Should abortion be legal to the moment of birth? Does abortion constitute killing an innocent human individual? Is abortion simply a family matter that should not involve government? What about the rights of the parents of a minor girl or the father of the baby? Should separation of church and state eliminate religious views from consideration?
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The purpose of this study is to examine abortion and pro-abortion legislation.*
If killing an unborn baby constitutes killing innocent human life, then this is fundamentally a question of morality which makes it a Biblical and religious issue, not just a matter of politics. Examining pro-abortion legislation teaches us the following about abortion:
* We will consider as an illustration the moral and spiritual consequences of a proposed amendment to the Ohio constitution (11/2023). This is not just a proposed law. It is an attempt to enshrine abortion in the state constitution.
Anti Life
Abortion defenders seek to legalize abortion essentially from conception till birth.
The amendment allows no restrictions of any kind before “viability” (the point where the baby is likely to survive outside the womb). After viability no restrictions are permitted if abortion is needed “to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.”
But who decides when the baby can survive outside the womb and whether the mother needs an abortion for her “health”: the “treating physician.” At an abortion clinic, this is the abortion “doctor” who makes his livelihood killing unborn babies!
So abortionists could determine when the baby is viable and whether the mother needs the abortion for “health.” But abortionists typically claim women need abortions for emotional or even financial “health.”
Doctors in abortion clinics can become millionaires killing unborn babies. But pro-abortion legislation seeks to give them nearly unlimited legal authority to perform abortions up to the moment of birth.
Exodus 23:7 – Do not kill the innocent and righteous.
Proverbs 6:16,17 – God hates hands that shed innocent blood.
Deuteronomy 27:25 – Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.
Pro-abortion laws are anti-life.
Anti Government
The abortion amendment says: “The State shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against … An individual’s voluntary exercise of this right [to abortion]…”
Advertisements say the government should stay out of abortion. But abortion providers, like Planned Parenthood, receive billions of government dollars and continually lobby the government to pay for abortions. So what they want is for government to pay for abortion but not restrict it!
But God ordained government to protect the innocent and punish the guilty.
1 Peter 2:13,14 – Rulers should punish evildoers and the praise those who do good.
Romans 13:1-4 – The authorities are appointed by God. … For he is God's minister to you for good … an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
Would killing an innocent human being after it is born be a government issue? Killing it before birth is likewise a government issue the same as any other killing of a human. To say otherwise denies the God-given role of government.
Pro-abortion laws are anti-government.
Anti Mother
Luke 1:43 – Before Jesus was born, Elizabeth addressed Mary as “the mother of my Lord.” A woman who has conceived is a “mother” even before childbirth.
Titus 2:4 – Mothers (including any woman who has conceived) should learn to love their children. Romans 13:8-10 – Love forbids doing harm to others.
Romans 1:31,32; 2 Timothy 3:3 – God opposes those “without natural affection” (also translated “heartless,” “unloving,” and “callous”). It includes those who are without “love of kindred, especially of parents for children” (Vine's dictionary).
A woman should love her unborn child. To seek to kill it is contrary to natural affection.
Pro-abortion laws are anti-mother.
Anti Father
Pro-abortion laws say regarding the mother: “Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on … abortion.”
For every woman who conceives a baby there is a man who is the father of that baby. But pro-abortion laws give the father no right whatever regarding the life of his unborn child.
Psalm 127:3-5; 128:3-5 – Fathers should appreciate children as a blessing and reward from the Lord.
1 Timothy 5:8 – Fathers should provide for their own. If not, they are worse than unbelievers.
Ephesians 6:4 – Fathers should raise their children in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Abortion defenders seek laws that empower mothers to forbid fathers to fulfill their God-given responsibilities.
Pro-abortion laws are anti-father.
Anti Parent
We have shown that pro-abortion laws allow a mother to slay her unborn baby and prevent a father from protecting and caring for his child. This is anti-parent. But further…
Ephesians 6:1-3 – A minor daughter should honor and obey her parents. If she becomes pregnant, proper respect for parents requires her to seek and respect their guidance unless they say to disobey God (Acts 5:29).
But abortion defenders oppose laws that give parents the right to guide and counsel their minor daughters. Conception outside marriage is a tragedy but does not invalidate parents’ rights.
Abortion is the grossest form of child abuse and the most extreme perversion of parental responsibility.
Pro-abortion laws are anti-parent.
Anti Child
The basic issue in the abortion debate is whether the life in the mother’s womb is a separate human individual from the mother.
The life in the womb is definitely human.
At creation God made plants, animals, and people, each of which reproduce after their own kind (Gensis 1:11,12,20-25,26-30; 5:1-4). The life in the mother’s womb is not a plant or animal. It is the result of human reproduction, so it must necessarily be human!
So the issue becomes: Is the life in the womb just a part of the mother's body (like an appendix) so removing it is not murder, or is it a separate and distinct individual from the mother so that killing it is murder? This is the issue we must resolve.
God's terms for the unborn
“Children” in the womb – Genesis 25:21,22. Rebekah conceived twins and “the children struggled together within her.”
A “man child” is conceived – Job 3:3. On the very night of Job’s conception it could be said “There is a man-child conceived.”
“Infants” that never saw light – Job 3:16. Babies that die before birth (like abortion) are called “infants.”
A “baby” in the womb – Luke 1:41,44. Elizabeth conceived (verse 24), and the life “in her womb” is called a “babe” or “baby,” the same as a child who has been born. (After His birth, Jesus was a “babe” lying in a manger – Luke 2:12,16.)
A woman conceived a “son” – Luke 1:36. The life conceived in Elizabeth's womb is called “a son.” Compare these verses:
Luke 1:36 – Elizabeth conceived a son
Luke 1:57 – Elizabeth brought forth a son
John was a human being when he was born and a human being from conception.
God makes no distinction between born and unborn life. He uses the same terms for both.
Hands, feet, eyes, fingers, etc., are parts of a mother's body, but “child,” “son,” “baby,” etc., are terms that clearly imply a separate human individual, not just a part of the mother's body.
Abortion defenders never use Bible language to refer to an unborn baby. They call it a “fetus” or “the product of conception” but never a “baby,” a “child,” an “infant,” or a “son.” They know the terms God uses necessarily imply a separate human individual.
Abortion defenders support laws that legalize killing unborn human individuals.
Pro-abortion laws are anti-child.
Anti Family
Advertisements for legalizing abortion say abortion should be a family matter. However:
The amendment says the “individual” has the right to make her own decision. So any girl of any age may make her own decision to abort without the knowledge or input from her parents or the child’s father. So the law implicitly excludes the family from the decision.
Families should love and care for children, not kill them. The unborn is a child and therefore a family member from the moment of conception. It should be loved, protected, and cared for like any other child, infant, baby, etc. – Psalm 127:3-5; 128:3-5; 1 Timothy 5:8; Titus 2:4.
Nothing could be more anti-family than a law that gives any family member the right to kill another family member! Pro-abortion laws are anti-family.
Anti Love
Matthew 22:39 – Jesus said the second-greatest command is: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” You should do to others as you would have them do to you (Matthew 7:12).
Romans 13:8-10 – Loving your neighbor means you do not kill or harm him.
If you would not want someone to kill you, then you should not kill an innocent human, but that includes an unborn baby. Indeed, Jesus considers the treatment we give children to be the very treatment we give to Him (Matthew 18:5).
Nothing could be more contrary to love than to deliberately kill an innocent little child.
Pro-abortion laws are anti-love.
Anti Morality, Anti Religion
Some say we should not promote laws based on our religious/moral views. They say this is a matter of “separation of church and state.”
But their own advertisements use liberal preachers to promote legalizing abortion. If religion should not be considered, why do they use religious teachers to promote their view? So abortion defenders promote their religious views but they say opponents of abortion must not!
Killing a human being is inherently a moral issue which means it is a religious issue. Consider other moral issues. Should religious and moral views not be considered regarding terrorism, murder, stealing, mugging, rape, and a host of other moral issues?
The government should restrict abortion just as it does these other moral/religious issues.
Pro-abortion laws are anti-morality and anti-religion.
Anti Bible and Anti God
God created people and gave rules of right and wrong. These rules are revealed in the Bible.
Acts 17:24 – God made the world and He is Lord of heaven and earth
2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Proverbs 3:5,6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Jeremiah 10:23 – The way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
This includes rules of morality and rules that guide the family and the government.
Any law that allows killing an innocent person in disregard to Bible teaching about morality, the family, and the government is anti-Bible and anti-God.
Conclusion
God’s word says the life in a woman's womb is a living human being, a separate and distinct person from its parents. It has just as much right to live as any other human being. So, abortion is wrong because it constitutes the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. It is also wrong because it is a failure to love, appreciate, and care for a human baby.
But the Bible also provides the necessary steps to solve the abortion “dilemma”:
(1) Flee fornication. Most abortions occur because the baby was conceived outside marriage.
(2) Learn to love, appreciate, and care for the baby.
(3) Learn to trust God for the strength to face any hardships life brings. Study His word, pray, and seek help from other Christians.
(4) Help those who have problems caused by the birth of a baby (poverty, deformity, etc.).
(5) Speak out in defense of life. Seek to deliver those who are about to be slain (Proverbs 24:11,12). Do not compromise with sin but reprove it (Ephesians 5:11; 2 Timothy 4:2-4; Proverbs 28:4; Galatians 6:1).
What should a woman do if she has aborted a baby and now realizes she did wrong? The Bible says abortion is wrong, but it also gives something else that humanistic beliefs cannot give: a source of true forgiveness for guilt. God will forgive if we will come to Him according to His conditions. Read and obey these passages: Ephesians 1:7; Romans 1:16; 6:3,4; 10:9,10; Acts 17:30; 2:38; 22:16; Mark 16:16.
(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 2023; gospelway.com
