Life on the edge at a Baptist college.

So, the unoriginal idea of starting a blog has piqued my interest. While I wouldn’t consider myself a particularly good writer, it’s something I kind of enjoy. As I sit on my couch eating a bowl of tuna and egg whites smothered in salsa (I don’t currently have money to spend on groceries), I wonder what to begin with. How about a nice heavy subject? I am once again residing in Shawnee, OK after being devoid of all responsibilities while off vacationing in California for a week. Why am I back here a month before school starts, occupying my house alone and eating tuna instead of raiding my parents’ heartily-filled pantry? Well, because I had a fleeting moment of motivation to knock out a three hour course to lessen my load in the spring and have Fridays off. This being said, I am currently enrolled in Biblical Ethics. Since this is a three week course, life moves fast. By fast, I mean I have a research topic due after sitting in on the class for two days. I thought I would try to squish together biblical ethics and something meaningful to my future profession. What did I come up with? Abortion: a topic that continuously keeps democrats and republicans at bay.

Being that sometime in my near future I would like to be a labor and delivery nurse, this topic hits close to home since I will likely come across a certain aggregate that is comfortable in making the controversial decision to go through with abortion, for whatever reason. Thus, I need to know my own stance on abortion. After growing up in a conservative Southern Baptist home, I am decidedly pro-choice. While abortion is not a route I would ever take personally, I don’t agree with legislation telling women what they are and are not allowed to do with their lives and bodies. Furthermore, sometimes there are medical reasons for abortion in order to save the mother’s life. Is this a muddy topic to wade through? Absolutely.  Is it a solid rebuttal to say that it is not only the mother’s life and body that is affected, but also that of an unborn child with no defense and with no advocate? Absolutely. While I am going to go through with my stance on pro-choice, I am not as cold-hearted as I come across. Being that I previously said I would not personally follow this route, I obviously have some objections to abortion, but still do not think they outweigh personal freedoms. I also live in a town that has a starkly painted billboard that says “Abortion is murder” with blood dripping down the sign. Grotesque. And I attend a private Baptist college (although, I have to question my sanity in making that decision). There’s some republican in me, after all.

After going through a labor and delivery clinical last year, I have to say that seeing three healthy babies brought into the world was one of the most miraculous things I have ever witnessed. I cried every time. In front of people I had never met. While I have pretty much always firmly believed there is a God, it was in those precious moments that there was no doubt in my mind of His existence. Furthermore, it helped me understand that faith and science can co-exist, and even support each other, contrary to many opinions. In regard to my objections of abortion, I base my thoughts more on personal experience and scientific encounters than the traditional biblical view that abortion is murder. Let me explain. While sitting in class last year, I LEARNED SOMETHING. Dad, my tuition dollars have not been a total waste. 

• Roughly 10-14 days after conception, implantation occurs.
• Sometime around the 5th week of fetal development, the heart starts beating.
• Around 4-5 months, the mother begins to experience "quickening," which is a sensation of feeling the baby move in the womb.

Taking all of these things into account, I came to the realization that faith and science can co-exist. To me, there was no way to justify SEEING a little wet ball of cells, handled like a football, provided with fully functioning systems (limbic, digestive, endocrine, neurologic, muscular, nervous, reproductive, etc.), birthed into the world after a mere collision of a sperm and an egg except for the practical answer that God exists. I say practical because, to me, believing that there is a governing force somewhere "up in the sky," with a plan for His creation, seems much more practical than total coincidence.
            SO, in wrapping up why I love studying fetal development, the awestruck state that it leaves me in, and why I would like to be a labor and delivery nurse in my little tenure here on earth, I now need to figure out an argument that is pro-abortion. In finding sources for this argument, the Declaration of Independence stands out... people have "certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The pursuit of happiness being synonymous with personal freedoms... which leads me to the fact that I must refute my pro-choice opinion with bible verses that align with my topic. I don’t have any idea how I am going to do that just yet, but hopefully I can.

Heavy.