Abortion

Abortion 

Ting Hlei Thang

Introduction:

Abortion is one of the most persistently controversial issues in American culture and politics today. Since the 1973 national legalization of abortion, competing groups have fought to either restrict or increase access to the procedure, leading to heated debates among political activists, religious organizations, state legislatures, and judges. Let’s see some arguments with the Bible.

Group Discussion

1.      Define abortion on your own understanding.

2.      How will you view the fetus in the mother’s womb? When a human is became a human? Cite biblical support on your stand.

3.      Based on your definition of abortion, how will you consider the life of the mother it is threaten?

THREE VIEW OF ABORTATION

Status of unborn	Fully human	Potentially human	Subhuman
Abortion	Never	Sometimes	Anytime
Basis	Sanctity of Life	Emergence of Life	Quality of Life
Mother’s right	Life over privacy	Combination of rights	Privacy over Life

I.                  Abortion At Anytime

Pro-abortionist’s Position: It is the right of the mother to decide whether she wants to have a baby. No woman should be forced to have a child against her will. The unborn is not fully a human.

                             

A.    Biblical Arguments for Viewing the Fetus as Subhuman:

1.      Gen 2:7. Man became a living being only after God gave him life. Since breathing does not occur until birth, it is said that the unborn are not human until they are born.

2.      Job 34:14-15. God withdrew his spirit and breath; all mankind should/would perish. Since life is connected with breath, therefore there is life before breath.

3.      Isa. 57: 16. Here the beginning of breath is the point of the creation of human being.

4.      Matt. 26:24. The implication drawn here is that human life begins at birth. Otherwise, Jesus has said it would have been better for him never to have been conceived.

B.     Other Arguments:

1.      Physical Dependence. The baby is an extension of the mother’s body, and therefore she has the right to control her own body and reproductive system.

2.      Safety of the mother. Here, it is argued that illegal abortion is dangerous. Therefore, by legalizing abortion, thousands of mothers can be saved from death for it will be done professionally.     

3.      The need to prevent child abuse and neglect. Unwanted pregnancies lead to unwanted children, and unwanted children become abused children.

4.      Deformity. Why should any child be born deformed? Why should the family or society be forced to care for deformed children? Abortion, based on prenatal test, can eliminate these undesirable births.

5.      Rape. It is immoral to add the necessity of pregnancy to the indignity of a rape. No one should be forced to have a baby against her will.

C.    Response to the biblical arguments:

1.      Breath is not the beginning of the humanness. Birth is the beginning of observable life, not the beginning of life (Luke 1:44).

2.      Adam was a unique case, because he was directly created.

“Breath” in Gen. 2:7 means life (Job 33:4). So, this means that life began when God gave human life to Adam, not simply because he began breathing. Human life was later given to his descendants at conceptions (Genesis 4:1). Other animals breathe but are not human (Genesis 7:21-22).

D.    Response to other arguments:

1.      An embryo is not an extension of the mother. They have their own sex from the moment of conception. Beginning about 40 days after conception, they have their own individual brain waves which they keep until death. Within a week of conception, they have their own blood type, which may differ from the mother’s, and their own unique fingerprints. The embryo is only ‘nesting’ is his or her mother’s womb. Birth simply changes the method of receiving food and oxygen.

2.      Legalizing abortion does not save lives.

The maternal death rate for childbirth is only one in 10,000 births or one percent (1%). It is the safest medical procedures. But the child mortality rate from successful abortions is 100%. If the embryo is human, then saving even hundred of mothers would not justify killing millions of babies.

3.      Abortion does not avoid child abuse. If the unborn is human, then abortion does not avoid child abuse. If the unborn is human, then abortion does not avoid child abuse. Rather, it is the worst kind of child abuse-abuse by a cruel death.

4.      Deformity is no justification for abortion. It is not the handicapped; it is those who are not handicapped. Let us allow the handicapped to speak for themselves.

5.      Rape is not a justification for abortion. Abortion does not take away the evil of the rape; it adds another evil to it. We should punish the guilty rapist, not the innocent baby.

II.               Abortion Sometimes

Position: Humanness of the individual develops gradually between conception and birth. Proponents favor abortion to save the mother’s life, for rape, for incest and for genetic deformities. The unborn is considered as potentially (possible) human.

A.    Biblical Arguments:

Exo. 21:22-25. These verses are taken to mean that only a monetary fine was exacted for the death of the fetus, but capital punishment for the death of the mother. This would indicate that the fetus was not considered fully human. Ps. 139:13, 16. Fetus is not fully human because it is in the process of being, “knit…together” and is called “unformed.”

B.     Other Arguments:

Human development is interconnected with physical development. There is physical development between conception and birth. Not all bodily organs and functions are present at conception; they develop gradually throughout the prenatal period. There is also an interrelation between psychological and physical development. Example: a one-day old baby’s does not have an 18-year old mind. This being the case, some argues that human personhood develops along with the human body.

C.    Response to biblical arguments:

Exo. 21. A famous Hebrew scholar, Umberto Cassulto, rendered this passage as follows:

“When men strive together and they hurt unintentionally a woman with child, and her children come forth but no mischief happens, that is, the woman and the children do not die- the one who hurts her shall surely be punished by a fine. But if any mischief happens, that is, if the woman dies or the children die, then, you shall give life for life.”

D.    Response to other arguments:

1.      The soul does not have to change with the body. The small body of a fertilized ovum can have the same soul as the somewhat bigger one of a fetus, or even the much bigger one of an adult.

III.           No Abortion:

Position: The fetus is fully human. Therefore, intentional taking of an unborn life is homicide.

A.    Biblical Arguments:

1.      Unborn babies are called “children,” the same word used of infants and young children (Lk. 1:41, 44; 2:12,16; Exo. 21:22) and sometimes even of adults (I King 3:17).

2.      The unborn are created by God (Ps. 139:13) just as God created Adam and Eve in His own image (Gen. 1:27).

3.      The life of the unborn is protected by the same punishment for injury or death (Exo. 21:22) as that of an adult (Gen 9:6)

4.      Christ was human (the God-man) from the point he conceived in Mary’s womb (Matt. 1:20, 21; Luke 1:26, 27).

5.      The image of God includes “male and female” (Gen. 1:27), but it determined at the moment of conception.

6.      Unborn children possess personal characteristics such as sin (Ps. 51:5) and joy that are distinctive of humans.

7.      Personal pronouns are used to described unborn children (Jer. 1:5; Matt. 1:20-21) just as any other human being.

8.      The unborn are said to be known intimately and personally by God as he should/would know any other person (Ps. 139:15-16; Jer. 1:5).

9.      The unborn are even called by God before birth (Gen. 25:22-23; Judge 13:2-7; Isa. 49:1, 5; Gal. 1:15).

  

B.     Other Arguments:

1.      Scientific evidence for the humanity of the unborn.

                     First month: Actualization

Conception- all her human characteristics are present.

She implants or “nests” in her mother’s uterus (one week)

Her heart muscle pulsates (three weeks)

Her head, arms and legs begin to appear

                    Second Month: Development

Her brain waves can be detected (40-42 days)

Her nose, eyes, ears and toes appear

Her heart beats and blood (her own type) flows

Her skeleton develops

She has her own, unique fingerprints

She is sensitive to touch on her lips and has reflexes

All her bodily systems are present and functioning

                 Third Month: Movement

She swallows, squints (eyes partly open) and swim

She grasp with her hands, moves her tongue

She can even suck her thumbs

                  Fourth Mont: Growth

Her weight increases six (6) times (to ½ birth weight)

She grows up to eight to ten inches (8-10 in) long

She can hear her mother’s voice

                 Fifth Month: Viability (capable of living)

Her skin, hair and nails develop

She dreams

She can cry (if air is present)

She can live outside the womb

She is only halfway to her scheduled birth

Conclusion

Killing is one of the worst crimes because of the impact it has on the victim. Killing deprives the victim of life. The loss of life is the greatest possible loss anyone can suffer because it deprives us of all the experiences and enjoyments that otherwise would have been part of our futures, which we now value or would have come to value. If the loss of our valuable future is what makes killing you and me wrong, then abortion is equally wrong, because it deprives the fetus of its “future like ours”.