Life and Death
By Tom Gilbreath
Abortion is a crucial topic, but also difficult and uncomfortable. The word itself feels kind of sickening. Most of those who have had abortions remember it as a heart wrenching decision. For many, the memory brings back feelings of trauma that are, either vaguely or explicitly, centered on concerns that they participated in the taking of a human life.
If that’s you, please don’t let this article renew an old pain. Jesus forgives, and He forgives completely. In Him, you can find what He called in Matthew 11:29, “rest for your souls.”
Nevertheless, it’s important that we see abortion as a moral issue. Our society has made it about politics, but it’s really about right and wrong. The horrifying truth is that abortion kills human life. It’s horrifying because there have been more than 63 million abortions in the United States since Roe v Wade in 1973. Think about America’s largest cities — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and the rest. Add up the population of the 20 largest cities in the US, and you’re still nowhere near the number of abortions since ’73. To get close to that number, you have to add up all the people in those great cities… then double the number.
As a nation, that’s a lot of blood on our hands.
Abortion advocates often refer to it as a choice. But all decisions are choices — including moral decisions. Some use the term, “reproductive rights.” But this is not a general discussion of birth control. We’re talking specifically about abortion — a choice to impose violent death on another human being.
Is the fetus really a human being? Obviously, some kind of new entity comes into existence at conception. This new entity is dependent on the mother, but it is not a part of her. It’s not like her appendix or her thumb. The average adult human body contains 37 trillion cells. Practically all of them carry the unique DNA of that individual. But this new entity has its own cells, each with its own DNA — different from the mother. The mother carries the child, but the child is not part of the mother’s body. Five to six weeks after conception, it has its own beating heart.
Is the entity created at conception human? If you don’t think so, then ask yourself, “What species is it?” Have you ever heard anyone propose that the unborn human is any species other than human? People have different stages of development such as infancy and adolescence. But the infant and the adolescent are not less human because of the stage of their development. Neither is the fetus less than human.
Is the fetus alive? Its cells replicate. It metabolizes. Who can seriously argue that the entity in the womb is not human or not alive? It is clearly both.
Tony Dungy was a Super Bowl winning NFL coach and today serves as an analyst for NBC Sports. He and his wife adopted 8 children. “When I look at those kids,” he said, “I don't see 8 choices, I'm sorry. Those are 8 lives.”
Over and over the Bible refers to the unborn as individuals known and loved by God. Psalms 139:13-14 (ESV) says, “You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.” Isaiah 44:24 says that God, “…formed you from the womb.” Who did He form? Someone real. You!
Don’t get caught up in the politics of abortion. Treat everyone with love and respect. That includes abortion advocates, but it also includes humans still in the womb.
