Monday musing: Variations on a (post-abortion) theme

Post-abortion ministry occupies a large space in the pro-life community, partly because so many women who've had abortions find validation in it. Here's a community that agrees with them that abortion is bad and should be stopped. Here's a community that understands why it hurts and has given them voice. It makes them feel at home, while the pro-choice movement denies them a place.

Everyone in the pro-life movement knows abortion does something irreparable to the unborn baby. For that reason, we also know it's something a person can come to look back on with deep regret. Yet, it's also something from which a person can recover. On that basis, most pro-life ministries reach out to post-abortive people with open arms, offering support groups to women as well as men. 

Not all methods for dealing with past abortions are created equal, however. If the question is, "What should a person do with the pain or guilt of abortion?" we can understand there'd be quite a wide divergence of answers because there are various assumptions or beliefs concerning sin and redemption.

Some in the pro-life movement deny the reality of guilt and a God who demands an accounting for actions. They deal with post-abortion pain solely on the basis of psychology. Because the psychological risks and complications of abortion have been well documented, it's helpful for therapists to inquire about a woman's abortion history and watch for adverse reactions. It helps if counselors affirm the difficulties associated with abortion, but this may not go far enough.

Other approaches deal with the problem spiritually, but tend to "specialize" abortion by emphasizing it over other sins. To be sure, abortion is special in the way it often compounds sins -- from sexual immorality to secrecy and the taking of an innocent human life. Post-abortion "syndrome" or "trauma" also manifests itself in an array of powerful emotions -- anger, grief, despair -- that may not be involved in the aftermath of other sins. Nevertheless, pastors and other Christian counselors should be able to talk about forgiveness from abortion in much the same way as they would deal with someone over any sin.

Several post-abortion books suffer from sloppy, or non-existent, editing. Post-abortion suffering ought not to be so special that books or Bible studies about it are exempt from theological review. Indeed, because abortion is such a pervasive problem -- with something like 43% of US women having an abortion in their lifetime -- it deserves serious attention from pastors and theologians.

Sloppy theology yields these extra-biblical recommendations:

• Visualizing the aborted baby alive in heaven, in the arms of a loving Jesus.
• Asking God to reveal the aborted baby's name so that forgiveness can be sought and obtained from the baby. 
• Forgiving oneself when bad feelings persist.

Nowhere in Scripture do we find a basis for these practices. On the contrary, Christ died to pay the penalty for our sin. If God's word says Christ's work on the cross is the basis for justification, then we must accept it as fact, no matter what it is we've done. Faith like this honors God. Our feelings will follow.

As we've evaluated various methods of post-abortion ministry that claim to be based on the Bible, we've found other things to watch out for:

• Making the cross of Jesus more about our pain, particularly the pain of abortion, than about satisfying the holiness of God. Christ died for the pain that our sin caused God. The best post-abortion books and Bible studies will put God's holiness first.
• Failing to use biblical terms -- exchanging a weighty concept such as "being reconciled to God" with "healing." Sin is not a sickness and "health" is not an adequate substitution for "justification." 
• Similarly, many programs urge people to "embrace God's love" rather than "believing" Christ or "receiving" His forgiveness.
• Speaking of forgiveness apart from salvation in Christ, as though that were possible.

Here are some resources that are God-centered and deliberately careful in their explanations of sin and redemption:

• Living in His Forgiveness, by Sandy Day (Caleb Ministries)
• Forgiven and Set Free, by Linda Cochrane
• Binding Up the Brokenhearted, from Healing Hearts 
• Healing a Father's Heart (for men), by Linda Cochrane and Kathy Jones
• Reconciled, an online course for men

Some post-abortion ministries prefer to draw women in who aren't ready for talk of God or participation in a Bible study. Surrendering the Secret, by Pat Layton (Lifeway) starts out focusing on women's pain in abortion but is faithful in its closing message about God's holiness and her need of forgiveness for sin.

Other reliable resources:

• Safehaven Ministries

• When The Pain Won’t Go Away: Dealing With The Aftereffects Of Abortion, downloadable booklet from RBC Ministries

Post-Abortion Trauma in Men Still Overlooked

Post-Abortion Trauma in Men Still Overlooked: [More than thirty] years have passed since the legalization of abortion in the United States. In those years, numerous studies have documented the potential negative effects of abortion on women. The effects of abortion on men however have been largely ignored by both the scientific community and American society.

Related:
A Father's Worst Nightmare - page 4
Forgotten Fathers and Their Unforgettable Children

Impact of Abortion on Men

Men Can Be Victims of Coercion, Too
That day ripped my gut out: A man's story

For men: Healing resources, information and articles

Editor: Not all post-abortion resources are created equal. Look for ministries with a distinctly evangelistic bent, as opposed to psychological or mystical. The resources I recommend are Living in His Forgiveness and Healing a Father's Heart.

'via Blog this'

Reproductive Technologies and the Risk of Birth Defects

Reproductive Technologies and the Risk of Birth Defects — NEJM: Although the large majority of births resulting from assisted conception were free of birth defects, treatment with assisted reproductive technology was associated with an increased risk of birth defects, including cerebral palsy, as compared with spontaneous conception. In the case of ICSI, but not IVF, the increased risk of birth defects persisted after adjustment for maternal age and several other risk factors. Although we cannot rule out the possibility that other patient factors contribute to or explain the observed associations, our findings can help provide guidance in counseling patients who are considering treatment for infertility.

Translation please! Here are a couple articles that put the above in plain English:
Risk of major birth defects in fertility babies almost double, research finds
In vitro fertilization off the hook for causing birth defects
Related: 
Fertility treatment only partly responsible for increase in birth defects

Couple has children from different racial backgrounds following alleged IVF mix-up

First study of chromosome test suggests increase in IVF success - success by destroying some embryos

'via Blog this'

Study finds prayer can help handle harmful emotions

Study finds prayer can help handle harmful emotions | e! Science News: Through in-depth interviews with dozens of victims of violent relationships with intimate partners, Shane Sharp, a graduate student studying sociology at UW-Madison, gathered an array of ways prayer helped them deal with their situation and emotions through coping mechanisms such as venting.

Those who were boiling with anger said they found "a readily available listening ear," says Sharp, who explores how prayer helps manage emotional pain in the current issue of the journal Social Psychology Quarterly.

"If they vented their anger to that abusive partner, the result was likely to be more violence," Sharp says. "But they could be angry at God while praying without fear of reprisal."

During any interpersonal interaction, the participants are considering how they look through the other's eyes. In the case of people who pray, they are considering God's view.

'via Blog this'

Counseling for Change

Counseling for Change: Nouthetic counseling is composed of three elements — concern, confrontation, and change. It involves sitting down with a client and, with loving concern for them, confronting unbiblical behavior in order to bring about life changes. Turning to Scripture and pointing out truths therein will bring about repentance and obedience to God's Word. That has become the No. 1 focus at our center.

Is your church safe for sad people?

Guthrie on Sad People, Safe Churches – The Gospel Coalition Blog: Most of us are uncomfortable with sadness, as individuals and as churches. We want to fix people and help them to feel better, and we are far less patient than God is with the process he uses to bring healing.

But making a church a safe place for sad people is about much more than providing personal and practical support. A social club can do that. The gospel is what provides the solid truth that grieving people need to inform their feelings and undergird their hope. For a church to be a safe place for sad people does not merely mean that we offer comfort and acceptance. Sometimes it means that we gently but boldly challenge misbeliefs or misunderstandings of Scripture.

Calvary Chapel Founder Advises Woman to Abort Her Child On Radio Show

Calvary Chapel Founder Advises Woman to Abort Her Child On Radio Show – Pastor Chuck Smith Tries To Use Scripture To Justify Child Killing « Social Justice Begins in the Womb – Daily Pro-life Updates from the BK Lounge: This is one of the most heartbreaking radio calls I have ever heard, not just because of the woman’s situation, but because of the horrendous advice given by a once-trusted Christian leader. Pastor Chuck Smith, who is the founder of Calvary Chapel, actually advises this women it is okay to kill her baby and tries to say God won’t mind.

Learn about perinatal hospice

Transsexualism is ‘delusion’ says former sex-swap man

Transsexualism is ‘delusion’ says former sex-swap man | News | The Christian Institute: A man who underwent sex change surgery to look like a woman – then changed back – says the NHS should halt all sex change operations. Charles Kane says he needed counselling, not surgery. “In many ways I see myself as a victim of the medical profession.”

Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity

Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity - Yahoo! News: Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler says the stretching and meditative discipline derived from Eastern religions is not a Christian pathway to God. He objects to 'the idea that the body is a vehicle for reaching consciousness with the divine.'

Mohler said feedback has come through e-mail and comments on blogs and other websites since he wrote an essay to address questions about yoga he has heard for years. 'I'm really surprised by the depth of the commitment to yoga found on the part of many who identify as Christians,' Mohler said.

'Savior sibling' raises a decade of life-and-death questions

Ten years ago a little girl from Colorado made medical history when her parents and her doctor at the University of Minnesota used genetic screening to create a baby that could save her life. Few questioned the Nashes' decision to use genetic testing so they could have a child without Fanconi anemia. The critics focused on their decision to use genetic screening to select a child for a trait that would benefit someone else. Star Tribune

Editor: They should be questioned for creating and then destroying embryos that are rejected. The article goes on to describe the state of the "art" since baby brother Adam was born:

One patient had four embryos implanted in her uterus because the testing for their genetic tissue typing failed. Her IVF doctors said they would test the fetuses and abort the ones that didn't match her sick child. None of the fetuses matched the sick child, and the parents decided to abort all four.

The Biblical Principles of Change

Change is the mode of life God intends for believers. If growth is our goal, how do we attain it? Access these helpful class notes, audio, and video files by Wayne Johnston from Valley Bible Church in Lancaster, CA.

Mayo Study: Withdrawing LVAD Support Is Ethical

Mayo Study: Withdrawing LVAD Support Is Ethical - Health Blog - WSJ: High-tech medical devices can raise tricky ethical questions — just consider the left ventricular assist device (LVAD). The pricey device essentially takes over the function of the left ventricle, helping a heart to continue beating when it would otherwise fail. But what happens when patients become very, very sick and are essentially being kept alive by the LVAD? Is turning off the device more akin to euthanasia or taking someone off a ventilator?

LVADs make some clinicians uncomfortable for several reasons, they write — the device seems almost like a replacement part than outside assistance, for example. Researchers write, though, that withdrawing LVAD support isn’t the same as assisted suicide or euthanasia because there’s no “new pathology” introduced to cause death. Death, when it comes (all 14 patients died within a day of turning off the device), is due to the underlying heart failure, they write. So assuming patients or their representative know the consequences of deactivating the device, clinicians should honor their wishes.

Pro-choice group offers spiritual counseling

Faith Aloud promotes "reproductive justice through the moral power of religious and ethical communities." Through an online video, Rev. Rebecca Turner offers comfort to women choosing abortion: "God is with you in the abortion clinic."

Well, yes, if you are His child. Jesus confronted the sin of the woman at the well, and told the woman caught in adultery, "Go and sin no more." The "pastor" conveniently overlooked those parts of the biblical accounts.

Wouldn't it be better for a Christian minister to advise a woman contemplating abortion to have faith that God will be with her in the pregnancy? That He'll provide a way of escape out of the temptation to abort? That if you persist in sin, and you are His child, there will be chastening? But that if you have faith and obey Him, there will be reward?

For more, see Will God Forgive Me If I Have an Abortion?

One man's story: 'That day ripped my gut out'

My role in two abortions has been long-lasting. I can tell you that the mental and emotional effects on a man are real and devastating. I really don't let anyone get close to me because I don't want to let them down. I've had a divorce, no current relationship with my two living sons, countless unfinished projects, and several jobs left before true success--mainly because I never felt I deserved it. Where am I today? After hearing [a woman's] personal story in our church of how abortion affected her, I felt like a hammer hit me between the eyes. I knew then it was time to start dealing with my past. Jesus Christ has forgiven my past and continues to strengthen me. The UnChoice

More on men and abortion:
AbortionRisks.org
Post-abortion trauma in men still overlooked
Impact of abortion on men
Study shows impact of abortion on relationships for men, women
Forgotten fathers and their unforgettable children

My daddy's name is donor . . . and I miss him

A report released this week by the Institute for American Values, My Daddy's Name is Donor, is the first-ever representative, comparative attempt to learn about the identity, kinship, well-being, and social justice experiences of these adults. The study reveals that young adults conceived through sperm donation are hurting more, are more confused, and feel more isolated from their families. They fare worse than their peers raised by biological parents on important outcomes such as depression, delinquency, and substance abuse. The report also claims that donor conception is not “just like” adoption. BioEdge, NY Times

Related stories
Women having abortions after IVF
S. Korea: Court rules embryos are not humans
20-year IVF quest leads to depression, murder
Resignations plague Canada's fertility watchdog
Will adoption have to compete with surrogacy?
Donor-assisted conceptions sparks disclosure dilemmas
Fertile ground for waste and futility
Economic crisis: Danish gov't cuts funding for IVF

Beneficent Persuasion: Techniques and Ethical Guidelines to Improve Patients’ Decisions

Physicians frequently encounter patients who make decisions that contravene their long-term goals. Behavioral economists have shown that irrationalities and self-thwarting tendencies pervade human decision making, and they have identified a number of specific heuristics (rules of thumb) and biases that help explain why patients sometimes make such counterproductive decisions. Annals of Family Medicine

Talking to your daughter about Miley Cyrus

Dannah Gresh of pro-modesty Secret Keeper Girl, has "offered positive thoughts about Miley... and encouraged forgiveness and a lot of second chances." However, after viewing Miley's latest video, she was compelled to write An Open Letter to Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus and How to Talk to Your Daughter About Miley Cyrus.

Proper Palliative Sedation Not Same as "Terminal Sedation"

The assisted suicide movement is ever about blurring vital distinctions and deconstructing crucial definitions. One target has been the proper pain control technique known as palliative sedation, a rarely required procedure in which patients near death are sedated to control pain or other symptoms such as severe agitation or air hunger that cannot be alleviated in any other manner. Confusion about this–some of it intentionally sown by assisted suicide advocates–induced the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization to issue a statement clarifying the proper methods and purposes of sedation as a palliative technique. LifeNews

A Psychiatrist Looks at the Effects of Abortion

Free download from FRC. The growing weight of scientific studies and the voices of women themselves tell the story of abortion as a life-changing, adverse experience for many. Relying on Dr. Martha Shuping's experience as a psychiatrist, we can describe the psychological impact of abortion through the lens of her clinical counseling and the emerging scientific literature.

Last week Europe’s leading reproductive health medical journal, Human Reproduction, published a study demonstrating that women who become pregnant with a single child (as opposed to multiples) following IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) have an increased risk of stillbirth.
The study was massive, involving over 20,000 pregnancies between 1989 and 2006.

After adjusting for all relative factors—such as age, smoking habits, alcohol and coffee intake, and others—it was revealed that women who conceived using IVF or ICSI had a significant four-fold increased risk of stillbirth. Researchers found that this increased risk is not likely due to the underlying infertility issues that drove women to IVF in the first place; rather it is likely due to other factors, such as the technology involved in IVF. This stunning conclusion begs the question: Do women undergoing IVF know of such risks? LifeNews