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Perspectives on the Humanity of the Pre-Born

Pre-born at 19-Weeks

Note: In the United States, over 45 million pre-born humans have been killed since the Jan. 22, 1973 Supreme Court Decision that legalized surgical abortion. Each year, nearly 20,000 abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy.

Recently I summarized an argument by Robert George and Patrick Lee concerning the ethics of embryonic stem cell research. In assessing the un-born the authors effectively argue that the embryo and, by implication, the fetus, are humans.

Each of us developed by a gradual, unified, and self-directed process from the embryonic into and through the fetal, infant, child, and adolescent stages of human development, and into adulthood, with his or her determinateness, unity, and identity fully intact. Although none of us was ever a sperm cell or an ovum, the sperm and ovum from whose union we emerged were genetically and functionally parts of other human beings, each of us was once an embryo, just as we were once infants, children, and adolescents. In referring to "the embryo," then, we are referring not to something distinct from the human being that each of us is, but rather to a certain stage in the development of each human being, like saying "the teenager" or "the five-year old."

Any statement to the contrary is based upon the premise that there is some characteristic of an embryo that leads to its devaluation. However, George and Lee make clear that "we value human beings precisely because of the kind of entities they are" and not in a manner related to their characteristics. Racism, sexism, and all sorts of other isms are repugnant because we believe the value of humans is tied to their humanity and not their characteristics or maturity.

While George and Lee’s arguments presume a particular definition of "human" and "value" that is based upon societal norms, it is sound and consistent with the truth revealed by God in the Bible about the humanity of the pre-born.

On this topic, I consider four somewhat related points outlined below.

First, the Bible records that the beginning of an individual is at his or her conception in the womb. In the form of a question, Job asserts the God "made me in the womb" and formed "us both within our mothers." (Job 31:15). Similarly, consider the following:

This is what the LORD says--he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you … (Isaiah 44:2).

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13-16).

Second, Jesus Christ suffered and died for people, individuals, and humans thereby bringing them into a relationship of union and communion with God. The Bible, at times, refers to this relationship between God and people as beginning in the womb.

Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you (Isaiah 46:3-4).

The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:4-5).

Third, as seen in the passages above, the Bible draws no distinction between the born and the un-born related to their purpose, spirtuality or value. This is seen in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, who was declared the Savior while in the womb, and by the response of John the Baptist (who was also yet to be born) to the presence of the un-born Savior.

But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." (Matt. 1:20-21)

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy" (Luke 1:41-42, 44).

On this point it is well noted that Rebecca’s pre-born children, Esau and Jacob, were referred to as "nations", having already been called by God and predestined according to His purpose (Gen. 25:23).

Finally, the humanity of the pre-born is seen by considering the criminal sanctions imposed on those those who cause a premature birth that ends in death (a miscarriage). The Old Testament demands an eye-for-eye (the punishment fits the crime) and the penalty for causing a miscarriage is life-for-life or death (Gen. 9:6, Ex. 21:22).

God calls all to consider the plight of the stranger (Ex. 22:21), the weak and needy (Ps. 82:4), the fatherless (Ps. 146:9) and condemns those who favor the rich (James 2:1-7). Jesus healed the chronically and fatally ill and equally valued children and adults (Matt. 19:14). Certainly any argument that would de-value the pre-born on the basis of his or her immature development would violate God's command to protect those who are weak and defensiveless and Jesus' example of love to young and old.

In the end, the Author of Life has made the pre-born a human, an individual, and a person who is valued by Him. This truth is incredible because it also implies that God's love is not dependent upon man's beauty, maturation, intelligence, righteousness or accomplishments. Rather, God, in revealing the glory of His grace and mercy, wanted to and therefore put His love on human beings (see Deut. 7:7-8 and Rom. 5:8).

The pre-born’s distinction from an adult is one of maturation, which is not a characteristic that adds value to the human kind. Therefore, those who are yet to be born are as valuable as those who are born and abortion or the destruction of an embryo is as much a crime as the murder of an adult. A society that can justify the killing of a certain kind of human will, over time, become more consistent in its belief system and aggressive in its oppression of the weak and helpless.

Posted by tim at January 18, 2005 9:51 PM

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