It is alarming to realize the nonchalance on the part of many concerning
abortion. But it is not new. Years ago Newsweek (July 19, 1971) quoted
one medical opinion: "Abortion is finding its place as a perfectly
acceptable and valid health measure. We no longer think of it as a
crime."
There are those who say that every woman has a right to control her own
body. That is true. Then, having control over her own body, she should
not become pregnant if she does not want children. That is control! When
she becomes pregnant, then she has lost her control over that situation.
But more importantly, only God has final rights to any person's body. He
brought that body into life and someday will take that body out of life.
In the meantime He provides the very sustaining power for the body's life
to continue.
The Bible speaks of a fetus as a person, not simply tissue that can be
discarded if found to be a bother or nuisance. Since the fetus is a
person from the moment of conception, then the destroying of the fetus is
killing a person. "In the past, some people have mistakenly speculated
that perhaps the body might be in the process of formation for some time,
and then 'God breathes a soul into it.' They had it backward. The life
that is present forms matter into a body for itself' (Joseph Breig, "Life
Forms Matter," The Catholic News, Jan. 24, 1974, p. 8).
"Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?
Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust
again? Did you not pour me out like milk ... and knit me together with
bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your
providence watched over my spirit" (Job 10:8-12 NIV).
"Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention
of my name...and now the LORD says--he who formed me in the womb to be
his servant..." (Isaiah 49:1, 5).
"The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "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" (Jeremiah 1:4-5).
In the following passages we note that personality is ascribed to the
unborn.
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's
womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your
works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from
you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the
depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days
ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be"
(Psalm 139:13-16).
"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him" (Psalm
127:3).
Exodus 21:22-25 relates how Israel was to judge a circumstance relating
to the death of the unborn:
"If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth
prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined
whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there
is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, bum for bum, wound for wound, bruise
for bruise."
All of the latter deals with unintentional hurt which comes to a pregnant
woman; how much more will divine penalty come upon those who
intentionally discard the fetus? The Gospel of Luke ascribes personality
to the fetus within Elizabeth:
"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit... As soon as the sound of your
greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy" (1:41, 44).
Mere tissue does not leap for joy; only personhood leaps for joy. The
Bible regards the fetus as having personality. In Galatians, Paul speaks
of himself as a person while still in his mother's womb, but more a
person consecrated by God for a holy mission (compare Jeremiah 1:5 for
the same accent):
"But when God, who set me apart from birth, and called me by his
grace,was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him
among the Gentiles..." (Gal. 1: 15-16).
Since the Bible regards the fetus as personality, then the aborting of
the fetus is murdering personality.
Some verses from Scripture dealing with murder are then appropriate for
study, such as Genesis 9:6: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall
his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." Also, read
Exodus 23:7: "Have nothing to do with a false charge, and do not put an
innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty."
Note I Peter 4:15: "If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer..."
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