1 37 Million Annually 42 Million Annually 1

1. 37 Million Annually 42 Million Annually 1

EMBRYO: “the developing human individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week after conception. ” (Merriam-Webster) FETUS: “an unborn or unhatched vertebrate especially after attaining the basic structural plan of its kind; specifically: a developing human from usually two months after conception to birth. ” (Ibid. ) 2

“Whether or not abortion should be legal turns on the answer to the question of whether and at what point a fetus is a person. This is a question that cannot be answered logically or empirically. The concept of personhood is neither logical nor empirical: It is essentially a religious, or quasi-religious idea, based on one’s fundamental (and therefore unverifiable) assumptions about the nature of the world. ” (Paul Campos, professor of law at the University of Colorado, 2002) 3

“The real question today is not when human life begins, but, ‘What is the value of human life? ’ The abortionist who reassembles the arms and legs of a tiny baby to make sure all its parts have been torn from its mother’s body can hardly doubt whether it is a human being. ” (President Ronald Reagan, 1983) 4

Pro-Abortionists Assume… • • Difference between human life and being a person (possessing “personhood”) A time when the unborn is not a person, but is “potential life” (a potential person) • Thus, they conclude that a human fetus does not possess 5

What can be Proved Empirically • • • New human life begins at conception and is sustained by implantation Human life develops in the womb, leading to birth Human embryo and fetus is an individual, distinct human being; not merely the mother’s body 6

What can be Accepted by Faith • Human life is in the image of God, Genesis 1: 26 -27 • Both in and out of womb, Luke 1: 44; 2: 12 • Therefore, whether in or out of the womb, human life is in image of God 7

What can be Accepted by Faith • • • The life in the womb is distinct from the life of the mother, Luke 1: 44 Murder is the deliberate termination of innocent human life (in image of God), Genesis 9: 6 The deliberate termination of the life of the unborn human child is 8

Argue with Science, not the Bible! • Human life begins at conception • Humanity of the embryo is a matter of medical science 9

Ecuadorian Federation of Societies of Gynecology and Obstetrics “Science teaches that human life begins at conception. If it is also true that it is affirmed by religion, it does not for that reason cease to be a strictly scientific truth, to be transformed into a religious opinion. He who denies that human life begins with conception does not need to contend with religion, but science. To deny this certainty of biology is not to express a lack of faith, but a lack of basic knowledge of human genetics, something that is even known by the general

“From the moment that the ovum is fertilized, a new life is begun that is not part of the father, nor of the mother, but rather a new human being that develops autonomously… Human life must be respected from its conception, without exceptions. ” 11

“To affirm that the woman can do with her body whatever she wishes, besides being a conceited claim, has absolutely no basis in science: the embryo is not part of the body of the mother, nor is the fetus an internal organ of her body: the DNA of the embryo is distinct from that of its parents. ” (Ibid. ) 12

In the Image of God • When we are given life, Gen. 1: 2627; 2: 7 • The uniqueness of humanity: God forms our spirit within us, Zech. 12: 1 • Adam was a living being when his body lived • Without the spirit we are dead, Jas. 2: 26 13

In the Image of God • When we are given life, Gen. 1: 2627; 2: 7 • Since the unborn child is alive, we conclude that the spirit also exists – even while the body is in its earliest stages of development • “WHEN DOES PERSONHOOD BEGIN? ” • When new and unique human life 14

Bible Evidence of Human Life in the Womb • Each person made in womb, Job 31: 13 -15 • David’s substance was known and seen by God when David was still “unformed” Psalm 139: 13 -16 • Divine intervention and formation of the person (Messiah) in the womb, Isaiah 49: 1, 5 15

Bible Evidence of Human Life in the Womb • Children in the womb, Gen. 25: 2123 • Children come to birth, 2 Kings 19: 3 • “Sons” in and out of the womb, Ruth 1: 11 (Gen. 25: 4) • Woman is “with child” – not “with fetus” Exodus 21: 22 16

Bible Evidence of Human Life in the Womb • Personal identity in womb (personhood) • Job had identity in womb, Job 3: 3 • Male-child elsewhere means “a man” or a “human individual” (Job 4: 17) • Job could have perished in the womb and been carried from the womb to the grave, Job 10: 18 -19 17

Bible Evidence of Human Life in the Womb • A mother (whether child is born or unborn) • Mother of a dead baby, Num. 12: 12 • Mary was identified as a “mother” early in her pregnancy, Luke 1: 43 (1: 36, 56 -57) 18

Bible Evidence of Human Life in the Womb • A baby before and after birth, Lk. 1: 41, 44 • After conception (1: 24) and before birth (1: 57), in the 6 th month of pregnancy (1: 36), THE LIFE “in her womb” (1: 41) WAS A BABY (brephos) • John was a living human being (son) in his mother’s womb and after birth, Lk. 1: 36, 57 19

Bible Evidence of Human Life in the Womb • Taking unborn human life is murder, Exodus 21: 22 -23 • Killing plant life is not murder, Gen. 1: 29 • Killing animal life is not murder, Gen. 9: 3 • Killing human life is murder, Gen. 9: 6 • Life in the womb is not plant life or 20 animal life, Gen. 1: 25, 28 (“according

Bible Evidence of Human Life in the Womb • Abortion is murder: The taking of innocent human life “To vehemently deny that life begins when conception begins is absurd…I had to face the fact that in abortion, a human life of a special order is being taken. ” -Dr. Bernard Nathanson, former pro-abortionist who worked in an abortion clinic but quit and 21

Why do Women Have Abortions? • • It’s legal. (Acts 5: 29) Rape or incest. (1%) Potential health problems of the mother or the child. (6%) Social reasons (birth control/unwanted pregnancy, convenience, poor). (93%) 22

What Abortion Really Is • • • The murder of innocent human life Result of having lost “natural affection”, Rom. 1: 31; 2 Tim. 3: 3 (“unloving”) Result of having lost respect for God and for human life God gave us (Acts 17: 25, 28; Rom. 1: 28 -31) 23

Answer to Unwanted Pregnancy is NOT… • • • Defining the new child out of existence Adding violence upon violence Replacing the physical pain and trials of health problems with the mental, emotional and psychological pain of abortion Discarding a new life because that new life is inconvenient or unwanted Adding sin upon sin – Willful sin: “I can repent later” (Heb. 10: 26 -27) 24

The Answer to Unwanted Pregnancy • • • Respect for the new life that now exists Solutions that honor the life of the child Repent of fornication if that has occurred, Acts 17: 30 25

The Answer to One who has Already had an Abortion • • God loves you and you can be forgiven (Lk. 23: 34; Acts 2: 36 -38; 1 Jno. 1: 9) You can heal spiritually, emotionally and psychologically, Phil. 4: 6 -7, 13, 19 26

• Unborn has identity, personhood and life • Abortion is not a woman’s “right”… • Abortion terminates the rights of the child • The blood of innocent millions cries out to God (Gen. 4: 10; Matt. 2: 18) 27

The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene… (Isa. 59: 15 -16, NIV) See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer. (Isa. 26: 21, NIV) 28