September 29, 202

The population of Canada is about 35million people. It would be considered at tragedy if some disease or industrial accident were to wipe out the whole population. If a foreign invader did it would be considered genocide and that nation would be guilty of war crimes. However in North America every year over 30million babies are killed mercilessly and no one bats an eye. They are killed by their own mothers who because of embarrassment or inconvenience see fit to end the life of their unborn child by abortion.

The reality is that there are many views about the rightness or wrongness of abortion. From these many views three main categories can be identified;
1) Abortion is always acceptable
2) Abortion is sometimes acceptable
3) Abortion is never acceptable

The view one holds is determined by how that one sees the unborn fetus. If the fetus is human than laws against murder that apply to humans are applicable to abortion however if the fetus in not human then they do not. This is true both for Christians and non-christians since Christians would consider God’s admonitions against killing to apply only to human beings. This means that the real question under consideration is when does a fetus become a human being.

The three views of abortion stated above correlate with how one understands the humanness of a fetus. Those who say that abortions is acceptable all the time would say that until the point of birth the fetus in something less than human. Those who say that abortion is acceptable some of the time would say that the fetus is potentially human and becomes human sometime during gestation. And those who would say that abortion never acceptable would say that the fetus is human at conception. By identifying the right view we can determine whether abortion is right or wrong and when.

To determine which of the above views is the correct one we can look to scripture and ask when God calls a fetus human. We can also consider what medical science has discovered that would be pertinent to our discussion. By considering these things we can know if when a child is aborted murder is being committed and therefore, if the abortion is right or wrong.

There are a few passages of scripture that must be considered if we are to have a grasp of what the bible teaches about the state of the fetus:

The First of these and possibly most important is Exodus 21:22-23 the reason this text is especially significant is that it is often used by pro-choice groups to say that the Bible differentiates between born and unborn and that the unborn are not given equal rights. In fact this passage teaches the opposite. The passage reads as follows: 22 “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 “But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life,”. It has been said that this passage teaches that if the baby is miscarried then only a fine is imparted showing that it is not considered a human life (this argument is based on a misunderstanding of mischief in the KJV and totally falls apart when the passage is read in a modern translation) . What this passage really teaches is that the life of the unborn infant is equal to that of the man who killed it.

Another key passage often used by pro-choicers is Genesis 2:7, they claim that this passage indicates that until there is breath there is no life. There are two problems with this first they are using a situation that has never and will never be repeated after Adam. They fail to recognize that a fetus does need oxygen and takes it in through the mother from the moment of conception. This argument would mean that anyone who is unable to breath by their own power is not human. This would include those on life support, clearly this argument in nonsensical. 

~ Kevin Cleary