I just found and read a speech delivered by John Clark way back in 1979 on the subject of abortion. It is interesting that his discussion of the issue is basically the same as the approach that Christians take today. There is a reason for this. As our society and societal morals change, the word of God remains the same. There is no need to update our views with new scientific discoveries, and different moral discoveries, because God created life, a truth that remains unchanged, and it is our responsibility as Christians to revere and protect life, especially with regard to the most vulnerable among us. The mother of King Lemuel, in giving him Divine instruction which is recorded in Proverbs 31:8-9, said this, “Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”
The leaders of our land have done just the opposite. Interestingly, the history of the 14th amendment is illustrative of this fact. The 14th amendment directly addressed the inequities of the Dred Scott decision, which denied rights to African Americans, and upheld slavery back in 1857. After the Civil War was fought, the government rightly amended the constitution. The amendment reads that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Imagine, our government having to change the constitution to grant personhood to black people. But it was necessary.
In writing for the majority in the Roe V Wade decision in 1973 which legalized abortion in America, Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun wrote, “The word person as used in the Fourteenth Amendment does not include the unborn. The court noted, “We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins…”
Remember that the 14th amendment was ratified in 1868. This was a time when abortion was defined in the dictionaries as “the criminal expulsion of a human fetus.” So, the leadership of our country protected the poor who could not speak for themselves in 1868 by granting citizenship and personhood to every born person. But when the most vulnerable and silent came under attack in the 1970’s, the same Supreme Court cavalierly responded, it doesn’t apply to you. Our question is, why not? And if not, why weren’t our leaders willing to do as King Lemuel, and speak up for the unborn! Think of standing before God and saying, We didn’t have to figure out when life begins because our laws said they don’t apply to someone until they are born. What if life actually begins at conception! Will such reasoning hold up before the Lord at judgment? Obviously not!
Clark gives two major reasons why abortion has become such a scourge on mankind. First is ambiguity. The court was unwilling to determine when life starts, but weighed in on when it becomes “meaningful.” The trouble is, as medical procedures and knowledge have increased in the years since, the arbitrary date chosen by the judges was proven to be wrong. As G.C. Chesterton wrote, “evil always takes advantage of ambiguity.”
The second problem is the use of euphemisms. If you state that since Roe V Wade about 68 million unborn children have been killed, it shocks and offends. If you contrast the number with the 6 million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust, you are roundly vilified. Note: Defenders of the unborn are vilified by standing up for the most silent, the most vulnerable among us. This is a ringing indictment against our leaders and our society in in our day.
Understand, we in no way wish to tell a woman how to live her life, or what she can do to her own body. It has nothing to do with her. It has to do with the human she is incubating for a 9 month period. We don’t want the innocent, the silent, the unborn child to be killed.
I will argue first that the Bible reveals the unborn to be a child. I will further argue that if one claims we can’t know for sure, that we have no right (as the Supreme Court claims for Americans) to decide for ourselves to err on the side of possible killing rather than possible protection. I can’t imagine the selfishness that brings men to decide otherwise.
There are certain things we know:
First, the fetus is human. Modern understanding of science have made that truth unassailable through the examination of DNA.
Second, the fetus is alive. The fetus is not a dead mass. In fact, the fastest growth of a human is within the womb. From a single fertilized egg, to a fully formed human in nine months. This is known.
Third, the fetus is a unique individual. The appendix, a kidney, the liver or any other organ consists exclusively of the mother’s DNA. These things are hers, and she can do with them as she wills. But, the fetus is a combination of her and another. Mother and Father. A unique, living human being.
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:9).
