When is a Human a Human? (Abortion)

I was listening to the radio this evening, and a talk show host was discussing a new law passed - in Missouri, I think - that would define a baby as being human at the moment of conception. He argued that this was pushing one religion's moral view on everyone, and while he admitted he didn't know for sure when a fetus 'became alive' he thought that the idea it was at the moment of conception was ridiculous. He mentioned views from various religions, philosophers and scientists over the years, and it got me thinking about how I would defend my personal belief on this subject.

It is my firm belief that life begins at conception. The moment a sperm fertilizes an egg the process of building a human baby begins. Neither a sperm or an egg left on its own will do that, and setting that process in motion seems pretty indicative to me. There is still the possibility that natural processes will keep the fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, and as many women have sadly experienced things will often go wrong even later and result in a miscarriage. I take that to be just like accidents later in life: sin in the world has resulted in imperfections which lead to untimely deaths, as all of us have experienced in the loss of friends or loved ones.

Intentionally taking that growing human life, then, is the same as murder in my book. However, I do understand that not everyone agrees with me - so here is my reasoning for having abortion (at any stage) made illegal:

- Human life is sacred
- It is a travesty to take human life without just cause (punishment for certain crimes, for example)
- We should do everything possible to prevent accidentally taking a human life; the death penalty even should be reserved for only the most heinous crimes, and when guilt is absolutely certain
- There are even those who would posit that capital punishment should *never* be used, because of how sacred life is
- We can't prove empirically when human life begins
- Because we can't prove when life begins, we should not allow elective abortion at any point to make sure we are protecting all human life

With that said, I can see exceptions to this in the following cases:

- Risk to the mother and child: If there is a high chance that bringing a baby to term would lead to the death of both the mother and child, then it makes sense to sacrifice one to save the other. Give the choice, then, to the mother (or the father, if the mother is incapacitated).

- Risk to the mother alone: If there is a high chance that bringing the baby to term would lead to the death of the mother, then a choice is needed. Personally I would risk it, I think, as I trust in God and His mercy and power... but I can't force that on others.

- Rape: Honestly here I think it is only fair to the innocent baby to bring it to term, despite horrible circumstances. The baby could be given up for adoption if raising it would be too traumatic to the mother, but I don't see any reason to punish a child for the crime of someone else. I've been told, though, that letting the result of such a violation grow inside a woman is devastating - and since I don't have any personal experience in that area I could again see letting this be up to the choice of the mother.

I am aware that the topic of abortion is a very divisive one, and while I am pretty settled in my opinions here I would welcome comments from those on all sides of this issue. As always, feel free to post your thoughts or questions!

Inalienable Rights

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

So says the Declaration of Independence, the document that set forth the principles on which our forefathers separated from England and began the great experiment which we, over two centuries later, are the result of. The prominent place this sentence, and the ideas contained therein, occupy certainly makes it an important foundation of our country and the way it works and in which its laws should be interpreted... but the more I think about it the less sure I am that the founders were really correct. Please note that I am not suggesting these rights should be taken away from anyone here in the United States, but I begin to wonder if God really has given us the rights described there.

I do believe that we are each created by God, in His image - by which I take it that we have an eternal soul as a part of us which is in some sense modeled after God Himself. That does mean that humans are special individuals, and in Genesis 9:5 we are told the following:

"And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man."

That could perhaps be interpreted to mean that we have a 'right' to life, at least in so far as other people are concerned. God of course has no obligation to let any of us live another second, so before him we have no rights at all, but that is as it should be in the relationship between a Creator and His creation.

Life, then, we may have a legitimate claim to... but what of 'liberty' and 'the pursuit of happiness'? Liberty is analogous to freedom, at least in some sense, and many would argue that this means slavery and forced servitude are both in violation of human rights. This has led to things like the abolition of slavery here in the US, which I consider to be a great thing... but if you look at the instructions given to slaves in the New Testament there are no instructions to rise up and claim their freedom. Instead they are told in Ephesians 6:5 to "obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ." That doesn't seem to imply a right to liberty to me, though the accompanying instructions for masters (which follow immediately after the guidelines for slaves) do seem to indicate that those in positions of authority should treat their underlings with some measure of respect.

The last 'right', the pursuit of happiness, is a bit more vague. I'm not even sure what that means exactly - but at least it isn't a right to happiness itself, as that would be nigh-impossible to imagine. Still, I don't see anything in the Bible which indicates that we have a God-given right to anything relating to happiness. We are encouraged, though, to "be joyful always" (I Thessalonians 5:16) and even to "consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds" (James 1:2). No matter what our circumstances, then - whether slave or free, rich or poor - we should be joyful in the Lord. That is easier said than done, to be sure, but true joy also seems like a more noble goal than simple happiness.