David Pool

Over the past several weeks, I heard multiple times that the most common form of abortion today is chemical. In spite of real risks and complications, this option is made available to women all over the country. With that in mind, I thought it would be worthwhile to recall the reasons that we, as a society, should oppose abortion, even the chemical kind.

Without a doubt, the dignity and value of women must be upheld. Love and compassion must be extended to those who find themselves dealing with an unexpected pregnancy. However, the main question has to be focused on what it is that is developing in the woman’s womb. That’s because it’s always wrong to murder a human being. So, is it “just tissue” (a part of her body) or is it a human being?  

If it is merely tissue, then there is no reasonable ground to oppose terminating pregnancies. But if it is a human being, then no other argument can overcome the moral weight that it is wrong to murder.

For many years, the fields of science and medicine have provided strong evidence supporting the notion that a new human being is formed at the instant of conception. I once heard a professor of embryology from a secular university state in a lecture that any embryology textbook today clearly affirms that fertilization immediately results in a new human life coming into existence. The new organism, termed a “zygote,” behaves in ways completely different from any other cells or parts of the woman’s body. It is “self-directed.”

From the time of conception, the baby has its own DNA so genetically it is an individual. A baby’s heart begins to beat at around 22 days after conception, pumping blood that is often a different type from the mother’s. Most women are not even aware they are pregnant at that point. Brain waves are detectable by the sixth week of pregnancy. Ultrasound advancements reveal that infants in the womb smile, frown, crinkle their brows, suck their thumbs, stick out their tongues and clap their hands.  Babies sometimes survive birth at 23 weeks, but abortion is legal well beyond this stage, and most of them happen much earlier in pregnancy.

In sum, the baby developing inside the woman has its own DNA, often a different blood type from the mother, its own heart, its own brain, head, arms, legs and feet. In light of these realities, how can anyone maintain that the unborn is merely tissue? That is bad thinking unsupported by the current medical facts.

Of course, what science is uncovering fits nicely with what the Bible reveals about human life. The Bible teaches an undeniable foundation for human dignity and human rights for all people, regardless of stage of life. In places like Job 3:3, Isaiah 49:1, Psalm 139 and Luke 1, the Bible supports the continuity of personhood from conception to death.  

God’s heart will always be for the poor, the defenseless, the helpless and the dependent. Pre-born children in the womb fit every one of these descriptions.  

So, let’s be sure we support the mothers who find themselves in difficult and trying circumstances, extending to them love and the grace of God. And let’s support and protect those in the womb who can’t fend for themselves.  

(David Pool is senior pastor at Grace Point in Powell.)