DAY 7: Why Do People Get an Abortion?

In 2004, the Guttmacher Institute anonymously surveyed 1209 post-abortive women from 9 different abortion clinics across the country.  Of the women surveyed, 957 provided a main reason for having an abortion. Here are the results of the survey:

• .5% - Victim of rape
• 3% - Fetal health problems
• 4% - Physical health problems
• 4% - Would interfere with education or career
• 7% - Not mature enough to raise a child
• 8% - Don’t want to be a single mother
• 19% - Done having children
• 23% - Can’t afford a baby
• 25% - Not ready for a child

What this reveals is the fact that almost all abortions occur for purely elective reasons.  They are performed on healthy women to end the lives of healthy children.  The child is simply a matter of inconvenience and abortion is an expedient solution to get rid of the problem.

Reading the list above, I think the bottom line is most women get abortions because they have no hope.  Hope that there are better options.  Hope that they’re not alone.  Hope that someone will come to the rescue.

If only they knew about Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This verse tells me that…

God has a plan for every person – for every life.

God desires to bless people, not to harm them.  (Ezekiel 33:11 says: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.”)

And God is able to give people hope and a future.

Today, let’s lean on Jeremiah 29:11 to guide our time of prayer.

Suggested things to pray for:

• Pray for God to reveal himself to women and men seeking an abortion.
• Pray he would give them hope.
• Pray he would open their eyes to see the possibility of a beautiful future for their unborn child.