The Religious Argument
Like the moral and scientific arguments, the religious argument is concerned with the same question – when does life begin. Whether we use the terms life, humanity or personhood the real question is are we ethically going to take a stand that all human life is unique and sacred and we should defend our most innocent and defenseless tiny little ones in the womb at all costs.
One objection frequently raised by the pro-abortion lobby is that the Bible never specifically addresses the issue of abortion. Old Testament scholar Meredith Mine who, commenting on the lack of abortion legislation in biblical law says, “It was so unthinkable that an Israelite woman should desire an abortion that there was no need to mention this offense in the criminal code.”1
Again, Jean Garton shares a great insight on the unborn from a religious standpoint when she states: “NO ONE KNOWS WHEN LIFE BEGINS? The ‘experts’ may not know, but the Scriptures do. One of the most beautiful descriptions of life before birth is found in Psalm 139, where the author says to God: ‘When I was being made in the secret place…your eyes beheld my unformed substance.’ Unformed! The unborn child of eighteen weeks featured on the award-winning Life magazine cover as he sucked his thumb already has too much ‘form’ to be the subject of this Psalm…The child about which this Psalm speaks is the unformed child – a unique and individual human life that comes into being when the male sperm fertilizes the female egg.”2
Many prochoice people feel that a woman should have the right to her own body and the decision she makes concerning what to do with an unwanted pregnancy should be between her and her God. The only problem with this is that she is only temporarily housing another separate body within her body that is on loan from God. It is important to note that for her unborn child, at the moment of conception, the foreknowledge of God became the reality of life. From that point on, to have aborted this child would have been to blot out the wonderful future God had planned for it.
Throughout the scriptures we hear about the futures of great men of God while they are still in the womb. Take for example the great prophet Jeremiah. We read in (Jeremiah 1:5): “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
And concerning the miraculous birth of Jesus, we read in (Luke 1:30-31): “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.’”
God clearly has precious plans for all of us whether adult, child, infant or unborn and knows about them before we are even conceived.
When it comes to ethics and morality no one who has ever walked the face of our planet has more to say on the topic or is more respected than Jesus Christ. Today we often hear the popular slogan WWJD – What would Jesus do? While Jesus doesn’t directly address how he would counsel a woman who was seeking an abortion in the scriptures, consider the following scenario:
“Can you picture a woman seeking counsel from Jesus Christ on what to do with an unwanted pregnancy? Can you picture Jesus Christ, the personification of gentleness, compassion and love, telling that woman that abortion would be the best course of action under her circumstances? And now just imagine Jesus Christ accompanying this frightened and confused woman, now twenty weeks along, to the abortion chamber? And finally, can you picture Jesus Christ standing by her side, gently holding her hand, and telling her everything will be OK, while the abortionist begins to tear away the baby’s tiny arms and legs from its body and then proceeds to crush the baby’s skull before he removes it from the womb and tosses it into a garbage pail? Jesus Christ is without a doubt the most influential and compassionate person who ever walked the face of our planet. Even those people who deny his deity acknowledge that he was a great man and a wonderful moral teacher. The mere thought of Jesus consenting to and participating in an abortion is impossible to imagine. If Jesus came to help heal the sick, love the poor and help widows and orphans, don’t you think that he also would try to save the lives of our most precious and innocent members of society – the baby in the womb?”3
As a Christian if you identify with the name of Jesus you should also identify with what he stands for. Hopefully prochoice advocates may at lease stop to reconsider their stance on abortion after reading the above scenario.
Conclusion
Abortion is a complex issue since it involves competing rights – the right of a woman to choose what to do with her own body and the unspoken right of the unborn to want to live. From a moral, scientific, and religious perspective it is clear that abortion terminates the “life” of a “person.” While we need to be sympathetic to a woman who has an unwanted pregnancy life should always trump inconvenience. Ethically speaking America has gone down this road to denying personhood to entire people groups before, with disastrous consequences. We denied Native American human beings, personhood and stole their property. We denied Black human beings, personhood and stole their liberty. And now we are denying “Unborn” human beings, personhood and sadly have taken their lives. May I close with a compromise solution – adoption? Yes, a woman will have to endure some extra inconveniences but doesn’t she owe this to her unborn child? Abortion stops a beating heart. Adoption lets two hearts continue to beat!
1 Andrew White, Abortion and the Ancient Practice of Child Sacrifice, Jesus-is-Savior website: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Abortion%20is%20Murder/sacrifice.htm
2 Jean Garton, Who Broke the Baby? (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1998). p. 87.
3 Curt Blattman, Children of the Womb. (Bloomington, IN: 1stBooks Library, 2003). pp. 168-169.