Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

By Angela Wittman

While researching material for this article, I came across this harrowing news account of a Chinese couple who had fled China and is now seeking assylum in our country. They were arrested and persecuted in China for resistance to China's coercive population control program.

"Li and Yu, an unmarried couple, fled China in 1998 after officials gave Li a forced pregnancy exam. At the exam, she was held down while a doctor examined her "private parts," Li, then 19, said according to court records.

"As she yelled, kicked and demanded they release her, she was told she would receive similar tests in the future, and if found pregnant, would be subject to an abortion, Li said.

"Her boyfriend, Yu, then 21, could also be sterilized, she said the officials told her.

"I was so scared. I was yelling. I was making noises," Li said, according to court documents, adding that officials threatened her, "For the rest of your life you cannot have child."

(Excerpt from -- Court Refuses Asylum for Chinese Couple Facing Forced Abortion, Source: Associated Press; 12/05/02)

As we near the 30th anniversary of the infamous Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision let us consider these facts published by the educational organization, Freedom to Learn, Inc. about abortion here in the United States:

"The Supreme Court ruled that human offspring are not persons "in the whole sense" at any time before birth; that during the first 3 months of pregnancy, a state may make no laws regulating abortion, except perhaps, if they wish to provide that abortions must be done by licensed physicians; that after three months and until "viability"(which was not presisely defined but was referred to as being approximately 6 to 6 1/2 months), states could make only abortion laws aimed at safeguarding the health of the mothers (for example that abortions could be performed in hospitals, etc.); that from viability until the end of pregnancy, states still cannot prevent an abortion if it is performed "to preserve the life or health of the mother".

"The Court defined "health" to include all factors - physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman's age - relevant to the well-being of the patient."

"On July 1, 1976, the Supreme Court extended its original decision and ruled that: abortions may be performed on minor daughters without the knowledge of their parents; women (whether married or unmarried) may obtain abortions without the knowledge or consent of the baby's father.

"There is an average of one abortion every 20 seconds, 24 hours per day and 365 days per year; this is approximately 45 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. Several times greater than the Holocaust, ( source: www.freedomtolearn.org ).

Now, dear friends, after reading these staggering facts about a woman's "right to choose" abortion, may we reflect upon this truth found only in holy Scripture and may we acknowledge that our Creator is the Giver of life.

I am sure you have often heard the words, "It's a baby not a choice."

Dear friends, it is not a "right" either as God is the Author of life and we are made in His image.

There are many passages in Scripture that speak of God's sovereignty over His creation, but I think this passage in Psalm 139, verses 13 - 16, describes it best:

"For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them."

And may we also consider the words our Founding Fathers wrote and unanimously approved July 4th, 1776, in our Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal: That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life....."

Life, my friends, is a fundamental right given by God our Creator, and this right was acknowledged by the very same men who established the foundation of our nation with their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.

It is staggering to think of all the human lives destroyed by abortion in our nation and the fact that anyone under 30 years of age has known nothing other than legalized abortion!

Dear friends, we wonder why there is such violence in our streets, why our children have such low self-worth as to disrespect their bodies with pre-marital sex, drug abuse and alcohol!

Perhaps instead of relying on "temporary" solutions such as "sex ed" and "self-esteem programs", we should focus on ridding our land of the evil of abortion that is destroying the very foundation of our society and our children's self-worth.

In conclusion, let me leave you with this statement made by a 16 year old young man recently when asked his opinion of abortion:

"If I was a child and my parents had aborted me, I wouldn't even be here today. I don't think that's right at all."

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Originally pubished in 2002.