About abortion

Learn why abortion is wrong and a murder. It is not about a woman’s right to decide on her body but about killing a child in the womb

Have you ever had an abortion, or are you thinking about having one? Many women have been faced with this situation and they have wondered what to do, when they have not been mentally prepared for pregnancy.

Below, we are going to study abortion – which certainly is not one of the easiest subjects. We are going to concentrate on whether abortion is the right thing to do, what points are used to justify it, and how the development of a baby generally takes place. It is important to be clear about these because our opinion of abortion depends a lot on what we think about these matters.

The next story describes well what a difficult thing an unexpected pregnancy can be for many if they are not mentally prepared for it. It may seem like a heavy burden to them. The example also shows that, despite all the propaganda, many people who have had an abortion have the idea that they did something wrong after all. They may feel guilty about it, but they can no longer undo it:

After a moment’s silence, Nakagawa-san continues, “In the summer, I got pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. I thought that there was no way I would be able to start taking care of a baby, as little Daisuke was just three years old. Nowadays, people seem to think that two children are enough for one family. Education also costs a lot of money. Without more hesitation, I went to the doctor’s and had that small life growing in my belly destroyed.”

Her eyes filled with tears. So did mine.

“I later understood what I had done. I felt like I had killed my own child with my own hands. It was then that I understood that I was a sinner. I’m no better than other murderers...”

“Who told you that abortion is a sin? Did you hear it in church?” Suddenly, I had difficulties getting the Japanese words out of my mouth.

“No, I didn't. We Japanese know in principle that abortion is wrong, but many still do it. Those who have problems with their conscience can go to a special "temple of premature babies" to pray for the soul of their child, and bring a small image of Buddha there. My mother-in-law told me that I should go to the temple when she saw how miserable I was. But I didn’t want to go, because I don't believe in those gods.”

I thought that the law of God seems to have been written into the conscience of man whether he is a Christian or a Buddhist. But someone has to preach the Gospel – no-one can find it in his own heart. (1).

REASONS FOR AN abortion

When looking for reasons that are usually connected with abortion, we can find at least three important points, all of which we are going to study separately. If you have had to face this matter the next points are probably familiar to you:

1. ’A fetus is not a person."

2. A woman has the right to decide about her own body."

3. Sympathy

1. ”A Fetus is not a person." The first justification for abortion may be the idea that a fetus is not a person, a perfect human being, but becomes one only at birth or at some later stage of pregnancy. People have claimed that the fetus is only a lump of tissue that does not even resemble a person and therefore should not have human rights.

But is this perception true? Does the fetus become a person only at birth or at some late stage of pregnancy? We look at both options separately:

Does birth make a fetus a person? If we think that the fetus becomes a person at birth our first questions are: what makes this moment so important? What makes the fetus change into a person? Does not birth in fact only mean a change of place – a change in which the child moves from the inside to the outside of the womb – just like we go from the inside of a house to the outside?

We must understand that the moment of birth does not make a child any more of a person than what he/she was, say, a day earlier when he was in his mother's womb. He/she has the same body parts - mouth, feet, hands... - in both places. Even after birth, he/she is equally dependent on his/her mother's care. It's question of the same person all the time. The only change is in the child's residence.

The accounts of the former abortion doctor about the ultrasound imaging give more clarity to the matter. He points out that with the help of this imaging method, it is possible to see how the fetus in the womb is not a lump of tissue or an impersonal being, but he/she has the perfect features of a small child. A fetus can move, swallow, and sleep – all things that adults and small babies can do outside the womb:

(...) It was the ultrasound that for the first time opened a window into the womb for us. We also began to follow the heartbeat of the fetus with electronic heart monitors. For the first time, I started to think about what we did at the clinic. The ultrasound opened a new world for us. For the first time, we could really see the fetus of a man, measure him, observe him, and become attached to him and fall in love with him. That's what happened to me. The ultrasonic pictures of a fetus powerfully affect a person looking at them. In the New England Journal of Medicine, they published a study about the possibilities of this technology. About ten years ago, the newspaper published a study in which ten pregnant women who had come to the abortion clinic were shown an ultrasonic picture of their fetus before abortion. Only one of the women had an abortion. Nine others left the clinic still pregnant. This proves how powerful getting attached is. I also noticed that I become attached to those unborn babies. (2)

I would still like to add that even though we had a lot of (literally) experimental information about destroying a living person in abortion it was only through ultrasonic technology that our thoughts really changed. With the help of the ultrasound we did not only see that the fetus is a working organism, but we could also measure the fetus’ vital functions, weigh and estimate his age, see how he swallowed and urinated, watch him sleep and wake up and see how he was purposefully moving himself as a new-born child does. (...)

It is here where I found myself; in front of this empirical revolution, all this new information, I started a painful process in which I changed my mind about the justification of abortion. I had finally accepted the change of a paradigm. (3)

Does a fetus become a person during some stage of the pregnancy? When another alternative to becoming a person has been proposed, it may have been suggested that it will happen at some stage of pregnancy, especially at some late stage.

However, there are problems with this theory that show that it is on precarious ground.

One problem with this theory is found in cases where children have been born prematurely. Many premature babies come into this world at the same age – or even younger – than those babies who have been aborted. While a normal pregnancy usually lasts around 40 weeks, some children can be born premature up to 20 weeks before that and still survive. This 20 weeks before the normal delivery time shows that the fetus must already be a person at this stage, because it will survive like the children born later. The current trend is that smaller and smaller premature babies can be kept alive outside the mother's womb. The time limit in terms of their age has been decreasing all the time.

Therefore, it must be understood that no later or earlier stage of pregnancy can be the time of becoming a person. After all, no development can start in the middle, as it were, during pregnancy. No clear justification can be found for this notion and it cannot be proven.

The fact that life begins with fertilization was also acknowledged in a recent study asking 5,577 biologists around the world when life begins. Of these, 96 percent said it begins with fertilization (Erelt, S., Survey asked, 5,577 biologists when human life begins. 96% said conception; lifenews.com, 11 Jul 2019). Similarly, the Geneva Declaration of the World Medical Association in 1948, when the unethical behavior of Nazi doctors had been exposed, stated that human life begins with fertilization: "I hold human life in the highest esteem since conception, and I do not use my medical skills against the laws of humanity, even under threat."

So, the only reasonable and possible moment for the beginning of a human life is fertilization because the fertilized egg cell already includes everything needed for development of an individual. There is no need to add anything to the genes: the cell already has all the ingredients needed for a life that may last for a hundred years. All the time, from the moment of fertilization, it is an individual who is growing and developing.

The next Psalm written by David describes this:

- (Ps 139:16) Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

2. ”A Woman has THE right to decide ABOUT her own body." The second possible reason for abortion is that a woman has the right to decide about her own body and what she wants to do with it. It has been suggested that abortion is a procedure similar to removing a wisdom tooth or appendix, where an unnecessary body part is removed.

However, this perception is not true. That is not true, because the fetus is not the same body part as, for example, hands, feet or head, which would be in a person throughout life. Instead, it is only in the mother's body for a certain amount of time, approx. 9 months - or even less if the child is born prematurely. The fetus or child is only growing in the mother's womb, but is not part of the mother's body.

When it comes to the beginning of the fetus, it is not the woman's own body either, but it has started from the fusion of male and female germ cells. Other steps before that, such as the production of gametes, have been preparations for possible fertilization, which will bring about the birth of a new, inherently unique individual. Also, the placenta, umbilical cord and fetal membranes, which are necessary in development, are not part of the mother's body, but belong to the organs formed by the fetus.

It must therefore be understood that the fetus is at no point a part of its mother's body, but a human individual that develops in its mother's womb and receives its nourishment from her. It is always a child that grows in the womb. This is also indicated by the description where the angel called the fetus a boy already three months before birth. If we don't take this obvious fact into account, we will surely get sidetracked:

- (Luke 1:36) And, behold, your cousin Elisabeth, she has also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

The following quotes refer to how the fetus is not part of its mother's body or some lump of tissue. The same body parts as adult have - hands, feet, eyes, mouth, ears - indicate that it is a real person:

You can't have an abortion with your eyes closed. You have to make sure that everything comes out of the womb and calculate that there will be enough arms and legs, chest and brain. Then when the patient wakes up from anesthesia and asks if it was a girl or a boy, the limit of my endurance has been reached and that's when I usually walk away. - If I do a procedure where I clearly kill a living being, I think it's nonsense to talk about destroying a budding life. It is killing, and I experience it as killing.”(4)

At the hospital, I had a doctor colleague with whom we discussed abortion. She defended abortion as a woman's right, while I opposed it as a violation of a child's life. Once in the middle of the work day I met her pale leaning against the wall and asked if she was sick. She said that she had just performed an abortion when a tiny leg detached from the thigh had dropped from the suction machine. She had begun to feel sick and sighed: "This is the work of a hangman." (5)

3. SYMPATHY. One of the most common reasons for justifying abortion is sympathy. It may have been said that "it is good for both the mother and the child that an abortion is performed."

However, one can ask, is sympathy the right reason for abortion? Even though we understand the situation may be difficult, we can still question whether or not sympathy should be used to justify an abortion. When it is clearly known that an abortion destroys a small child and not just a vague lump of tissue, this argument is questionable. It could just as well be acceptable to kill newborns and slightly older children if they didn't happen to please us. There would be no difference between the two things but a short period and the residence of the children - some of them would be still in the mother's womb when they died; others would be outside it.

Sympathy alone is not a good argument, even though it may seem so at first. It's a bad argument because it destroys the child's life that has already begun:

“What surprised me was that in both cases sympathy and love were presented as reasonable values. The women were advised to get an abortion because of sympathy. For the same reason, they were urged not to have an abortion. Everyone was sympathetic. But who was right?

I had to find instructions according to which I could decide who was right. I had to have more than sympathy to work with. It took a long time for me to go through all the issues that affected the decision of abortion, but after a long and difficult journey, I saw that I had joined those who powerfully try to protect the rights of an unborn child. In other words, abortion started to look like an alternative that I couldn't accept as a solution for an unwanted pregnancy.” (6)

How DOES development take place? We know that the development of a human being takes place during a gradual process. Our life begins in fertilization, but the fertilized egg cell does not change immediately into a girl or a boy weighing three kilos, or into an adult; everything takes place gradually over the course of several months.

It is also known that development is continuous until adulthood. The parts of the body that we have all the time grow and change. Because of this, all of us are a different size in the womb than, for example, at the age of one, five, twelve or twenty, even though it is all the time a question of the same individual and the same limbs. Paul showed the same thing about himself:

- (Gal 1:15) But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,

When we talk about development in the womb, we can find several stages of development that follow each other. We can also note that already at a very early stage, the unborn child totally resembles people who have already been born into this world, so that he or she has the same body members. Let’s go through these development phases:

- Even though the new individual is smaller than an apple seed at the age of two weeks, he or she is enough to stop the menstruation cycle of the mother. From that moment on, the unborn child affects his or her mother’s body throughout the pregnancy.

- At the age of about 3 weeks, the heart starts to pump blood to the child's own body. The blood group can be different from the mother’s. A few days after this, we can see rudimentary hands and legs.

- At about six weeks, we can take an electroencephalogram (EEG) of the child's brain. Measuring it is very important, because the end of a life is usually defined as the moment when all brain activity ends.

- At 7- to 8 weeks old, a child already has hands, legs, fingers, and toes as well as a face with the eyes, nose, and mouth. Individual fingerprints will also be formed soon after this and they will not change after this – except as comes to their size. At this stage, the child is also able to grab with his or her hands and feel pain. Most abortions are made during the 8^th week of pregnancy.

- A 14-week-old child is the same size as the palm of an adult and his or her heart pumps 24 liters of blood every day. The features of the face start to resemble those of the parents already at this stage.

- A 20–21-week-old child can these days be kept alive also outside the womb, and stay alive. Children even older than this are aborted in some countries.

Adoption IS ONE alternative. When we understand that abortion is wrong, because it ends a human life, the only alternative left is carrying on with the pregnancy: letting the child live. (In test tube fertilization and certain contraceptive methods, such as using a coil, we face the same ethical problem, because these can destroy any excess fertilized egg cells). This should be done, because otherwise, we will destroy the human life that has already begun.

The only exception to this could be if the mother’s life is in danger. If the mother’s life is in danger, it also means that the child does not have any possibilities to live because his or her life is connected with the life of his or her mother. In these situations – which are, however, extremely rare – we can understand that aborting the pregnancy may be justified.

On the other hand, if you are pregnant and cannot take care of the child, you can also consider other alternatives. In a situation where you feel that you cannot take care of the child – for example, getting pregnant because you have been raped – you might consider giving the child up for adoption. Sometimes adoption is the best alternative. It can be the best alternative from the point of view of the child, the mother, and also many childless couples. So if you are faced with this situation and you do not perhaps have the ability to take care of your child, it is worth your while to consider this possibility as a good alternative.

Perfect forgiveness. One mistake we often make is that we do not think about issues in the light of eternity. We may think that we only have this short life, and that is why we perhaps do not consider that there may also be life after this one.

However, when we study the New Testament, we can see that after this life there will be judgment, when all our actions and everything we have done during this life are weighed. You, who have not considered these matters yet, should consider the possibility that perhaps these issues are true after all. They indicate that if we deliberately keep on sinning and do not care about the consequences of our actions, we will not inherit the kingdom of God:

- (1 Cor 6:9,10) Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

- (Rom 14:12) So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

- (2 Cor 5:10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.

The verses above indicate that everyone will give an account of himself to God. If we live our heart hardened and think that there will be no consequences for our actions, we are certainly deceiving ourselves.

The good news, however, is that everything can be forgiven. The Bible indicates that God has already prepared forgiveness for every one of us. He has done this by sending His own Son to die for our sins. This took place almost 2,000 years ago; and if you now turn to Jesus Christ and want to give your life to Him, you can personally experience the forgiveness of your sins (you can simply pray, "Lord Jesus, come into my life and forgive me.”). This is told in the Bible:

- (Acts 13:38) Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins…

- (Acts 10:43) To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins.

- (1 John 2:12) I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.

Whether it is a question of abortion or other issues you (or other people) may carry on your conscience, you can receive forgiveness for those too. Even if you have committed great or small sins, you will always have possibility to be forgiven. The next example of everyday life refers to this:

- Jesus hung on the cross so you would receive forgiveness for your abortion, I assure you. He suffered your punishment, because He loves you.

- Yes, that is what I have been listening to and tried to believe ever since you returned from your summer holiday. Before that, the forgiveness of the sins didn’t interest me. I thought that I wouldn't be able to believe in the Creation and miracles. But now I understand that it is much more difficult to believe in forgiveness. It feels so – so selfish, quite too easy -- If you only believe, you will be forgiven, and you don’t have to pay for your sins.

- You Japanese haven't really gotten used to getting anything for free. Even gifts must always be compensated with other gifts.

- Quite so! Already when we were small kids our mother told us that we must immediately give something in return, otherwise we will lose trust in the eyes of our neighbors, assured the women. - And of course there is also the proverb: Something that you have gotten for free, will be expensive.

- The forgiveness of sins isn't free either, because its price is the blood of the Son of God. But He has already paid for it, there is no need for us to reconcile our sins again.

- Is it true then that everything will be forgiven when we ask God for forgiveness in the name of Jesus?

- It is true. You can also believe that all your sins have been forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ. (7)

REFERENCES:

1. Mailis Janatuinen: Tapahtui Tamashimassa, p. 17

2. Bernard Nathanson: Antakaa minun elää (The Hand of God), p.107.

3. Bernard Nathanson: Antakaa minun elää (The Hand of God), p.123-124.

4. Suomen kuvalehti, n:o 15, 10.4.1970

5. Päivi Räsänen: Kutsuttu elämään (?), p. 146

6. Bill Hybels: Kristityt seksihullussa kulttuurissa (Christians in a Sex Crazed Culture), p.89-90.

7. Mailis Janatuinen: Tapahtui Tamashimassa, p. 18