Abortion

I. Note: There will be no disturbing pictures or horrible descriptions of abortions in this lesson. Many resources describe abortions in details and pictures of abortions in various stages. In this lesson, we want to look at the Scripture, some considerations of abortion, and suggestions about how we should respond to the issue.

II. Impact of abortion

A. God has formed each life

1. Zechariah 12:1 – formed the spirit within man
2. Ecclesiastes 11:5 – activity of God
3. Job 10:11-12 – God’s creative force
4. Psalm 139:13-16 – David’s testimony
5. Jeremiah 1:4-5 – God knew a person before he was formed
6. Galatians 1:5 – Paul was consecrated before he was conceived
7. Psalm 127:3 – children are God’s gift
8. Embryo is represented as a person
   • Luke 1:39-44
   • Dave Miller, Ph. D. – “Notice that Elizabeth’s pre-born baby is being represented as a living human being. In fact, the term “baby” used in verses 41 and 44 to refer to the pre-born John is the exact same term that is used in chapter two to refer to Jesus after His birth as He laid in the manger (Luke 2:12,16). So in God’s sight, whether a person is in his or her pre-birth developmental state, or in a post-birth developmental state, that person is still a baby!”1
9. Embryo legally treated as a person: Exodus 21:22-25 – the life of an adult in exchange for the life of the premature baby’s death.

B. Abortion cheapens the value we place on human life

1. Charles Krauthammer (Conservative columnist who is in favor of legalized abortion): “They are asking about the ‘right to choose’ (a brilliant locution that expunges the ugly word abortion from all political debate about abortion).”2
2. Even some abortion supporters admit the embryo is human life: “The status of the human embryo appears a simple matter. It is alive, and it is neither hamster nor chicken—it is human.”3
3. Ronald Reagan: These children…will never laugh, never sing, never experience the joy of human love; nor will they strive to heal the sick, or feed the poor, or make peace among nations. Abortion has denied them the first and most basic of human rights, and we are infinitely poorer for their loss. We are poorer not simply for the lives not led and for contributions not made, but also for erosion of our sense of worth and dignity of every individual. To diminish the value of one category of human life is to diminish us all.4

C. Incites the anger of God

1. God has always stressed the importance of His people protecting the weak and defenseless.
2. Exodus 23:7
3. Proverbs 6:17

III. Warped perspective

A. Timing of infanticide

1. Lady who killed her children in the bathtub and women who have left newborns in dumpsters have been imprisoned.
2. If these same mothers would have had the children aborted months before no one would have blinked an eye.

B. Eagle’s eggs: Dave Miller: “Merely taking possession of an egg containing the pre-born American bald eagle—let alone if one were to destroy that little pre-birth environment and thus destroy the baby eagle that is developing within—results in a stiff fine and even prison time. Yet one can take a human child in its pre-born environment and not only murder that child, but also receive government blessing to do so! Eagle eggs, i.e., pre-born eagles, are of greater value to American civilization than pre-born humans!”5

C. Save the guilty, kill the innocent

1. Some will not advocate the civil execution of some of the most violent, cold-hearted, unrepentant murderers, child abusers and molesters, or rapists—and will hold candlelight vigil outside of the prisons during executions.
2. Some of these same people will vehemently oppose anyone who would suggest halting the killing of the most fragile, innocent, and harmless members of humanity.
3. Bert Thompson: “While our own Supreme Court was outlawing the death penalty for hardened adult criminals, at the same time it was imposing that same penalty upon millions and millions who never had committed a single crime or harmed a single hair on another person’s head. Their only “crime” was that they inadvertently—through no fault of their own—had “inconvenienced” the fornicator. Their only “crime” was that they had arrived at a “bad time” for the married couple that had time to concentrate only on careers, condos, and cash. Their only “crime” was that they were unexpected, unwanted, and unloved.”6
4. However, it is a cautionary tale. R.A. Gallop noted: “Once you permit the killing of the unborn child, there will be no stopping. There will be no age limit. You are setting off a chain reaction that will eventually make you the victim. Your children will kill you because you permitted the killing of their brothers and sisters. Your children will kill you because they will not want to support you in your old age. Your children will kill you for your homes and estates. If a doctor will take money for killing the innocent in the womb, he will kill you with a needle when paid by your children. This is the terrible nightmare you are creating for the future.”7

D. Build the perfect race

1. Abortion supporters: 8
   • Bentley Glass recently went on record as stating that “no parents will in that future time have a right to burden society with a malformed or a mentally incompetent child”
   • Joseph Fletcher of situation ethics fame has suggested that any individual with an IQ of 20 or less is not a person, and that anyone with an IQ ranging from 20 to 40 is only marginally so
   • Nobel laureate Francis Crick has urged that “no newborn infant should be declared human until it has passed certain tests regarding its genetic endowment, and…if it fails these tests, it forfeits the right to live”
2. History repeats
   • The quote of Francis Crick is chillingly similar to the quote of another famous person “the authority of certain physicians to be designated by name in such manner that persons who, according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a mercy death”?
   • The above is a quote of the 1939 order Adolf Hitler gave which set the precedent for “Aktion T 4”, the Nazi infant euthanasia program that targeted those who evidenced signs of mental retardation or physical deformity.9
   • Code named ” Aktion T 4,” the Nazi euthanasia program to eliminate ” life unworthy of life” at first focused on newborns and very young children. Midwives and doctors were required to register children up to age three who showed symptoms of mental retardation, physical deformity, or other symptoms included on a questionnaire from the Reich Health Ministry. A decision on whether to allow the child to live was then made by three medical experts solely on the basis of the questionnaire, without any examination and without reading any medical records.
   • Nazi furnaces spewed the ashes of “undesirables” across the landscape to the disgust of the world; today aborted infant embryos are cremated on a larger scale and few recoil in horror.

E. More attention given to tragic events on a much smaller scale.

1. Abortion vs. US City populations (click: 12 th Largest city quote)
2. Bar chart comparing tragedies
3. CDC YEar 2008 Statistics for who aborts their children.
4. In 2008, 825,564 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC from 49 reporting areas. This represents essentially no change from the number of abortions reported in 2007. The abortion rate for 2008 was 16.0 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years. This also is unchanged from 2007. The abortion ratio was 234 abortions per 1,000 live births in 2008. This is a 1% increase from 2007. During 1999–2008, the reported abortion numbers, rates, and ratios decreased 3%, 4%, and 10%, respectively. During 1999–2008, women aged 20–29 years accounted for the majority of abortions. The majority (62.8%) of abortions in 2008 were performed at ≤8 weeks’ gestation and 91.4% were performed at ≤13 weeks’ gestation; 14.6% of all abortions were medical abortions. Source: MMWR 2011;60(No. 15). http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/Data_Stats/Abortion.htm
5. Most dangerous place in the year 2008 chart
6. Which is considered more tragic (both are tragic)

IV. How should we respond?

A. Should we murder to stop abortions?

1. Shall we kill those who kill and do the greater good?
2. If you saw a man killing children in a playground wouldn’t you feel some obligation to stop him—even if it meant killing him—to save the children?
3. However, when Jesus came to earth He had the power to destroy every murderer, abuser, rapist, and violent evil person, yet He did not.
4. His children must reflect the longsuffering and mercy of Jesus—He taught men to reject the evil, He did not kill the Ceasars, Herods and every tyrant.
5. All judgment and vengeance belongs to God, Romans 12:17-21
6. We cannot right all wrongs but we can work within our government and teach others so that the good will prevail—we cannot do evil and expect good to result.

B. Our action

1. Pray
2. Teach others, defend the truth, and train our children
3. Oppose it in ways that do not break laws or otherwise dishonor God; use the representative government to voice your disgust and call for change

V. Conclusion: What would the fetus answer? The next slide is NOT a disturbing picture. The next slide is a picture of an aborted fetus…(click)…19 years later. Listen to the testimony of a former aborted fetus:

VI. My name is Gianna Jessen. I am 19 years of age. I am originally from California, but now reside in Franklin, Tennessee. I am adopted. I have cerebral palsy. My biological mother was 17 years old and seven and one-half months pregnant when she made the decision to have a saline abortion. I am the person she aborted. I lived instead of died.

VII. Fortunately for me the abortionist was not in the clinic when I arrived alive, instead of dead, at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of April 6, 1977. I was early, my death was not expected to be seen until about 9 a.m., when he would probably be arriving for his office hours. I am sure I would not be here today if the abortionist would have been in the clinic as his job is to take life, not sustain it. Some have said I am a ” botched abortion”, a result of a job not well done.

VIII. There were many witnesses to my entry into this world. My biological mother and other young girls in the clinic, who also awaited the death of their babies, were the first to greet me. I am told this was a hysterical moment. Next was a staff nurse who apparently called emergency medical services and had me transferred to a hospital.

IX. I remained in the hospital for almost three months. There was not much hope for me in the beginning. I weighed only two pounds. Today, babies smaller than I was have survived.

X. A doctor once said I had a great will to live and that I fought for my life. I eventually was able to leave the hospital and be placed in foster care. I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a result of the abortion.

XI. My foster mother was told that it was doubtful that I would ever crawl or walk. I could not sit up independently. Through the prayers and dedication of my foster mother, and later many other people, I eventually learned to sit up, crawl, then stand. I walked with leg braces and a walker shortly before I turned age four. I was legally adopted by my foster mother’s daughter, Diana De Paul, a few months after I began to walk. The Department of Social Services would not release me any earlier for adoption.

XII. I have continued in physical therapy for my disability, and after a total of four surgeries, I can now walk without assistance. It is not always easy. Sometimes I fall, but I have learned how to fall gracefully after falling 19 years.

XIII. I am happy to be alive. I almost died. Every day I thank God for life. I do not consider myself a by-product of conception, a clump of tissue, or any other of the titles given to a child in the womb. I do not consider any person conceived to be any of those things.

XIV. I have met other survivors of abortion. They are all thankful for life. … When I speak, I speak not only for myself, but for the other survivors, like Sarah, and also for those who cannot yet speak.

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• 1 Miller, Dave. “Abortion and the Bible” Apologetics Press. Accessed 9/25/05. http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1964
• 2 Krauthammer, Charles. “Roe vs. Roberts” Washington Post Online. Accessed 9/25/05. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/15/AR2005091502141.html
• 3 Robert Edwards quoted in Apologetics Press article: “Shall We Murder to Stop Abortion?” Accessed 9/25/05. http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/435.
• 4 Ibid
• 5 Miller.
• 6 Thompson, Bert. “God’s Attitude Towards Abortion.” Accessed 9/25/05. http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1976
• 7 Thompson.
• 8 Thompson.
• 9 Cochran, Sylvia. http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/pro_life/115711

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