Birth Control = Women's Rights?

Recently, I became interested in the life of Margaret Sanger the founder if Planned Parenthood especially in light of the debate currently around the government's mandate to offer birth control as part if their health insurance plans. It occurs to me that there are deep theological issues exposed in this debate and they may just have started years ago when Margaret Sanger outlined her reasons for offering birth control. 

1. Sexual Freedom - Sanger proposed that women were subjugated by the limits on sexuality that life without birth control imposed. She proposed that it was a matter if women's rights to give women the same sexual freedom that men enjoy. 

2. Professional Advancement. Sanger proposed that women who were bearing children did not have the same opportunity for career advancement by that men enjoy. Women who have young children frequently forfeit career opportunity to care for the children's needs. 

3.  Creating master race. Sanger was a proponent of eugenics believing that certain classes if individuals should not freely reproduce. By bringing into the world a child who may not have the same intellect or opportunity, society perpetuates poverty and suffering. 

Each one of Sanger's rationales for increasing access I birth control stands in contrast to Biblical guidance. 

1.  God ordained sex. His plan for sexual fulfillment is within the bonds of marriage so by definition it is safe sex. Within such committed relationships the child that may result is a blessing from God and a mark of His Devine providence for that union. There is no safe sex outside the bonds of marriage. Love cannot thrive in a relationship where there is no lasting commitment. We are made to love and be loved. As long as the option to walk away is on the table, love remains conditional at best. 

Births to single parents have increased almost exponentially over the past generation. Marriages now delayed on favor of self indulgences and career development. We would do well to abandon our self interests and choose a life that honors God. We will be more likely to encounter a mate that will also keep God first and fulfill their role of spouse more wholeheartedly. 

In our culture, even the marriages of Christians face the same vulnerability to failure as those who do not claim the name of Christ. As a nation we have failed to hold marriage high and give it the same esteem that God does. We live as self-centered as the rest of the world and imitate worship on Sunday. That is not a Christian life my friend. When we put God and spouse ahead of our interests our priorities change. We may even gain a greater understanding of what true love is. Jesus demonstrated it for us in that while we were still sinners He came to offer his life as a sacrifice; taking the penalty for our sin. What great love we have received. 

2.  Work is ordained by God. All work that is not immoral is valuable. We often confuse rank with value and thus despise the most necessary and noble professions. Work can be accomplished within the home - some of the children who will go on to impact society greatly being molded by a mother who invests in her children. We cannot attribute our worth based on our paycheck. Then we are looking to the wrong scale master to weigh us in the balance. A life of great worth is the life lived to God's glory. 

3.  All life has value. We cannot discard an unwanted child for the convenience of the parent. No one is perfect but one - Jesus Christ. We all have flaws and failures. To terminate a life because it will inevitably face hardship would be to end life as we know it.  Because a child is poor or of a race not deemed in favor by the society he lives in is not reason to end his life before it begins. All mankind is made in God's image and to kill that life is an affront to the Creator of that life. 

Hitler lived as a contemporary of Sanger also pursued philosophies of eugenics with disastrous results. The problem is that the classes of people in favor are subjective and not based on science or God's standard either. 

In a government influenced healthcare a system, allowable procedures will likely discriminate against the handicapped, the elderly, and those most vulnerable and least able to stand up for themselves. Even this week, when a group of nuns petitioned the courts to be excluded from the mandate to offer birth control, President Obama responded by saying that their objection was not based on fact and was not viable. It is happening in the United States already where the government limits our ability to keep our faith. It is just one small step to alienating yet another class of people who challenge the will of the government. 

We live in a culture where people of faith are truly a peculiar people. We can hide our faith and not shine for The Lord or we can expose our faith and stand for God even if it means standing against the culture. I challenge you to keep the faith.