5. ABORTION - who is an ‘I’?

Over these Sunday evenings we’re hitting on some sensitive topics to say the least. I hope it is proving useful as we navigate life, following the Lord Jesus, in a complex world.

After all these are the subjects that (to quote the series title) everyone is talking about. If we don’t make a conscious effort to teach on these matters… we (as Christians) will end up being led more by society than scripture.

We need to be equipped to know and follow God’s word on these matters…

We need to be ready to share and defend our faith on these matters…

We need to teach the next generation on these matters…

And so we’ve journeyed so far through a number of question or issues…

identity - who am I?

sexuality - who can I love?

Euthanasia - what value do I have?

Transgender - who can I become?

Hear that repeated word ‘I’… these questions are about IDENTITY - who am I… who are WE… how should we live… and how are we made to be.

Speaking of how we are made… that’s where today’s question takes us. We’re asking very fundamentally ‘WHO IS AN ‘I’”… Who qualifies as a person.

We’ve spoken much already about human personhood - about human LIFE and the GREAT value it has in the eyes of God (we saw much of that in our talk on Euthanasia).

Today we are at the other end of life we think about - ‘ABORTION - WHO IS AN I?’ Who is a human person? WHo’s life, therefore, should be protected and preserved? Does this protection of human life extend to life in the womb… or does it kick in later… and how can we know?

Straight away this is a hugely sensitive topic. There may be people here today who have been effected by abortion. There may be those among us who have had an abortion. I don’t know.

I am, once again, keenly aware that we are dealing with real people and not just soap box issues.

I don’t know what your story is.

And straight away some people might say ‘YES’ - that’s just your problem - YOU DON’T KNOW… ‘this is not your issue’ some would claim… what right do YOU and what right has a MAN to stand up and speak on this issue? ~Some would bring that objection.

I understand that response, but let ME respond by saying three things…

This is not only an issue that effects women, but men as well. In some cases men are involved in decisions about abortion - sometimes men have (sinfully) pressured women into an abortion. Sometimes its the reverse.

Can I also add that the babies (or foetuses, if you prefer) who are aborted are BOTH male and female - this very much effects (indeed ends) their lives.

In addition, I want to stress again that I am NOT here trying to give my opinion… I DON’T want us tonight to consider the ‘great thoughts’ of Peter Turnbull (not sure I have too many of those)…. but instead to consider the good Word of our loving Father God.

BREAK OFF

And, to be sure, we need God’s word on this…. Truly, this is an issue that effects all of society - indeed the whole world.

The World Health Organisation tell us there are around 73 Million abortions worldwide each year (that is roughly equivalent to the whole population of the UK… every year).

Speaking of the UK… we contribute around 220,000 abortions per year, 15-20,000 of those are in Scotland (these are stats from UK and Scottish governments).

There have been around 10 Million abortions in UK since 1967 abortion act.

Today in England and Wales 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in abortion (I couldn’t find Scottish Stats - but I’ve no reason to think they’d be very different).

By the age of 45, roughly 1 in 3 women in UK will have had an abortion

This issue is all around us.

Despite its prevalence however, there actually ISN’T much discussion about it in the UK. None of our major political parties is anything other than entirely supportive of abortion.

It isn’t much a live issue in our national conversation - perhaps, for that reason, - I ought to have left it out of a series called ‘everyones talking about’.

Perhaps you’ll allow me a little grace tonight as I include THIS issue as one I think everyone SHOULD be talking about.

All of this brings us to the first (very brief) point tonight….

1. The Key Question

Where there are cultural discussions and debates on this issues (most notably in the USA there is often a lot of heat - sometimes that can mean more heat than light in discussion).

If there was one clarifying question… which will help us us to cut right to the heart of the issue… to get through the noise and find some clarity then SURELY the key question is this…

“When does human life begin?”

Or put it another way… “when does a human person, become a human person?”

The answer to that MUST determine the way we respond to this issue. Because (of course) once a human person is a person, once human life has begun… to deliberately take that life IS murder.

So that is our key question - when does life begin?

And so we reach point 2…

2. The Bible Answer

Of course the verse that hangs over this whole issue is the same verse we visited when thinking about Euthanasia… from the ten commandments (it is the sixth commandment) - from Exodus 20:13

Exodus 20:13 NIV

13 “You shall not murder.

We will come back to that, of course, in a moment.

It is worth saying that, when it comes to Abortion, the Bible doesn’t give us a specific verse or verses on this - which explicitly addresses abortion (there are some highly relevant passages - which we’ll come to) but there is, for instance, no passage where (the Apostle Paul, say) exhorts the churches not to commit the sin of abortion.

Some will say AHA - there you go, the Bible doesn’t address abortion - so you Christian’s shouldn’t oppose it.

But that is to totally misunderstand what the NT is. It is a series of what we call OCCASIONAL documents. Which means (to take the letters of Paul for example) these were written to particular churches, on particular occasions, to address specific issues… the fact that abortion doesn’t come up as an issue in the early churches its actually revealing in itself… it tells you that this was NOT a common practice or common problem amongst Jewish or early Christian peoples… AND why was it not common - why were they not doing it? well because it has ALWAYS been clear that in a Christian view of life is that all human life is sacred. Including human life which hasn’t yet emerged from its mother’s womb. Here’s how one commentator puts it…

“The Jewish world of the same period displayed a radically different attitude… There is no doubt that this stemmed from the teaching of the Old Testament law… Every human being, new-born or adult, deformed or healthy, slave or free, had an intrinsic value as a unique expression of God’s image” . JOHN WYATT

And straight away we’re back to - what is fast becoming - the key verse of this series.

Genesis 1:27 NIV

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Human life is precious, valuable, sacred….

However, you’ll notice, of course, that we haven’t answered the question. See, at this point you might still reply “yes life is sacred and all… BUT WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN?”

Let’s take a look at three passages of scripture to see how the Bible views the baby in the womb…

For the sake of clarity - I’m going to use the word Foetus as a catch all term to describe the baby in the womb… I’ve obviously aware that there are different biological words to describe different levels of development - Zygote, Embryo and so on. I’m using Foetus as a shorthand to summarise all of that.

By the way if you think I should just say baby… well the word Foetus comes from the latin meaning ‘offspring’ - so that’s kind of what the word means anyway. It also happens to be the uncontested medical term, so we go with that.

Anyway three passages….

a) Luke 1 - the Fetus as a character in the story

Listen to these words from Luke chapter 1 - when Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth - the news is to be shared that she too (like her cousin) is pregnant, although in Mary’s case in this miraculous way through the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:39–41 NIV

39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

In the minds of both the characters (Mary and Elizabeth) and the narrator (Luke), there is no question of this foetus in the womb IS being considered a human person.

The baby in Elizabeth’s wombs is, of course, John the baptist - a regular human baby. John expresses very human characteristics - he is (if you like) a player in the drama of the incarnation narrative.

Two verses later Elizabeth calls Mary “Mother of my Lord”. Not mother of a potential Lord…. not mother of a cluster of cells…. mother of my LORD (Jesus).

And so… can you see that the absolute assumption here is that these babies - these foetuses are human persons.

You see a similar point in a completely different Bible story… Way back in Genesis - the story of Rebekah’s - with those famous twins (Jacob and Esau) in her wombs. Listen to

Genesis 25:22–24 NIV

22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” 24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.

We don’t have time to trace these stories out in detail - but you see the point. The absolute assumption of all these Bible characters - and of the Lord as he speaks is that the foetuses are human persons, with human characteristics.

This is further reinforced by two of the most famous Psalms… (so, letter ‘b’now).

b) Psalm 51 and 139 - the Fetus as a continuous human person

Listen to David in Psalm 51.5

Psalm 51:5 NIV

5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

This, of course, is David reflecting on his great downfall - his sin with Bathsheba.

And it’s obvious, isn’t it that David sees an kind of unbroken line of existence from his conception to his current adult state.

David cannot say “Before this or that developmental event, ‘I was not a person, or not sinful, but after it (now) I am’”.

No - he was sinful from the time his mother CONCEIVED him (note the word). Which means lots of things we don’t have time to go into - but it certainly DOES mean that here is another passage of scripture when David is absolutely assumed to be a human person from the moment of conception or fertilisation.

In another of his famous Psalms David says this Psalm 139.13

Psalm 139:13 NIV

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Can you see the same point the person who David IS as an adult didn’t begin when he was born… or even when he reached a certain developmental stage - but when the Lord began to knit him together.

Similarly in Jeremiah 1.5 God says (about the prophet Jeremiah) “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you’.

Jeremiah 1:5 NIV

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

It’s abundantly clear in all of these passages isn’t it? - in the worldview of the Bible and it’s characters… and int he word of God - from the earliest moment of conception, the foetus IS a human person.

Point c now….

c) Exodus 21 - the Fetus as a legal person

This is not the best known Bible passage, perhaps it sounds a little obscure to you… but if we dive briefly into this section of Exodus…. we’ll see a small passage of LAW - given to the nation of Israel which sheds more light on the Foetus as full human life.

Listen to this….

Exodus 21:22–23 NIV

22 “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,

The scenario here is that two men are fighting. And their brawl a pregnant woman gets hit… and this injury causes premature birth. Now, if this happens but there is no injury - in other words, if the baby is premature but fine (lives)… then law simply says these brawling men must pay a fine.

However… if there is serious injury, the consequences are far more serious. And if needs by (see the end of the first) you are to take LIFE for LIFE.

In other words if these men end up killing a baby in the womb… they are treated as if they have committed murder.

In fact, although the Hebrew law does lay out capital punishment for some crimes… (most notably murder!) this is the only place where the death penalty is mandated for causing accidental death.

If anything fragile children in the womb seem to be treated with GREATER significance - and certainly not with less.

Again, do you see? in God’s word the Foetus is a human person. There is never a time, never a stage of development, never s point at which the Bible treats the Foetus as anything other than a human person.

The key moment therefore is conception (or fertilisation). A sperm or an egg alone is not and will never be a human person… we now know that at the moment of fertilisation that little “ball of cells” (as it is sometimes dismissively called) has ALL of it’s human DNA. The whole intricately complex code which will determine eye colour, hair colour, height, and so much more about that person is ALL PRESENT.

All of which brings us back (letter d) to Exodus 20:13

d) Exodus 20:13 - you shall not murder

If this is human life - and we’ve seen that it is - we DARE NOT take that life. You shall not murder.

This may sound hard to hear. And you may have (playing in your mind right now) some common objections to this. So let’s explore a few. This is point 3.

3. The common objections

Five objections - I think these are probably the five most common.

a) “The fetus is not yet a person” – the human potential argument

People will say, ‘no. no at the moment of conception it’s just a cluster of cells… it becomes a human person LATER’.

But the question of course is…. WHEN? And how do you decide?

Is it a person from the third week onwards when discernible shapes that will be the head, mouth and eyes begin to form.

Is it a person at 5-6 weeks when the heartbeat emerges?

Is it at 6-7 weeks when we can detect the first brain waves?

Is it at 12 weeks when the fingerprints begin to form?

Is it at 22 weeks by which point baby is around 30cm long, top to toe… all the features are there - even the intricate inner ear is fully developed… baby has tastebuds… and is even doing breathing practice with his or her lungs.

By the way, as I describe that foetus…. bear in mind that, in the UK - at this point…. and for two weeks beyond this point abortion is freely available.

Here’s the great problem… if you take a gradualist approach…. if you say well it ISN’T a human person at conception but it becomes one sometime after… how on earth do you decide?

In the 1980s There was a very large government report - the Warnock Report which attempted to tackle all of these questions as they relate to embryological research. And do you know when they concluded that human lfie began?

They concluded that they didn’t know. That they weren’t qualified to judge.

Imagine for a moment that you’re driving along a country lane at night and you hit something which you think MIGHT have been a person. You’re not sure… it could have just been a branch falling off a tree… but it might be a person. WHat do you say to yourself? Do you… O well, it probably wasn’t a person so I won’t take the cautious approach and stop to check, I’ll just drive on. Of course you wouldn’t do that! - if there was any chance at all it might be a person you would take the cautious approach.

It so tragic and ironic that our culture finds it so hard to say when human life begins…. and yet they remain so incautious… abortion is freely available up to 24 weeks… and available right up to birth if your baby is disabled. And when I say disabled that includes minor issues like cleft lip and cleft palate (easily treatable, cosmetic issues - fixable with minor surgery).

If you say the foetus only becomes a person sometime LATER than conception… how on earth can you say when? Its entirely subjective. Are we prepared to deal in the life and death of children on subjective guesses? Sadly in the UK we are.

Next common objection…

b) “The fetus cannot support itself” – the capability argument

Some will say ‘Oh, well we set the abortion limit at around 24 weeks because that’s the point when a baby might survive and support itself outside of the womb”.

Firstly, that isn’t necessarily true, remarkable things can sometimes be done for babies born even at 22 or 23 weeks - which of course means that in any UK hospital you might have one set of medics performing abortion - deliberately ending the life of a 22 week old foetus and another bunch trying desperately to save the life of a baby just the same age, born prematurely.

But secondly, this argument about the foetus supporting itself has other much more serious flaws.

Anyone who has been in charge of new born bay born at full term - 38-40 weeks knows very clearly that a full term baby can’t support itself. Baby can’t feed or clothe or change herself.

Yes baby is dependent on a particular type of support in the womb.

But baby is (in many ways) just as dependent on different types of support once born.

Likewise if we extend this objection to its logical conclusion… well what about the elderly person who is completely dependent on life saving drugs, or a on a ventilator. Do people really become disposable just because they are dependent on others? - that is a very dark logic to follow.

What about the third objection (letter c).

c) “The fetus cannot feel” – the pain argument

Science is developing and changing in this area. Obviously measuring a fetal’ pain is not straightforward. The consensus seems to be that a fetus can feel pain from about 15 weeks, with some data suggestion 12 weeks.

But again - that is actually irrelevant.

Do we really want to decide who can live or die based upon their ability to feel pain?

I read this week abotu a young man named Stefan, 21 years old. He has Congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP). It’s a (thankfully) rare genetic disorder that prevents people from feeling pain. He could put his had on a fireplace and he wouldn’t know it was hot until he smelled his burning flesh - an awful condition.

The trouble with the ‘we can conduct an abortion becuase the fetus can’t feel pain’ argument is that - logically applied it would give us the right to bump off Stefan as well.

You’re seeing a pattern here I think - these arguments might sound good, but even a bit of probing and they fall apart.

Two more…

d) “The fetus has birth defects” – the disability argument

Again, if we say we can or should abort becuase of disability…. what does that say to our disabled friends? That their lives are not worth living? That we think we ought to have the right to terminate them as well?

Again - some of the things which are counted in the UK as disabilities meaning abortion can take place UP TO BIRTH are utterly scandalous.

But then comes letter e. A very challenging objection - emotionally at least.

e) “The fetus resulted from rape” – the hard cases argument

These are indeed hard and dreadful cases. Rape is an appalling crime.

Before we get into that thought…. let me say that (thankfully) this is very rare. The vast majority of abortions carried out in the UK are not connected to rape. So hard or extreme cases shouldn’t change the ball game for the vast vast majority.

Having said that… we must be abundantly clear rape is a great sin which will bring God’s dreadful judgement on unrepentant sinners.

Any woman in this situation has been placed in an utterly appalling dilemma by the horrific sin of a man.

But does that mean termination is right in these circumstances? We can certainly understand very deeply why a woman in this situation might feel that way. But, even in these hard cases we must look to our key question - when does life begin…

If - as the Bible teaches - life begins at conception then however hard the case… and however appalling the circumstances (and they really are dreadful) we cannot escape the fact this is still human life.

There is so much more we haven’t been able to touch on… perhaps the most important area is the responsibility that we Christians have - not just to speak out against the sinfulness of abortion, but to provide support to women to - often in difficult circumstances - choose the path of life.

There is one final place we must land though… and that is with the gospel of grace.

You may have been affected by abortion. You may have been deeply affected tonight because you have had an abortion. In Jesus there is love. In Jesus there is grace. At the cross he has paid for our sin… we must simply come to him in repentance and find his wonderful forgiveness.

Let’s Pray