The Supreme Court refused to recognize them as legal “persons” so they lost their constitutional rights and protections. They were merely a rough copy of the human being—“sub-human”—morally and mentally lower than any animal, some said. A “parasite” in the body of others and nothing to do with humanity—just a “mass,” the leaders alleged, that could be “evacuated.” A doctor explained that their bodies could be used for medical research “to contribute to the progress of society.”
Sound familiar? It might. These activities began in 1936 when the German Supreme Court ruled that Jews living in Germany were not legal “persons.” It was Hitler who stated in his autobiography and political manifesto, Mein Kampf, that Jews “are a parasite in the body of other peoples.” The other comments are excerpted from various Nazi reports and documents (see www.abortionfacts.com). The tragic end of this vicious mind-set was that over 6 million Jews were massacred in Hitler’s Holocaust.
Now let’s compare notes. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that unborn babies are not legal “persons” (Roe v. Wade). Some doctors claimed that a fetus was just a protoplasmic “mass.”
Feminist Gloria Steinem declared that “a woman would have the right to abortion just as she has a right to remove any parasitic growth from her body” (cnn interview, Sept. 9, 1981; emphasis mine throughout).
When a reporter asked what happens in an abortion, noted abortionist Dr. Edward Allred replied, “The contents are evacuated.”
And notice this gruesome comment from Dr. Martti Kekomaki: “An aborted baby is just garbage and that’s where it ends up. Why not make use of it for society?” (National Examiner, Aug. 19, 1980).
What eerie parallels to a bygone generation of Holocaust victims! History shows that whenever the sanctity of human life is trivialized, destruction of life ultimately ensues. Jesus Christ warned that at the end of the age “the love of many [would] wax cold” (Matthew 24:12) and that all human life would be obliterated barring His intervention (verse 22).
The Apostle Paul told Timothy that “in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves [very selfish and self-centered] … disobedient to parents … Without natural affection … incontinent [without self-control], fierce [or brutal] … lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4). These are the very attitudes that lead to illicit sex, unwanted babies and brutal abortions—all signs that confirm we are living in the last days.
These attitudes are reflected in the reasons American women give for having abortions. They include (in order of frequency): to postpone child rearing; cannot afford a baby; partner does not want the baby; too young; disruption to education or job. Over 25 percent of U.S. pregnancies are aborted each year. Let’s call a spade a spade. The vast majority of these abortions—about 95 percent—are induced as a callous means of birth control!
Worldwide, since 1920, 744 million abortions have been reported, and an estimated 922 million total abortions have been committed. Is this not a horrific holocaust of unrivaled magnitude? And it persists. The most recent figures reveal that over 15 million babies per year never see the light of day. Hundreds of millions of people on this planet have come to accept this most common “surgical procedure” among women. Is this not a stupendous sign that we are living in the last days?
But wait.
Some say that the Bible doesn’t even address abortion. Besides, it speaks of the “breath of life.” Some think this means that the spirit in man (which many erroneously refer to as the “soul”) doesn’t enter the baby until that first breath. That until then, a baby in the womb is only at an animal level of life. Is it true that what makes a life human (as opposed to animal life) does not begin until a baby’s first breath? When does human life begin? Is the Bible silent on abortion? Let us definitively prove the answers to these questions. But before we examine the biblical evidence, let’s review the physical.
The Physical Evidence of Life in the Womb
The growth and development of a baby in the womb is probably the most awesome and breathtaking marvel of the physical creation. Here’s an overview of just the first 12 weeks, summarized primarily from a video presentation that can be found on the Internet at www.justthefacts.org:
Day 1: The sperm penetrates the egg and a cell is formed containing 46 chromosomes (23 from the father and 23 from the mother) with about 30,000 genes that shape the genetic blueprint of the baby. From the moment of conception, physical characteristics such as the sex, facial features, body type and color of hair, eyes and skin are determined. Even aspects of intelligence and personality are conveyed through this genetic code! A unique person that has never existed before and never will again is already being formed.
Day 4: The microscopic baby communicates by sending a hormonal code to the mother requesting nourishment. The mucous lining of the womb responds by softening enough to accommodate it.
Day 18: In less than three weeks, there has been rapid development. The head shows budding cerebral vesicles. Also making an appearance are the lungs, intestine, stomach and heart, which has started to beat. The foundation of the nervous system has been established.
Fourth week: The heart is pumping blood through the baby’s circulatory system. Backbone and muscles are forming. Arms, legs, eyes and ears begin to show.
Fifth week: The baby is about a third of an inch long. Arm and leg stumps are clearly visible. On the 40th day, brain waves are detected and measurable. The baby’s brain is able to send messages to the mother and baby.
Sixth week: The baby is half an inch long. Eyes are wide open but no eyelids or irises have formed. Fingers have grown to the first joint but, like the toes, are still webbed.
Seventh week: The liver is producing blood cells. The jaw, including teeth buds in the gums, is taking shape. The brain is beginning to control muscle and organ movements.
Eighth week: All the organs have been fashioned. Everything is present that is found in an adult. Stomach and kidneys are functioning. Cartilage begins to change into bone.
Ninth week: Fingerprints are apparent in the skin and the grasping reflex is now present.
Eleventh week: The baby is two inches long. The ribs are rapidly forming. Totally immersed in amniotic fluid, the baby practices “breathing” by inhaling and exhaling just enough of the salty solution to send it in and out of the lungs. To prevent drowning, the umbilical cord provides oxygen to the baby’s blood.
Twelfth week: The features are more defined. The baby can open and close its lips, raise its eyebrows, wrinkle its forehead and turn its head.
What a testimony to the great Creator who designed such awe-inspiring works! It’s wondrous to contemplate these incredible developments in the first trimester of pregnancy. Yet it’s during this time that 88 percent of all aborted babies in the U.S. are snuffed out.
Picture a hospital. Two women, each about midway through their pregnancy, sit at opposite ends of a hallway. The first has concluded that she can’t afford another child. She’s decided to have an abortion. After all, she reasons, the fetus is not a “viable” human being anyway. So it’s killed. The other woman is having complications. She desperately wants to save her baby but it will have to be delivered prematurely. This baby survives and grows up to be a healthy human being.
Why is the first baby not considered a human being while the second one obviously is? Nothing unusual happens at birth to make an unborn baby human. It’s the same baby whether inside or outside the womb! Let’s face it. The only difference is that one is wanted and the other is not!
In 1981, the U.S. Congress convened hearings in an effort to determine when a human life begins. The testimony garnered at that time may stun you.
Dr. Jerome Lejeune, world-renowned geneticist, said that “each individual has a very neat beginning: the moment of its conception.” Dr. Watson A. Bowes Jr., from the University of Colorado Medical School, testified, “The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter—the beginning is conception.” Dr. Alfred Bongiovanni from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School added: “I am no more prepared to say these early stages [in the womb] represent an incomplete human being than I would be to say the child prior to the dramatic effects of puberty … is not a human being. This is human life at every stage albeit incomplete until late adolescence.” The chairman of the Department of Medical Genetics at the Mayo Clinic, Professor Hymie Gordon, confirmed, “By all criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”
The biologists and geneticists are the ones who ought to know. Of the dozens who testified, there was overwhelming agreement that conception marks the beginning of a human life. Why, one might ask, are abortions legal then? It’s because of personally biased judges, self-serving politicians, self-centered parents, radical feminists, morally bankrupt doctors and mixed-up theologians who promote and support this appalling evil.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton once defended the Bible-believer’s “pro-choice” stance by using a supposed biblical argument. He said theologians don’t agree when life begins; that some believe the “soul” [perceived to mean the spirit in man] enters a human being when it takes its first “breath of life” (an expression used four times in the Bible). Therefore, what makes a baby fully human (the spirit in man) is missing inside the womb. In light of this controversy, so the argument goes, women ought to be free to make their own choice.
But does the Bible really proffer such a choice? Let’s examine what it says.
The Biblical Evidence of Life
Let’s first understand that the “soul” does not enter a man. All good Bible dictionaries show that the word soul defines any living thing composed of flesh and blood—including animals. The soul is composed wholly of matter. In other words, man, like any animal,is a soul.
Yet there is a spiritual component in man. That which elevates human beings above animals is the spirit in man (Job 32:8; Zechariah 12:1). It is this human spirit that empowers the human brain with intellect and mind power. Man’s ability to reason, understand, imagine, choose moral and spiritual values or to develop character is bestowed by the spirit in man (1 Corinthians 2:11). This is why animals, some with brains very similar to humans, cannot comprehend what man knows. Their brains lack this spiritual component. For a fascinating detailed look into this subject, request our free booklet What Science Can’t Discover About the Human Mind.
But can we determine from the Bible when the human spirit enters the man? Is it with the “breath of life”? Firstly, that’s not logical. If it were so, then all new-born flesh-and-blood creatures would have access to this spirit upon drawing their first breath. How could the human spirit be accessible only to humans? Both humans and animals draw breath.
Secondly, the Scriptures verify that the “breath of life” applies equally to humans and animals. (The four places where the phrase “breath of life” is used are Genesis 2:7; 6:17; 7:15, 22.) Let’s understand what this means.
The Bible says “the life of the flesh [both human and animal] is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). And we know that the blood needs oxygen from the air. All flesh needs to breathe in order to oxidize the blood. In other words, the blood, through the circulatory system of the body, in both humans and animals, sustains the physical component of life. A baby in the womb gets its oxygen from the mother through the umbilical cord. Just because the baby is dependent does not make it any less human. Simply put, the “breath of life” is the process that kick-starts the self-sustaining, independent physio-chemical existence of all new-born flesh (whether human or animal). It is a purely physical process. There’s nothing mystical about the “breath of life.” To use that as a basis to justify abortion is utterly bogus.
Now notice Ecclesiastes 11:5: “As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything” (Revised Standard Version). God says we don’t know how, but we know when a child receives the human spirit: when it’s in the womb! An unborn child is not merely animal-level life. To be fair, we should note that most Bibles do not translate this verse in quite the same way. But there is other proof that a child in the womb has the same status as one born.
In order to escape a severe drought, Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) moved his family to Egypt. The names of those who went are recorded in Genesis 46. The Bible says that the sons and daughters (plural) who descended from Jacob’s first wife Leah, and who made it to Egypt, numbered 33 (Genesis 46:15). Yet there are only 32 names given for those who went and only one of them is a daughter. Why the discrepancy?
The answer is found in the book of Numbers. One of Leah’s sons, Levi, had a daughter that was not listed, who was born in Egypt (Numbers 26:59). The Companion Bible proves the only explanation is that Levi’s wife was pregnant at the time of the journey and the child wasn’t named yet because she hadn’t been born. Nevertheless, God made sure she was counted as one of the persons who made the journey! This child became the mother of the man God would use to bring Israel out of Egypt—Moses!
Furthermore, the laws that God gave the ancient nation of Israel after the exodus included the following: “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life” (Exodus 21:22-23; New King James Version).
In other words, if there was no injury caused to the infant, the perpetrator had only to pay damages because of whatever inconvenience or hardship might have been imposed on the parents. However, if his actions caused the unborn child to die, then he was sentenced to death!
Clearly, God considers the life of an unborn child equal to that of an adult.
To those who have “ears to hear” what God thinks about abortion, the Bible reveals even more than this.
Understanding “Born Again”
Often, the spiritual things of God can be understood by His creation (Romans 1:20). In fact, the physical often mirrors the spiritual because God created all things visible and invisible (Colossians 1:16). The family is one such example. God created the physical family to teach us about the spiritual God Family! If we understand how we may be born into His Family, it will enlighten our knowledge of the physical birthing process and why abortion is murder. To this end, the religious “born again” teaching is a damnable heresy! We are not “born again” when we “accept Jesus” and undergo some sort of “revival.” What does it mean then, to be “born again”?
Jesus explained this fundamental teaching to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Pharisees. He told him, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Nicodemus was befuddled. He understood that Christ meant a literal birth, because he asked Him how that could be possible. Would he have to enter into his mother’s womb a second time and be born, he wondered. It seemed ludicrous. But Jesus responded: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (verse 6).
Pinch yourself. You are still in the flesh, aren’t you? You were born “of flesh” (from a physical mother) and you still are flesh. Unless you are composed of spirit, you have not been born “of spirit.” So you have not been born again! In essence, Jesus taught that our physical birth is a type of a second spiritual birth—yet future. This will help us understand how God feels about abortion.
Remember that Jesus said we cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless we are born again—born of the Spirit, literally. Likewise, the Apostle Paul said we cannot inherit the Kingdom of God as long as we are composed of flesh and blood (1 Corinthians 15:50). So we inherit God’s Kingdom whenever we are no longer composed of flesh and literally born of the Spirit—at the resurrection of the saints (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) and the return of Jesus Christ! (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Now here’s the critical question. How can we be born “of the Spirit” at the resurrection if we are still composed of flesh and blood at that time? We must first be begotten of the Spirit by God the Father, while we are yet composed of flesh and blood, before we can be born of the Spirit later. The same is true of the physical birthing process—begettal and a certain amount of growth must precede birth.
Upon real repentance and baptism, a true Christian is begotten with a “deposit,” or “down payment,” of God’s Holy Spirit! (Acts 2:38; 2 Corinthians 5:5). We must then mature spiritually (2 Peter 3:18) and grow enough to become like our Father (Matthew 5:48) before we can literally be born “of the Spirit” that is already inside us! The physical life of a spiritually begotten Christian prior to his literal, spiritual birth into God’s Family is typed by the gestation of a baby in the womb.
Now here is the crux of the matter as it relates to abortion. In this spiritually begotten state, all true Christians are already children of God and heirs to the Kingdom of God, though not yet inheritors. “The Spirit itself [God’s Holy Spirit] beareth witness with our spirit [the human spirit in man], that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be [yet future] also glorified together [when we are literally born of God’s Spirit]” (Romans 8:16-17). There are many scriptures that attest to the fact that God considers spiritually begotten Christians His children—even though they are not yet born!
It’s no different on the physical level.
The Magnificent Parallel
Our awesome Creator God designed the amazing and breathtaking process of human begettal and birth as a type of the spiritual process in order to demonstrate, in physical terms, our incredible human potential—to be born into the Family of God! Let’s clearly understand the parallels.
The process of begettal, gestation and birth of physical children was designed by the Creator to teach us about our incredible human potential as the literal children of God the Father! Although He allows the incorrigible to ultimately opt out of His Family (Hebrews 6:4-6), Henever aborts a spiritually begotten life (Philippians 1:6). Likewise, the Supreme Court of Heaven prohibits anyone from killing a physically begotten life. It is formed in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and has the human spirit at conception. When you fully understand it, there is no doubt that abortion really is murder!
If you have had an abortion, be assured that upon real repentance, God will forgive you. If you are pregnant and you or your family truly can’t keep your baby, consider the adoption option. There are hundreds of thousands of couples who want desperately to love and raise your baby. Far more couples are seeking to adopt than there are babies available. Don’t make a hasty decision to murder your unborn baby just because it’s “legal.” Consider the ramifications. The only choice in the sight of God and before the Supreme Court of Heaven is to preserve life.
Request a free copy of our booklet Just What Do You Mean—Born Again?