veil of the temple at Jerusalem was rent. Jesus Christ is the veil, and Latter-day Saints believe that all mankind must pass through Him to gain eternal life and exaltation. Similarly, when a woman gives birth, she becomes the veil into mortality. This role is a companion role to the Savior’s. How perverse is it, then, to desecrate the sacred space of a woman’s body and a baby’s life with the violence of abortion?
It seems to me that some young women do not understand the powerful calling they have been given by virtue of their femaleness. The truth is that the strength of womanhood is found in humility before God, life giving, and courageous vulnerability. Even women who never have the opportunity to give birth themselves can and should find ways to mother and give life to the people around them.
The Doctrine of the Soul
In LDS theology, the human body is sacred. It is not merely rendered sacred by the habitation of a spirit, it is sacred in and of itself because “the spirit and the body are the soul of man.” I have at times heard members of the Church attempt to justify abortion by claiming that because we do not know when a soul enters a body in the womb, it is unlikely that abortion deprives a spirit of the opportunity to live on earth. We believe in a premortal life, after all. Couldn’t Heavenly Father simply assign another body to such a spirit?
Certainly, God’s plan for His children is not something we can thwart. Treating the destruction of a human body casually, however, is a misunderstanding and rejection of our own doctrine. A fetus in the womb, a child at the earliest stages of development, is at least a body. It is a sacred element of the soul. As such, the bodies of preborn babies should be respected and protected. Our beliefs about premortality should serve to strengthen our convictions in the defense of life, not justify the destruction of the innocent.
The Power of Women
It is impossible for me to address every angle of the abortion issue in a single op-ed, but I hope anyone reading this article will understand that women can and should be powerful forces for good. I hope that young women will more clearly recognize the lie that abortion is in their interests. Abortion is not in women’s interests because it is not in God’s interests. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be empowered to champion truth and guard the sanctity of human life. It is our privilege and duty to do so.
Cover Photo Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/140806234671853/
