Abortion
Pastor Leslie Chua
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Roe v. Wade Overturned
Abortion is a hot topic in the last week. On 24 June, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion. Since then, abortion is permitted during the first two trimesters of pregnancy in the United States.
In another ruling with a 6-3 majority, the court upheld a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
While the conservatives celebrate, the reaction in the liberal camp ranges from disbelief to vitriolic anger. President Joe Biden condemned the decision. The mainstream media, most of which are liberal, labelled the decision as controversial, claiming that it would change the lives of millions of American women. The headline in The Economist reads, “The Supreme Court’s judicial activism will deepen cracks in America.” In some social media posts, calls were made to kill the conservative judges.
The reaction is emotionally charged and it borders on irrationality. Why should the decision to protect unborn babies from being brutally killed in their mothers’ wombs spark such an outrage?
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Though abortion is not banned completely, the U.S. Supreme Court decision is seen by many conservatives as a moral victory. Abortion is no longer a constitutional right.
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Besides, overturning Roe v. Wade does not put an end to abortion. It is not a wholesale ban on abortion. Rather, it pushes the decision to the individual states, which will now have the power to set their own abortion laws.
While conservative states will either ban abortion completely or put a shorter-term limit on it, the liberal states will continue permitting abortion, even up to late term.
Though abortion is not banned completely, the U.S. Supreme Court decision is seen by many conservatives as a moral victory. Abortion is no longer a constitutional right.
Why do I as a non-American care about the U.S. Supreme Court decision?
The reason is simple. Whatever happens in the United States very often has implications for the rest of the world, especially for the advanced economies.
Consider the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalised abortion for the first time in human history. That momentous ruling reverberated throughout the world. Many countries, including Singapore, followed suit. Since then, more than 60 million babies have been aborted in the U.S. alone. Hundreds of millions more are killed worldwide.
This decision of just a few U.S. justices has shaped the way a big segment of humanity thinks about babies in the womb. They can be conveniently discarded for the most frivolous reasons. For example, it is an unwanted pregnancy. Many women abort their babies without having a second thought about it, with no qualm and no guilt feelings.
The Justification for Abortion
What is the justification for abortion?
It is usually framed as a woman’s right. She has the right to do whatever she wants to her own body. She has the freedom of choice. No one has any business telling her what she can or cannot do.
But what about the rights of unborn babies? Don’t the babies in the wombs also have rights?
Often, the argument is that a foetus is not a human being, and therefore, it cannot be accorded any human rights.
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What is the justification for abortion? It is usually framed as a woman’s right.
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The logical follow-up questions are: when does a foetus become a human being? When does a foetus possess consciousness? When can it feel pain? Where is the cut-off point when abortion should not be permitted?
As many of us have become aware, there is no end to this debate. The goalpost keeps shifting. As more convincing evidence reveals that a foetus can feel during the early stages of pregnancy, the progressives, as the liberals are now called, shift the humanity question of the foetus back one full circle to the rights of the mother.
Of late, you hear pro-choice people using phrases like ‘bodily autonomy’ and ‘my body, my choice’ in discussions concerning the issue of abortion.
Do they really believe what they say?
I doubt so. I have observed that most of the passionate pro-abortion crowd are also pro-LGBT rights and pro-COVID-19 vaccine mandate. They insist that everyone must be jabbed even if it is against their wish. Whatever happens to ‘bodily autonomy’ and ‘my body, my choice.’ This is not a discussion about vaccines, but I am just pointing out the irony of their argument and their hypocrisy.
The Biblical Perspective
What is the biblical stand on abortion? How does God view abortion?
Life begins at conception. In other words, a foetus has life, even in its earliest stage upon conception. Psalm 139 describes poetically how God formed us in our mothers’ wombs (Psalm 138:13-16). We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are woven together intricately. From the moment of our conception, our days were ordained by God and recorded in His book.
If life begins at conception, then, abortion is murder. God has an opinion concerning murder. He forbids anyone from taking the life of another person. Humans are created in the image of God. Thus, human life is sacred. The sanctity of human life is enshrined in the Ten Commandments. The sixth commandment reads, ‘You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).
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If life begins at conception, then, abortion is murder.
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God demands the blood of the murderer – ‘And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image”’ (Genesis 9:5-6). This is the biblical basis for capital punishment.
The same principle applies to intentional harm inflicted upon a pregnant woman whereupon her unborn baby dies. Look at this Old Testament law - “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life…” (Exodus 21:22-23).
A life for a life. Notice that the unborn child is accorded the same rights as a normal human being. The foetus or unborn baby is considered a human being in the eyes of the Creator God. This law underscores the assertion that life begins at conception.
The Word of God is unmistakably clear. Abortion is murder. It is the shedding of innocent blood, which the Lord hates and considers abominable (Proverbs 6:16-19).
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Even in the case of rape, there is no moral justification for abortion.
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No reasoning and rhetoric can justify the barbarism of killing defenceless babies in the womb. In a civilised society, the freedom of choice does not include the right to murder. Nobody in his right mind would think otherwise. The same argument ought to apply to abortion. Women can have the choice to do whatever they want to their bodies except to abort their babies.
Even in the case of rape, there is no moral justification for abortion. Rape is a heinous crime. We sympathise with the victims of rape and their predicament. There is no question that the rapist must be severely punished. However, the unborn child is innocent. Aborting the baby would certainly mitigate the victim’s shame and shorten her pain. However, murder is still murder. It is wrong to kill, and hence abortion is unjustified.