To be a Deist all that is required is that you believe in God based on the application of your innate God-given reason on the designs found throughout Nature, designs which presuppose a supremely intelligent Designer, as well as reject ideas and beliefs which go against your God-given reason, such as all of the "revealed" religions and their false claims to possession of "the word of God", to "miracles", etc. That's it.
Deism is not "conservative" nor "liberal". Deism and Deists follow the dictates of Reason and Nature. Regarding controversial issues such as abortion, gun control, etc., Deists are free to make up their own minds based on their own God-given reason. There are Deists who are on both sides of these issues. The only way to resolve these issues is to have a free exchange of ideas with open minds from people on both sides of the issues. In that spirit this article on abortion is presented. For a rebuttal article please click here. If you'd like to submit a rebuttal or counter-rebuttal article, please send it in the body of an email to deism@deism.com.
Should abortion be legal? This article will draw a distinction between abortion for convenience sake, and abortion for medical reasons, as well as abortion in the limited cases of rape/incest.
Looking at the issue of abortion, relying solely on reason which is a requirement of being a Deist, it becomes obvious that abortion for convenience sake is wrong. The key argument for proponents of this act is that a woman has a right to her own body. This is a true and correct statement. All people have a right to do to their own bodies what they will. However, the fetus, or unborn human life form, is a distinct individual. Even though it resides inside its mother, it is a separate entity genetically. Its DNA is completely its own, and different from its mother's DNA and different from its father's DNA. From the moment of conception, it is an entirely separate genetic individual human life form. Therefore, the argument in favor of abortion on demand, or abortion for convenience sake, that a woman has a right to do as she wishes to her own body, is not applicable to the question of abortion, since the mother's body is different from that of the human life form within her. It does not matter what a group of men in the form of the US Supreme Court said about the issue in Roe v. Wade. What matters to a Deist is reason, reality, and life, not opinion.
Regarding abortion for medical reasons where the mother's life is in jeopardy, that should be left to the discretion of the mother, family, and doctor. It's true, the mother and the unborn human life form are still two separate individuals/entities, but under these difficult circumstances, it's truly a personal decision for those directly involved. It's akin to a mother and child falling into dangerous river rapids and a family member or bystander must decide who to save. It's a terrible decision that must be made. Regardless of the decision, one life will be lost and one saved. This situation differs so fundamentally from abortion on demand, which is to kill the unborn human life form for convenience, as opposed to choosing which life will be saved.
Abortion in cases of rape and/or incest should be treated the same as abortion for medical reasons. It should be up to the victim of the rape or incest what she wants to do in this rare and terrible situation.
The overwhelming number of abortions in the US are done for convenience. A study by the pro-choice/pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute shows 12% of abortions in 2004 were done for medical reasons, while 1% were due to rape and less than 0.5% were due to incest. Thus, if abortion on demand was made illegal, many thousands of lives would be saved every year. And life is the most valuable gift anyone can give or have.
For alternative choices to abortion visit: https://americanpregnancy.org/ (This organization helps women in the US and around the globe.)
The below pictures illustrate the fact that the unborn baby is actually an individual human life form/person.
