Pro Life or Pro Death

Why do we call the debate about abortion a debate of pro-life against abortion. Why do we not just be honest and call it: 

Pro Life versus Pro Death

For that’s what it is! It is a debate about the sanctity of life. The discussion is about the right of the mother versus the right of the unborn child. Your viewpoint in the debate will hang up on your opinion as to whether an unborn child is a human being and therefore has inherent rights to life.

There are not many of the abortion lobby who would think it was acceptable to kill an infant in the early weeks of life. There are some, but not many. I remember listening to radio program a number of years ago where an advocate of abortion was pushed to answer the question as to whether she thought that it was acceptable to kill a child in the early days of life (in other words an infant). She said that she thought, to be consistent, that it was acceptable but she did not like the use of the word ‘kill’. You see this is often the issue, we only use words that suit our argument and as a result we ignore the reality of what we are actually saying.

If I said that it was acceptable to kill a child in any circumstances most people would, understandably, stridently disagree. If I said that it was acceptable to abort an unborn child in the majority of circumstances I would imagine the response would be rather more positive. As a society we have sadly downgraded the value of life. The constant attempt to ensure that we are free to exercise our rights as individuals seems to have blinded us to the fact that there are other rights and other principles that exist and have to coexist with our right to make choices. The principle of the sanctity of life and the right of the unborn child are two examples. 

I know that many people will quote exceptional cases as justification for the need to allow women to make a choice to abort an unborn child. Every case needs to be judged on its own merits. Yet even in severe medical cases there is strong evidence that children born with disabilities and with certain syndromes can grow up to live fulfilled lives and to bring joy and to have joy within a normal family environment. 

You may ask why am I so strong in my opinion regarding this matter. It's because I base my view on the teaching of the word of God, the Bible. I believe the Bible is God’s revelation to humans and therefore the final word in matters of life, morality and truth. Our opinions are only that at the end of the day, the creator, God, has set the ground rules and revealed them to us in His word. 

I believe that every individual, whether within the womb or outside of the womb, is a living soul and therefore their life should be treated as a sacred. There are numerous examples in the Bible where God talks about a child as a person before they were born. The unborn child is more than just a foetus or an embryo and is certainly, in Biblical terms not a non - person. Take for example what God said about Jeremiah, John the Baptist and Paul the Apostle. From the statements of scripture it is very clear that God regards the child before birth as a person. Therefore, I believe that we should also think of the unborn child as a person. 

The Bible also teaches that the baby who dies in childbirth or is stillborn will go to heaven. Children that die in infancy, or die before they are of an age where they can decide against God and faith in Jesus Christ, go to heaven. The passages that deal with this are Matthew 18 verses 1 to 11, Second Samuel 12 verses  22 to 23. 

God is a God of grace and where people have not rejected him or had the capacity to reject him then he receives them graciously. The majority of us however have the capacity to think, we have an awareness of the world around about us and have the ability to repent and receive the good news of salvation. If we refuse the knowledge of the truth then God has no alternative but to judge us as we have refused to believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

This post does not have details about how to become a Christian. If you read some of the previous posts you will find plenty of information to explain to you why and how you can be right with God.  

Thanks for reading this,

Stephen Baker