Talking Points: Dad, is abortion wrong?

Abortion

Apr 21

Far from resolving the issue, the overturning of Roe v. Wade has thrown abortion more forcefully into public debate.
Rather than deal with abortion in the abstract, Christians must now be prepared to discuss the finer nuances being debated across the nation.
Support for abortion rights is the highest it’s ever been (85% in a recent Gallup poll; Pew puts the number at 62% but still at a peak), so instead of resting on their laurels after Roe, pro-life Christians have an even steeper climb ahead of them in making the case for life.

The “pro-choice” and “pro-life” monikers neatly summarize the primary values driving both sides of this debate.
But things are never so simple:

Pro-choice supporters are charged with denying unborn children a choice.
Pro-life supporters are accused of only caring for life before birth.
Both sides claim they are motivated by what is best for women.
Complex questions about when life begins, the definition of a person, when the unborn feel pain, competing claims to life in extreme health circumstances, how to care for unwanted children, and the long-term effects of abortion on mothers are all hotly debated.
The social and economic factors that drive women to have abortions also challenge people on both sides.

When life begins, a scientific fact, is presented as a personal theological belief.
Two fundamental Christian commitments—the preservation of live and love for the least of these—are set against each other in public discourse, as Christians are forced to choose between unborn babies and mothers in difficult situations.

The Bible does not address abortion directly, but a commitment to human life and flourishing, particularly for the poor and vulnerable, is fundamental to biblical theology.
First, Scripture speaks of God’s loving creation (Psalm 139:13–14), knowledge, and calling (Jeremiah 1:5) of children in their mother’s womb. God created all human beings in his image (Genesis 1:26-28).

Second, natural theology (the general truths we can observe in nature) points to the life and personhood of unborn children. Distinctions made between babies before and after birth are arbitrary and not morally significant. A common acronym for this argument is SLED:

SIZE: Embryos may be smaller, but size doesn’t equal value. Are larger people more valuable than smaller ones?
LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT: Should older children have more rights than their younger siblings? If self-awareness is the key development that makes one human, what about the comatose, the sleeping, and those with Alzheimer’s?
ENVIRONMENT: Your location is irrelevant to your personhood. Just like crossing the street does not change one’s human value, neither does the short journey down the birth canal.
DEGREE OF DEPENDENCY: Many people (arguably all humans) are dependent on others for survival. Those who depend on insulin or conjoined twins who share bodily systems have no less right to life than those who are more independent.
We could add to this: DESIRE: In the current discourse, it appears that the desire of a mother for a child miraculously transforms it from a discardable “blob of cells” to a “baby” to be celebrated with gender-reveal parties and Instagram posts. But if our personhood is dependent on the desire of others, even our mothers, to treat us as persons, we are in a precarious position.

Third, until very recently, the universal position of the church, going back to the earliest Christians who defied Roman culture by saving discarded infants from trash piles, is that abortion and infanticide are wrong.
Fourth, the Bible teaches that disobeying God’s commands will have disastrous effects (e.g., Genesis 3; Deuteronomy 28; Romans 1), because God’s commands are intended to lead to our flourishing.

Abortion can cause significant physical and psychological harm to mothers, not to mention the harm to the unborn child.

All truth ultimately corresponds with reality as God has created it, but abortion is an issue where that is especially clear, and science is evidently on Christians’ side.

The more we learn about fetal development and the more technology allows us to see into the womb, the more obvious the human personhood of unborn babies becomes.

We should teach our kids the scientific and philosophical arguments for the pro-life position, so they are prepared to defend life in a culture increasingly opposed to assuming its value.
The Bible consistently pairs truth with love, but abortion has been so divisive that love is often lost. However, mothers facing unwanted pregnancies and babies unwanted by their mothers are some of the more vulnerable people in our society, who desperately need our love.
Discussing this issue with our kids gives us the opportunity to teach them about the love Jesus calls us to have for our neighbors, especially “the least of these” (Matthew 25:31-46).
We do not need to choose between loving unborn babies or their mothers; loving one requires us to love the other.

Dad, is abortion wrong?