CIM Briefing Papers

C.I.M. Outline #8

                ABORTION: A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

I.  Introduction

    A.  The root of the abortion question is not whether or not
        it is sociologically useful, that is granted, but
        whether or not it is ethical to re-define human life.

    B.  The real issues behind this intensely emotional debate
        which has so polarized our nation are: What is a human? 
        (How is man defined?  or, How is human value      
        determined?), and when does human life begin? 

    C.  The abortion issue is the issue it is because it involves
        a primary collision of two differing worldviews: 
        Humanism versus Judeo-Christian theism.  It arose because 
        of the loss of a Christian consensus in this country      
        which we had for almost 200 years.

II.  How is Human Life and Value Determined, or What is Human?

     A.  Human Value is arbitrary or assigned.

         1.  Garrett Hardin, an eminent biologist says:  "People
             who worry about the moral danger of abortion do so
             because they think of the fetus as a human being
             and hence equate feticide with murder.  Whether the
             fetus is or is not a human being is a matter of
             definition, not fact and we can define any way we
             wish." (From the Journal of Marriage & Family)

         2.  Harvey Cox, a theologian, writes: "Secular man's
             values have been deconsecrated, shorn of any claim
             to ultimate or final significance...  They are no
             longer the direct expression of divine will.  They
             have become what certain people at a particular
             time and place hold to be good.  They have ceased
             to be values and have become valuations..."
             (Secular City, p. 3.)

         3.  Four examples of subjective valuation with regards
             to man.

             a.  In the area of the physical--the setting forth
                 of some standard for the ideal physical
                 specimen.

                 (1) Francis Crick, Nobel prize-winning     
                     biologist, advocates legislation under which 
                     new born babies would not be considered      
                     legally alive until they were two days old   
                     and had been certified as healthy by medical 
                     examiners.

                 (2) Philip Handler, a prominent scientist says:
                     "The time has come to exert a national
                     policy of eliminating defective unborn
                     babies.  Not to do so, Handler warns, would
                     endanger the very stock of mankind and court
                     the dreadful prospect of serious damage to
                     the human gene pool.

             b.  Social Standards.  Is he or she socially
                 useful?  Do they or can they contribute
                 anything positive to society?

                 Hitler said "we must get rid of useless
                 eaters."

                 Our dwindling resources make this sound
                 attractive.  Example: the retarded child who is
                 a financial burden.

             c.  Mental Awareness.  Value is assigned according
                 to certain mental functions that are present.

                 (1) Winston L. Duke, a scientist says: "A
                     philosophy of reason will define a human
                     being as life which demonstrates self-
                     awareness, volition, and rationality.  Thus
                     it should be recognized that not all men are
                     human..." ("The New Biology," Reason, Aug.
                     1972.)

                 (2) Ethicist Joseph Fletcher believes a person
                     is not human when there is absence of
                     cerebral function.

                 (3) A leading feminist as early as 1971 said:
                     "Fetuses aren't human beings.  A human being
                      ought to have more brains than a puppy
                      dog."

             d.  Social interaction

                 Anthropologist, Ashley Montagu says: "A newborn
                 baby is not truly human until he or she is
                 molded by social and cultural influences
                 later."

         4.  Implications of Arbitrary Definitions of Human
             Value

             Ethicist Daniel Callahan said it clearly:  "A power
             group society could, by the use of this principle
             (of defining humanness any way we wish), define the
             chronically sick, the senile, the elderly as non-
             human, and thus justify the taking of their lives
             on the grounds of the social good to be obtained."
             (Abortion: Law, Choice and Morality, p.125.)

     B.  Human Value is Inherent.

         1.  Man has value because he is created in God's Image. 
             This is known through Scripture.

             a. Man is a spiritual being.  Gen. 1:26; 2:7.  God
                breathed into his nostrils and he became a
                living soul.

             b. The Bible views the fetus as a human entity. 
                Life is seen as a continuum of conception to
                death.  Isa. 49:1-5; Job 10; Ps. 139.

             c. The historical position of the church has always
                been that Christ was divine from conception. 
                Matt. 1:20; Lk. 1:35.

             d. The fetus is  human with potential.

         2.  The Commandment not to murder (Exodus 20)

             It refers to willful. premeditated, malicious
             taking of a life.

             Abortion and infanticide were common practice among
             the nations surrounding Israel.  The only
             exceptions to this commandment were: legal
             executions (Gen.9:6; Ex. 2:23; Lev. 24:15; Rom.
             13:4.), killing aggressors in war, and self-
             defense.

III.  When Does Human Life Begin?

      A.  Biologists in the past have always concluded that it
          began at conception.  If it isn't human life, what kind
          of life is it?  We know it is not part of the mother.

      B.  Science has been inconsistent.

          1.  Scientists in England experimenting with live
              aborted fetuses were opposed.  Why, if the fetus
              is not human?

          2.  In Vitro experimentation.  Where do you decide
              human life begins?

          3.  Several years ago a baby born to a 14 year old in
              Connecticut was stuffed into plastic bag and put
              in the trash.  In court the issue was "Did the
              baby breathe?"  If it breathed it was human and
              she could be tried for murder.

      C.  Francis Crick and Thomas Watson state that human life
          should begin when a baby is "pronounced" alive.

      D.  The Supreme Court ruled that life begins with
          "viability".

      E.  The Christian view is that life begins at conception.
          It is then a developing human being.  It is definitely
          the safe view and historically the church has always
          viewed feticide as murder.  See the Didache, Clement of
          Alexander, Athenagora, Tertullian, Council of Alvira
          (A.D.305), Council of Ancyia (A.D.314), St. Basil, and
          Thomas Aquinas.

IV. Conclusion.

    The divisiveness of this issue of due to the different
    worldview assumptions of the two sides.  The Christian must
    never allow the opposition's statement that the Pro-life
    view is based on religious beliefs while the abortionist
    view is based on reason and compassion.  Their humanist
    worldview assumptions are no less based on religious
    beliefs.  All worldviews are religious in that their
    presuppositions or assumptions are held in faith.
 
 
Christian Information Ministries is a non-profit ministry and is 
dependent on gifts from God's people in order to operate.  If you 
receive a benefit from our materials would you consider giving a 
tax-deductible gift to CIM.  We suggest $25. a year minimum.  
Send to:  Christian Information Ministries 
          2050 N. Collins Blvd. #100 
          Richardson, TX  75080 

Top of Page