In a recent New York Times article, Dr. Willie Parker says he believes “that as an abortion provider, [he is] doing God’s work.” It’s his Christian faith, the author contends, that drives him to abort babies. His “Life’s Work” (as his new book is ironically titled) is to end life for every preborn child that comes before him.
With the release of his book he is quickly becoming a hero and would-be martyr of abortionists, as they conveniently neglect the facts to make their case. As a self-identifying Christian, African-American, and feminist, he’s the perfect candidate to be the face of abortion advocacy.
Christianity’s Objections to Abortion Are Unyielding
Parker’s self-identifying as a Christian is a dream come true for abortionists. Anything they can do to imply Jesus was sympathetic to their cause builds hope that they can tip the scales in their favor. Hence the inclusion of this laughable line: “remember that conservative Christianity’s ferocious opposition to abortion is relatively new in historical terms.”
Remember, this is The New York Times, not The Onion, neglecting the scores of information highlighting the opposite case. One of the earliest Christian documents, The Didache, explicitly prohibits abortion. But overlook that fact because it’s inconvenient.
Historic Christianity has a long tradition of opposing abortion. The first Christians in Rome were also known to rescue abandoned children and take upon themselves the burden of raising them. That one could claim to represent Jesus, who came to offer abundant life, by helping “desperate women” to snuff out the life in their wombs is doublespeak right from the pages of “1984.” Jesus’ own mother, Mary, would’ve been a prime candidate for abortion as a “desperate” and unmarried woman who had faced ridicule for her pregnancy. Instead, the Bible calls her womb “blessed.”
The author correctly, but misleadingly, mentions the Bible’s silence on the issue. While the Bible doesn’t mention abortion by name, even a first-year seminary student would be quick to point out that some of the central claims of Christianity are not taught explicitly in Scripture, but rather made by inference. Chief of these is the orthodox belief in the Trinity, a word never used in the Bible but taught overwhelmingly by implication. We can add abortion to this list.
The Jewish people, some of whom later became the first Christians, were to avoid partaking in the practices of the surrounding peoples, who sacrificed their children to appease their gods. Christians have long held that to abort one’s child as an act of worship to the gods of convenience is not permitted by the God of the Bible. But abortion advocates will attempt to play the “he’s a Christian” card by spinning opposition from Christians to imply Parker is persecuted within his own faith tradition.
So, Do Black Lives Matter?
The second thing abortion elites love about Parker is his skin color. Any opposition he faces from white pro-lifers not associated with Christianity can be easily dismissed as bigotry. Sweep under the rug for a minute that even black celebrities are accusing abortion providers in black communities of genocide. While Planned Parenthood’s media arm proclaims support of black lives, its other arm is reaching for a pair of forceps to end life for hundreds of black babies each day.
In the shortest chapter of his book, Parker dismisses any notion that aborting black babies is a conflict of interest. His argument is that white pro-lifers are seeking to impoverish black women by forcing them to raise kids they can’t afford. He has convinced himself that he is helping his fellow African-Americans by freeing them from the responsibilities of parenting.
In the tradition of the black slave owners in the Confederate South, Parker makes his money by breaking the backs (or spines and what-have-you) of others, many of whom share his skin color. He can’t admit that his work (some have called it his “ministry”) hurts his own people or it’d affect his bottom line. Abortion advocates want us all to simply accept that black lives only matter once they’ve had the privilege of being born. This brings us to the final contradiction of Parker’s platform.
Fighting For Women, Or Against Them?
Parker considers himself a feminist. He believes he is bettering the future for females. Don’t think too long about the number of female lives he’s ended before they’ve begun. This is nothing new to the insane logic of abortion advocacy. If they can successfully shift our attention off the rights of the life inside the womb to the perceived “rights” the pregnant woman has over her inhabited womb, they’ve succeeded.
If we value the lives of women, we must value the lives of all women, whether they have been born or not. That is where Parker’s feminism, and the majority of what is called feminism today, makes a glaring omission. Their interest is simply in women having the right to sex without consequence.
The New York Times article concludes with a strong appeal to our emotions. Shouldn’t a 12-year-old-girl whose father raped her be permitted to abort her child? Those who advocate for life do so for all people, including those who are raped (who often regret aborting) and the children that are conceived as a result of such rape.
Unplanned pregnancy has affected my own family. No doubt it’d make our lives more convenient to have one less mouth to feed and one less diaper to change. But we believe our lives are just one among many and we don’t have the right to infringe upon the lives of others, even if we’re responsible for bringing them into the world.
Parker’s public persona is a farce. He parades the myth that he has a moral responsibility to “help women” while he strips them of their own responsibility to the children they’ve conceived. Christianity places value upon the lives of black women, so much so that it envisions a world in which their lives aren’t ended in the womb. But maybe we’re the ones who are deceiving pregnant women? Perhaps we’re the ones getting rich by volunteering with crisis pregnancy centers and giving away free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and diapers.
Oh, that’s right, it’s Parker’s bank account that grows every time a woman “chooses” abortion. The unsung heroes whose faith drives them to volunteer in crisis pregnancy centers make costly sacrifices to love their neighbors, even when those little neighbors’ own parents aren’t sure if they want to commit to parenthood. But go ahead, Willie, tell yourself you’re loving your neighbors by making sure their hopes for the future die along with the children in their wombs.