I'm not religious, but I was raised Catholic, then evangelical after my mom converted, so I've spent a lot of time thinking about God, faith, & reproductive rights while developing my own moral philosophy. I've come to the conclusion that abortion is not only OK, it is sacred. /1

Dr. Willie Parker, a Christian OBGYN, said:

“A pregnancy that intimates a baby is not more sacred than an abortion. …The God part is in your agency..." (Continued) /2

"...The trust—the divine trust—is that you have an opportunity to participate in the population of the planet. And you have an opportunity not to participate…The process is bigger than you are." (Continued) /3

He goes on, "The part of you that’s like God is the part that makes a choice. That says, I choose to, or, I choose not to. That’s what’s sacred. That’s the part of you that’s like God to me.” /4

Essentially, he argues that reproductive choice is a sacred expression of the free will God gave us, and to reject that free will is to take God's gift to us for granted.

According to the Old Testament and Jewish faith, personhood begins at birth, not conception. /5

Such matters are not mentioned in the New Testament, and as such we must assume that the Jewish teachings about the beginning of life were not among the beliefs that changed with the coming of Jesus. /6

The reality is this was not considered a moral issue until a 19th century Pope said so. The morality argument is new, in the context of pregnancies being terminated in one way or another, for one reason or another, for millennia. Our bodies are sacred, as is our free will. /End