Ron Halbrook

The ancient Greeks discarded unwanted infants by leaving them to die in the open air.  Modern man often kills unwanted infants in a more aggressive, violent manner:  by invading the safe haven of the mother's womb.  Babies are destroyed by poisoning them with a salt solution, or chopping them up and suctioning them from the womb, or, in the case of partial birth abortion, pulling them from the womb except for the head, puncturing the base of the skull, and suctioning out the brain.  Does it sound gruesome?  It is!

Men in white coats who used to be dedicated to saving lives at all costs have developed a “sanitized” method of destroying infants:  just have mothers take some pills causing an abortion.  This method may have painful and harmful side-effects for the mother of the unwanted child, so maybe we can learn from the Greeks to dispose of infants after their birth.  The men in white coats can doubtless administer some poison--er, medicine--to the babies resulting in painless death.  (Is there a Dr. Kevorkian or a member of the Hemlock Society in the house?)

Abortion on demand is just a variant of infanticide, the homicide of an infant.  It is not the mere termination of a pregnancy, it is the extermination of a life.  It is a “choice” only in the same sense that any other form of murder is a choice.

God ordained that the most basic function of civil government is to protect innocent life from those who would endanger life.  “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil....For he is the minister of God to thee for good” (Rom. 13:1-7).  No person is more innocent and worthy of protection than an infant.  Yet, our has government sanctioned abortion on demand as a legal right since the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade Decision of 1973, to the tune of 1,500,000 infanticides per year.  God gave government “the sword” to punish not to protect those who destroy innocent lives (Rom. 13:4; Gen. 9:6).  Our nation faces a terrible judgment from God, unto whom the innocent victims of such bloodshed cry out (Gen. 4:10).

Government leaders who rationalize abortion on demand have lost their moral bearings.  They not only fail to lead the people of our nation but also fail in their most fundamental civic duty before God:  to protect innocent life.  Some tell us moral character ought not to be an issue in government, but it is the first and foremost qualification for any trust, duty, or stewardship.  When “political” is used in the sense of equally moral options, abortion on demand is not a “political” issue but is a moral issue of the first order.

“But,” someone protests, “not everyone agrees abortion on demand is morally wrong, so let's relegate it to the realm of political option for government and of personal choice for individuals.”  Morality is not determined by majority vote or political expediency.  Some nations have approved and participated in the aggression and atrocities of Nazi, fascist, and communist regimes, resulting in the suffering and slaughter of untold millions of people.  The ingenuity of the human mind in rationalizing immoral and degraded conduct is limitless.  “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20)

Body and Spirit Separated by Abortion

Someone may ask, “Does the Bible clearly teach that the baby in the mother's womb is a living person?”  Yes, it does.  Human life on earth involves the union of a fleshly body and an immortal soul or spirit; death is the separation of body and spirit.  “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (Ja. 2:26).  The point of that passage is that just as the body must be joined to the spirit to be alive, so faith must be joined to obedience to be alive.   Life is the union of body and spirit, and no one disputes that the baby in a mother's womb is alive.  If it isa human life, it is a person.

God formed Adam directly from the dust of the ground as an adult with human life--body and spirit (Gen. 1:27; 2:8).  Since then, God has formed human life in the mother's womb.  Just as a man shapes clay or makes cheese, Job said of God, “Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews” (Job. 10:8-12).  The “me” refers to Job's immortal spirit which God clothed with a human body.  David praised God for shaping and forming him:  “Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb....for I am fearfully and wonderfully made....My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret....Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect” (Ps. 139:13-16).  God fashioned David where men could not watch His handiwork.

The Bible often refers to the work of God in forming human life in the womb (Isa. 44:2; 44:24; 49:1,5, 15; Jer. 1:5).  The Law of Moses gave legal protection to the child growing in the womb.  If two men fighting “hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her,” they were fined if neither mother nor child suffered any wound.  If either were wounded, “then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Ex. 21:22-25).  The Hebrew word translated “fruit” is the word for “child.”

Once when Mary, the mother of Jesus, greeted Elizabeth, who was carrying John, Elizabeth said, “For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy” (Lk. 1:41, 44).  Later, the angels told the shepherds concerning the birth of Jesus, “Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Lk. 2:12).  Luke, the author of these accounts, was a physician (Col. 4:14).  He used the same Greek word to identify a baby inside or outside the womb because either way it is a human life.

A mother and all who assist her in an act of infanticide by abortion on demand violate the natural love and affection for infants God planted in our hearts.  The lives of those who turn their backs on the truth of God become “filled with all  unrighteousness, ...maliciousness; ...murder, ...malignity, ...inventors of evil things, ...without understanding, ...without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful” (Rom. 1:28-32).  Another description of such corruption warns, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves,...unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,...fierce, despisers of those that are good, ...heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:1-4).  All of these sins and more are involved in any form of infanticide including abortion on demand.

A mother's love for her infant is so remarkably strong that God used it as a benchmark to teach that His love for us is greater than the greatest love known among men.  “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee” (Isa. 49:15).  The mother's natural love for her child begins the moment she knows the infant is there.  This remarkable love is a benchmark for the depth of the depravity of the human heart necessary before the mother could sanction the wanton destruction of the precious life of her own child.  God instructed older, godly women to teach younger women “to love their children” (Tit. 2:4).  Such teaching is needed because of the godless philosophies and pressures so prevalent in our sinful world.

Infanticide by abortion on demand and all other forms of sin can be forgiven through Jesus Christ.  He calls the weary sinner, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).  By faith in Christ, every sinner can repent of his sins, confess Christ as God's Son, and be immersed in water for forgiveness and reconciliation with God (Mk. 16:15-16; Acts 2:38).