Sample Discussion: Dad, is abortion wrong?
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.
Psalm 139:13–16
Have you ever made something that you loved? Maybe a clay pot or a Lego structure or a painting? Why did you love it so much? It probably wasn’t the most beautiful work of art in the history of the world. But it was yours. You put something of yourself into it. It reflected your creativity and skill. The Bible teaches us that God takes that same kind of good pride in us as his creations, and that’s why he loves us so much. We are his handiwork. We reflect his glory.
As we see in Psalm 139, God is the one who knits us together in our mother’s womb. From our earliest moments, even before our bodies are formed, he sees us and knows us and has good plans for us. It’s wonderful to think about, and it should lead us to praise God just like the psalmist.
Now, imagine someone took that thing that you made and loved so much and destroyed it; shattered the pot on the ground, smashed the legos apart, or ripped the painting into shreds. How would you feel? Devastated, right? That’s what abortion is: it’s the destruction of one of God’s beloved creations, a tiny reflection of his glory, while he’s still knitting that baby together in his or her mother’s womb.
People make a lot of different arguments to justify abortion, but when you think about them, they all seem kind of silly. Just because an unborn baby is smaller or less intellectually developed or in a different location or more dependent on its mother than a toddler who is bigger, smarter, outside of the womb, and slightly less dependent on its mother doesn’t mean we have a right to end its life.
If these arguments are so silly, why do people make them? Having a baby is not easy and it will completely transform your life. Not everyone is ready for that. Some don’t want it. Some don’t think they will be able to handle it. It can be very scary.
We should have compassion for women facing these very difficult situations. We should love them, pray for them, provide for them, and volunteer to love their babies, too, if they’re not able to by adopting them. There’s a lot we can and should do to make the lives of these women easier, but we can’t allow them to end someone else’s life. Even if it is a very small person we can’t see or touch. From the moment of conception, when new DNA was formed, that baby is a distinct person, one of God’s unique creations. It’s someone he is forming in love, and his works are wonderful!
