It has been a great many years since I’ve read Judith Jarvis Thomson’s “A Defense of Abortion.” The first time I read the article I was a senior in high school. The second time I read it I was either a sophomore or junior in college. Both times I was simply a student of ethics; the questions being raised were void of any religious significance. Both times I found myself completely distraught, heart sick even, at reading such a defense of what I believed (and continue to believe) is a gross violation of what is right. Abortion is murder; period. There is no defending it, there are no exceptions. Abortion is morally wrong; end of story. I do not think I could be any clearer.
To say that I could make my case without God would rely very heavily on science, medical technology, and a very clear philosophical definition of ethics. Judith Jarvis Thomson is a philosopher, who clearer does not have any allegiance to a Creator God, so maybe I should play by her rules. No. My faith in an unseen Creator God (God here used to indicate more than a mere watch maker, but an invested sentient being) does not hinge upon mysticism or superstition. He is. I do not have to prove His existence because I do not have a reason to doubt His existence. My leap of faith comes in believing the Christian sacred texts, The Holy Bible, as being the unerring Word of God and in that believing that human beings (homo sapiens) are in fact created in His image.
Now, to my point on abortion. A “fetus,” otherwise known as or what I like to call “a baby,” as found in the womb of a human woman, will in fact be a human being. Homo sapiens are only capable of reproducing like species; in simple words, human beings can only ever reproduce another human being. That being said, the “fetus” mentioned above is in fact a “human fetus,” therefore, since it can be nothing else (it does not miraculously change species in the womb), it is a human being. Likewise, that baby is created in the image of God. Now, when an abortion takes place, we quite literally dismember and destroy the image of God. Who do we think we are? I can tell you this, without the image of God we are formless, we are nothing.
The below video showcases the formation of a child from conception to birth. If present technology can show us a beating heart as early as 6 weeks after conception, what will future technology reveal? Questions of personhood can get tossed around all day, but a brain begins to form at 5 weeks, the heart beats at 6, and the child can feel pain at 12. Currently our technology can save a baby at 21 to 22 weeks after fertilization (5 months in gestation). When I read about abortion I am brought to incredible grief and pain, my heart breaks. Why does it break? It breaks because the heart of God breaks; it breaks because the tiny, defenseless human wriggles in pain; it breaks because the abortion of 54 million babies in the United States is blood on our hands and God will be Just in His judgement.
Rachel's Thoughts 