There are few topics that cause such controversy in America as the issue of abortion. Those nine months from conception to birth represent a battlefield that both sides of the abortion debate are fighting to control. The ethical issue can be stated quite plainly: What should we have done with the over 60 million of these precious little ones, at various stages of development, that never made it to birth since abortion was legalized in America in all fifty states in 1973. In this three-part devotional we will explore the moral, scientific, and religious arguments that both the prolife and prochoice camps use to defend their positions. My contention is that when a sperm and an egg cell unite, a most unique and wonderful miracle occurs: life begins. During the next nine months this single cell will travel on the most fantastic voyage imaginable until it makes its way, totally transformed, out of its mother’s womb into birth. Ethically speaking to terminate this tiny life at any point during this nine-month journey is a great crime against humanity.
The Moral Argument
This argument will center on both the humanity and personhood of our tiny traveler in the womb. I believe that both humanity and personhood begin at conception and to terminate a pregnancy at any point after conception is morally wrong since it is the taking of an innocent life. Prochoice advocates are quick to point out that while the initial fertilized egg cell may be alive it is only a “potential” human being. According to Dr. John Willke, one of the leading prolife doctors, when referring to the original single cell organism states: “This is a unique being, distinguishable totally from any other living organism, completely human in all of his or her characteristics, including the 46 human chromosomes, and can develop only into a fully mature human.”1 Just one week after conception that original single cell has reproduced his own cells into many thousands of other cells. In fact, by three weeks our original cell now has produced its own beating heart. Imagine an organism with a beating heart before the mother even knows she is pregnant! In our society today we often associate a fatal heart attack with death since the heart stops beating. If this is true how can we say that our tiny traveler at three weeks is not alive and human when its heart is perfectly beating?
Another claim that prochoice advocates make is that “the fetus is just a part of the pregnant woman’s body, like her tonsils or appendix.”2 This is blatantly false. A fetus which is defined as a human being from about the eighth week of life up until birth has a totally separate genetic code from that of the mother. John Jefferson Davis states this well: “It is a well-established fact that a genetically distinct human being is brought into existence at conception. Once fertilization takes place, the zygote is its own entity, genetically distinct from both mother and father. The newly conceived individual possesses all the necessary information for a self-directed development and will proceed to grow in the usual human fashion, given time and nourishment. It is simply untrue that the unborn child is merely ‘part of the mother’s body.’ In addition to being genetically distinct from the time of conception, the unborn possesses separate circulatory, nervous, and endocrine systems.”3
Finally, how can we say that it is morally acceptable for doctors to frantically work to save the life of a five-month-old premature baby in one room and down the hall for other doctors to abort another five-month-old premature baby!
Today more and more prochoice advocates have been forced to concede that the tiny traveler inside the womb is a human being. However, they flatly deny that our unborn human baby is a person. Until recently the terms human being and person were considered to be the same thing. But with the prochoice camp realizing that a fetus is a human being they have been forced to change their strategy. Thus, they now contend that a fetus may be human but that it is not a person. Randy Alcorn sums up the problem as follows: “The Fourteenth Amendment says the state shall not deprive any ‘person’ of life without due process of law. Of course, when this was written the word human was a synonym for person and could just as easily have been used. The Supreme Court admitted in Roe v. Wade, ‘If the suggestion of personhood [of the unborn] is established, the appellant’s [pro-abortion] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [fourteenth] amendment.’”4
In order to solve this problem, the court chose to abandon the historic definition of personhood. While this semantic game may make for interesting parlor talk, for the unborn fetus the definition of person is a matter of life and death. Two hundred years ago we knew next to nothing about fetal development and morally speaking an abortion was acceptable because for all we knew we were just destroying a wad of tissues. But fast forward to the year 2020 and can anyone in good conscience not grant personhood to a three-month-old fetus. Since abortion is legal on our three-month-old traveler in the womb just what type of a life are we terminating?
Prochoice advocates contend that a twelve-week-old fetus is too tiny to be called a person. While it is true that at three months a fetus is only about an inch or two in length and weighs only about an ounce it is also true that from conception to twelve weeks an explosion of life has taken place. Let’s look at what is going on inside the mother’s womb at this stage of development. First, at twelve weeks our tiny little traveler has already had its heart beat millions of times. Second, all ten fingers and ten toes can be seen thanks to ultrasound pictures in the womb. Third, our tiny preborn has a brain and active brain waves. And we could go on and on. To know the above facts about our little first trimester baby and still claim it is only potential life, and deny it personhood is disingenuous. Morally speaking one has to close their eyes and deny reality to make the case that the above description does not describe a tiny person. Incidentally at twelve weeks a fetus can open and close their own eyes!
In tomorrow’s devotion we will explore the scientific argument.
1 John C. Willke and Barbara H. Willke, Why Can’t We Love Them Both. (Cincinnati, OH: Hayes Publishing Company, Inc., 1997). p. 58.
2 Randy C. Alcorn, Pro Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments. (Portland, OR: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1994). p. 43.
3 John J. Davis, Abortion and the Christian. (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Co., 1984). p. 23.
4 Randy C. Alcorn, Pro Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments. (Portland, OR: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1994). p. 57.