Abortion is one of those subjects that is taboo to talk about in many Christian circles. We can talk about being pro-life, but not so much abortion. It makes sense, obviously. Who wants to talk about the murder of babies in the womb? It’s much easier to talk about helping out mothers who need help in a crisis situation. I’m not advocating to talk exclusively about the former, rather I’m saying we should talk about both. And yes, to our children, specifically.
Wisdom
Clearly we need to use wisdom when approaching such a sensitive and contentious topic. For the sake of clarity, I am definitely of the mindset that there is no need to be egregious in explaining how abortions are done or when they are done when speaking to, for example, a 5 year old. However, we minimally need to educate our young children about the value of all life, in and out of the womb.
So how do we start talking to our young children about abortion and the value of life, whether wanted or unwanted? We start by teaching our kids to put others first.
What life is about
We live in a world that is constantly preaching to our children that self-gratification and entitlement to independence and success is the key to our happiness. Apparently that is what life is all about. Even in cartoons, this is often the messaging. The theme is all the same – it’s all about me, myself, and I.
When our children’s lives revolve around what makes them happy and feel good as their top priority, it is not a stretch to see that as these children get older, the convenience of abortion is something that is not only acceptable, but a right to achieve self-fulfillment and a more comfortable, easy life. If thinking of others as more important than ourselves (Phil 2:3) is not instilled and encouraged early on, it gets to be much more difficult to live out this biblical concept as they get older.
Our children need to understand that even when it’s inconvenient or difficult or unexpected, every life the LORD allows into a woman’s womb is precious and made in the image of God. I think that’s a great place to start broaching the topic of abortion to our children.
Murder
The concept of murder and death is unfortunately unavoidable, even in young children (as in beyond Kindergarten). Whether we realize it or not, our kids know and understand what these things are. They may be introduced to these facts of life by TV, videos, or even what they overhear us talking about with other adults. But if you think about it, if we allow our children to watch “The Wizard of Oz” where Munchkins sing, “The Witch is dead!” we should be able to tell young children we need to protect the lives of babies in the womb. Contrary to the witch, these little people are innocent and do NOT deserve to die.
If we don’t, I know who will
Still, I’m sure many of you are asking, “But why? Why should I talk to them about abortion?” I can’t emphasize this enough- if we don’t teach them about the sanctity of life and the atrocity that abortion is, their friends or classmates or teachers or social media will tell them otherwise. I’ve heard of girls as young as 8 or 9 years old saying the mantra, “My body, my choice.” This is not by accident. Have you seen the “Women’s Marches“? There are young girls at each one with their mothers. And a huge part of these marches entail teaching about “medical freedom” which is just a nice way of saying “I want to be able to murder my baby with impunity.” These same young girls have friends, some of which may be our own sons and/or daughters.
We can’t hide our children under a rock, nor should we. But we can teach them to stand firmly on truth. And when (not if) they are approached with information contrary to the Truth of Scripture by well-meaning but misled friends, they will be able to identify it and refute it. But only if we aren’t afraid to talk about these difficult subjects. The earlier we teach them what they need to know, the less likely they will succumb to the seductive lies of the culture.
We aren’t alone!
Thankfully, we are not in this alone. There are so many great books to help us guide our children during “such a time as this.” I absolutely love “Pro-life Kids!” It’s an excellent resource! Also, “Wonderfully Made” and “A Child’s First Book About Marriage” are both great books to start introducing biblical values and truth into our children’s hearts and minds.
I pray we can all encourage one another to speak with boldness and truth, no matter who we speak to. And I also pray that we can have compassion not only for the mothers that either have had abortions or are contemplating them, but to those innocent babies as well.
