What gives value to human life? Is it being wanted? Or perhaps having a name, likes, dislikes, and dreams. I ask this question because I am confused by why some feel compassion, anger, and sadness over the murder of 10-year-old children but are not upset by unborn children being murdered in the womb. I wonder at the reason for two opposing thoughts within the same person.
Contradictions
The other day I saw some pro-choice friends sharing a tweet that stated, “It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing about it isn’t just insanity- it’s inhumanity.” This tweet referred to better gun control laws but the irony is that it could also refer to abortion. How can people be so furious at the murder of some children but not of others?
It’s Only a Fetus
Is it simply deception? Perhaps referring to an unborn child as a fetus helps keep your conscious clear. But according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word fetus means an unborn offspring of a mammal, in particular, an unborn baby more than eight weeks after conception. So when you use the word fetus, you are using another name for a baby.
I believe it is a baby before that 8-week mark, but according to the dictionary, it is 100% a baby by eight weeks. An eight-week-old “fetus” is beginning to form eyelids and ears, has well-formed legs and arms, is starting to show the tip of its nose, and its fingers and toes are growing longer and more distinct. God is in the process of forming a human body. Psalm 139:13 states For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
The Unborn Matter the Same as the Born
So if we can find out by googling the definition of a fetus that the word means a baby, and if we can see what God is forming at the eight-week mark is what human beings possess outside of the womb, can we admit that this is a child?
If the answer is yes, then I ask this question once more: why is there disgust and anger when children lose their lives while sitting in their classroom but none toward the millions of children who lose their lives in the womb? It makes no sense to care about children outside of the womb and not also care about them inside the womb.
Let’s Look at the Numbers
According to the CDC, in 2019, 629,898 abortions were reported in America. Now tell me if you would be sickened if those numbers represented children murdered at age 5, 6, or 10? I would imagine your answer would be yes, as it should be. But why? Why does the murder of a child only become a tragedy outside the womb? Every one of those abortions resulted in the loss of life and all human life matters.
Does Being Wanted Bring Value to a Life
Another comment I read said, “Conservatives want to protect the unwanted children, but not the wanted.” So is that what makes abortion okay? Because the child is unwanted? If no one weeps over the child, I guess it is okay to end their life then. All children should be protected, wanted, or unwanted because all life is precious to God.
In Jeremiah 1:5, God tells Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Then in Acts 10:34, Peter states that God is not a respecter of persons: therefore, if God knew Jeremiah before he even formed him and had a plan and call for his life, the same is true for every human being.
God did not take the time to carefully knit a child together, only to be destroyed by men. Free will is the culprit here, not the will of God. He desires for every human to live, love him, receive his love, and fulfill the plans he has for them.
When do Human Rights Begin?
We have reached a point in society where most people who are pro-choice are no longer avoiding the fact that a fetus is a baby. A phrase I have read many times from some who are pro-choice is “F them kids” they are not even pretending anymore that they are not children; instead, they are saying an unborn baby’s value is less than their own. Since the baby cannot live independently from the mother, they are not as valuable; but if we applied this same logic to a newborn baby, that would be considered wrong.
So now let me ask this, at what point does a human receive the privilege of having human rights? If a white man and a black man hold the same value and deserve equal rights, so do the unborn child and the born child. It is inhumane to fight for women’s rights while taking another human being’s right to life (possibly even another woman).
Murder is Never Okay
Just because the birth of a child may mess up your plans, body, or mental health should not be a reason to harm another human being. If you support this mindset, you are saying that the woman has rights, but the child doesn’t.
Perhaps you think that I value the child’s life over the mother’s by forcing her to carry and give birth to a child even though doing so could harm her mental health. I do not value one life over another, but I do value life over mental health. Human life does not deserve to be snuffed out for someone else’s peace.
A verbally abusive husband who causes his wife mental health issues; should not be murdered to protect her mental health. Killing another human being would not be permitted in this case, so why is it allowed in the case where the one party is innocent of all responsibility for the harm that may come to the mother?
Don’t get me wrong; I feel so much sympathy in the case of rape and for those who struggle with their mental health, and we as a church need to get better at reaching out and helping people. We need to have mercy instead of condemnation and truly act as the hands and feet of Jesus. But having compassion for one person while murdering another will never be okay.
This mindset also demeans women because it assumes that a woman can never overcome rape or mental illness. Many people have overcome tragic things and have come out of it better, so to assume a woman could never overcome pregnancy from rape or that the stress of pregnancy would do her in; is degrading to the strength of women.
Closing Thoughts
I post this today not to be superior to those who have chosen abortion or to seem high and mighty but to hopefully open your eyes to the truth of what is truly happening in this nation.
Being on the right side of this matter is so important because God does not take the killing of the innocent lightly. When we stand before Him and give an account of our actions on judgment day, I want my hands to be clean of the blood of innocent children.
If you are on the side of pro-choice but also identify as a Christian, I would like to challenge you to pray about this issue with an open heart and study the scriptures regarding life in the womb and murder.
I believe if you are open to God changing your mind on the subject, He will.
I’ll leave you with a final question to ponder: If Jesus was here in the flesh, which side do you think he would be on? Pro-life or Pro-choice?
Resources: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/27/what-the-data-says-about-abortion-in-the-u-s/ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+1%3A5&version=ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+10%3A34&version=KJV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+139%3A13&version=ESVUK