In this short video, Pastor Matt Chandler discusses the issue of abortion around the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. (The video is about a year old.)

Chandler starts out by reminding us all that when this landmark decision was handed down in 1973 that the science of pregnancy and the unborn was far different than it is today. Back then we didn’t know just how fully developed unborn children were at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and 20 weeks. One of the most regrettable decision in American history was made not knowing that the unborn can feel pain as early as 20 weeks (for certain) but perhaps even earlier; making abortion nothing less than the legal torture and murder of innocent unborn children.

One of the aspects of this video that makes it important is the fact that Chandler is the pastor of a Southern Baptist Church. Up until roughly 1979 the Southern Baptist Convention endorsed and support abortion. Thankfully, realizing their mistake, the convention renounced this position and has been a tireless defender of life ever since.

I particularly enjoyed Chandler’s treatment of the pro-abortion rhetoric that a “woman gets to choose what she does with her body.” He frankly calls that lack of logic “bull” and suggests a woman “go prostitute” herself to see if she is truly free to do what she wants with her body.

The fact of the matter is that a woman is not free to do whatever she wants with her body. Let’s examine to verify this reality:

A woman cannot (as Chandler noted) legally prostitute herself.
A woman cannot walk nude through a public store.
A woman cannot get drunk and drive a car.
A woman cannot get high on drugs and go to work.
A woman cannot walk bare chested in a public place.

This list could go on but I think we get the point. The idea that people can do whatever they want with their bodies is, as Chandler said, “detached from reality.” And this illusion has been used as a tool to deceive people into killing their unborn children in the name – most often – of convenience.

The false narrative of “my body my choice” is aiding the murder of millions of unborn children. Factually speaking, the child growing in a woman’s womb is not her body, it’s the body of an entirely separate, distinct, and unique human being. Yes, it is growing inside the woman’s body, but it is still not her body. Until we get over the lie that it’s “my body my choice” we can be sure that many women will continue to be deceived into having abortions.

I hope more pastors will be willing to speak boldly on this topic. This is not a matter of political perspective, this is a civil rights matter. Every person is conceived with the inherent worth and dignity that deserves protection from the moment of conception until natural death. Any idea less than this is an illusion.

Watch Matt Chandler’s short video below. If the video doesn’t’ appear automatically, please refresh your browser.