In the wake of the historic Alabama abortion bill that nearly bans the grotesque practice altogether, the arguments and protests are increasing ever more. The abortion debate is not going to slow down anytime soon.

One thing I’ve seen become more prevalent in these days is the erroneous argument that the fetus is not a person, and therefore has no rights. Sure, that is logical. If the fetus isn’t a person, of course they have no rights. If the fetus—which means baby, in Latin, mind you—has no rights, there wouldn’t be a debate. However, there’s only one issue: the baby is a person.

The argument goes like this: since the “thing” inside the mother’s womb isn’t a person—and consequently has no rights—then the mother has the choice—oh, the word choice!—to “terminate” the pregnancy. Logically, that makes sense, like I just alluded to above.

However, if that’s the case, when does “clump of cells”—as babies are so often called—become a person and gain constitutional rights? Need we all be reminded that we were all “clump of cells” at one point? The logic stops at that point. At the very least, you’re “terminating” a potential human life. But it’s not a potential life.

A Life with a Heartbeat

In a Facebook live video shot by one of the members of Apologia Church in Phoenix, AZ, she was arguing with a pro-choice protester and the person shouted, “The fetus is a 6-week grain of rice!” Also, on a recent Facebook post, another pro-choice advocate said that “an embryo is essentially just a bunch of DNA strands and cells.” Church, this is a satanic lie that is filling the minds of people who believe it. It is unscientific. It is illogical. It is certainly sin.

It is a fact that we can detect the baby’s heartbeat at about six weeks, give or take. On a personal level, that is the exact time my wife and I got to hear our little girl’s heartbeat. I don’t say that in attempt to make this an emotional discussion, as so many do. I say it as a general fact: we can detect the baby’s heartbeat at six weeks. And focus on the word detect there. Just because we detect a heartbeat at six weeks doesn’t mean it wasn’t beating before then.

This is the folly of the pro-choice movement. They either deny this truth and attempt to appeal to so-called oppression, the woman’s body (which, of course, the baby may be inside the woman’s body is not the woman’s body) and other fallacious arguments, or they follow the logical conclusion and elevate the mother’s choice over the baby’s rights. They advocate for murder and they know it.

Compassionately Firm

Church, as you should know by now, this is a significant issue. Murders are happening each day and something needs to be done about it. We need to do our part. This article here is a good starting point.

As much as this conversation may enrage us, we must be compassionate. That is imperative. Should we argue, discuss, and rebuke? Absolutely. But we should do it as the salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-16). We remember our duty to be God’s people in the midst of rebellion. We were once a part of it.

However, though we must be compassionate, we must not compromise either. We need to stand firm on the doctrine of the imago Dei–that all people, born and unborn, are made in the image of God and have God-given value, worth, and dignity. Go to Planned Parenthood’s, stand outside the murder mills, plead for the life of the babies! We must speak out.

Other Arguments

There are, of course, other arguments from the pro-choice side that we must deal with–and, I believe, we have dealt with, but sometimes people elevate feelings over facts. I don’t intend to speak to the other arguments, since I wanted to devote this post to the personhood of the unborn.

The baby in the womb is just that: a baby. A baby with his/her own blood type, own DNA, own fingerprints, own everything. It may be inside the mother’s body for a period of time, but he/she is not the mother’s body.

Get to the Gospel

Let’s call our abortion for what it is: murder. We should be doing that. We should be having discussions with pro-choicers and attempt to change their mind and have them see the folly of their worldview. However, our ultimate objective is not to win people to the pro-life position; our goal is to attempt to show them “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Winning somebody to the pro-life position but not Christ is in vain. The goal is to see people saved in the process, not merely become pro-life.

Church, let’s remember that.

Soli Deo Gloria

Cover photo courtesy of Wayne Evans at pexels.com