Abortion is Murder and Everybody Knows it

Even in a less technologically advanced age, the suggestion that life begins anywhere but conception is such an absurd proposition that it’s unlikely most who say it even believe it. A 1963 pamphlet from Planned Parenthood defending the use of birth control by arguing that birth control was not abortion is evidence of this: “Is [birth control] an abortion? Definitely not. Abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun… Birth control merely postpones the beginning of life.” Even 10 years before Roe v. Wade, everyone – Planned Parenthood included – knew abortion was murder.

Still, the dishonest argument that the beginning of life was unknown became one of the primary arguments in favor of abortion. It was utilized by supreme court justice Harry Blackmun in the 1973 Roe decision. “We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins,” Blackmun wrote. “When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer.”

Along the same lines, Supreme court justice Anthony Kennedy penned possibly the most intellectually and morally bankrupt postmodern prose ever peddled by someone attempting to be serious in his authorship of the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.’” Kennedy builds on Blackmun’s feigned ignorance about life’s beginning, adding that the meaning of freedom includes the right to define certain classes of humanity as sub-human and murder them.

There almost certainly will never be another supreme court decision or dissent that reads anything like what Blackmun and Kennedy wrote because there is no longer a significant amount of people on either side of the debate who maintain the pretense of belief in the fact that preborn children are not human beings. Just as Planned Parenthood did in 1963, many abortion supporters are perfectly happy to admit that abortion kills a human being.

University of Michigan professor and Planned Parenthood abortionist Lisa Harris told attendees of a National Abortion Federation Conference to concede that preborn children were people and that abortion violently kills them. Author Sophie Lewis said, “Abortion is a form of killing that we need to be able to defend.” Salon contributor Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote, “So what if abortion ends life? I believe that life starts at conception. And it’s never stopped me from being pro-choice.” Williams justifies this position with the suggestion that “All life is not equal,” and that the preborn human is “A life worth sacrificing.”

This open embrace of violently killing the innocent in the name of freedom is now the primary justification for the pro-abortion position because it has to be. To argue that the life of any individual human being did not begin at conception is to be the embryological equivalent of a flat-earther.

Abortion is murder and everybody knows it. We must not be afraid to say this. There’s nothing wrong, of course, with quoting unanimous embryology textbooks which teach that the life of each individual human being begins at conception, but ultimately, a debate with an abortion supporter comes down to the fact that they are suppressing the truth which they know full well.

Why is abortion wrong? Why do we have a duty to stand stand for justice? Because there is an objective standard of right and wrong. Some may profess not to believe in right and wrong, but we all know it exists. You can’t live not being certain of the objective evil of murder and rape. That’s because you’re created in the image of God.

Atheist philosopher Richard Dawkins can profess to believe that “The universe we observe has … no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. … DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.” But he can’t live that way. He expresses moral indignation at all sorts of things, as if there is an objective standard of morality that is being broken. Ironically, he expresses indignation at God Himself, calling religion “the root of all evil.” But what is evil in a universe of blind, pitiless indifference? How can evolved stardust commit evil? The simple act of calling something “good” or “evil” is to borrow from the Christian worldview. Atheism cannot justify these concepts.

Everyone knows there is an objective standard of right and wrong, and further, everyone knows who has revealed to us this standard. Romans 1 tells us that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.”

Although the truth about God is plain to us, we suppress that truth because we love our sin and don’t want to submit to God’s authority. But for this sin and every other, there is forgiveness. All have fallen short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23). Every one of us has sinned and deserves the punishment for our sin. but as Romans 5:8 tells us, you can be made righteous before God, because, despite your sin, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Salvation is found in the grace of God alone through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-10). He died the death that we all deserve, so that we, by faith in Him, could receive his righteousness.

If you have not given your life to Christ, do not let another day go by! Repent of your sins, put your faith in Christ, and dedicate your life to the one who gave up His life that we might be reconciled to Him. Send us a message if you have any questions.