I choose life.

With that one simple statement, I can impact people’s lives for years to come. About two weeks ago was the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, the day Southern Baptists have set aside to observe the outrageous ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade case on Jan. 22, 1973.

Since that ruling, abortion rates have risen to 4,000 a day in the United States alone. Forty million abortions have been performed since the ruling came down more than 30 years ago. It has been estimated one in four women will have an abortion before the age of 40.

Sitting in a classroom here on campus, one could look around and see four or five women and think that one of them, someone who could be a close friend, will have an abortion before they are 40 – someone who would end a life before it even got the chance to live.

How many people on this campus do not know they are statistically susceptible to have an abortion? Many people fail to realize that Christians, who claim this practice to be morally wrong, account for more than half of the 4,000 abortions a day.

Many Christians who commit these abortions do so out of fear. Fear that if the church were to find out, they would become outcasts. No one in the church would accept them; they might even be taught that with this pregnancy out of wedlock they could lose their salvation. A statement that is untrue. LifeChoices in Joplin boasts a 95 percent success rate in stopping abortion; it also claims out of that 95 percent, somewhere between 60 and 70 percent are Christians, usually a child of a preacher, deacon or another prominent church member.

How do we stop this legal genocide? It’s simple, abstinence. I know it has been said over and over again, but it is really the only way to stop the killing. If one chooses not to abstain, then one should do so responsibly. Use a condom, birth control or something. If not done responsibly and the woman does become pregnant guys, then take responsibility for your actions and get married or at least take care of the child through financial means when it is born.

Do not sit back and say, “I’m sorry honey, but we’re going to have to have an abortion. I have a reputation to protect. I’ll pay for the whole thing.”

This is wrong. If an unwanted pregnancy occurs then go to LifeChoices or a similar place. Do not give up on life so vainly. For all these reasons, and those I have not mentioned, is the reason I choose to stand up and fight this abomination. I choose life.