What Is Abortion?
by Hank Hanegraaff

"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." - Psalm 139:13-16

Those who continue to fight legislation restricting abortion are in reality not "pro-choice." Rather, they are singularly "pro-murder." While rhetoric has served to camouflage the carnage of abortion, it remains the painful killing of an innocent human being.

First, abortion is painful in that the methods employed to kill a preborn child involve burning, smothering, dismembering, and crushing. And such procedures are executed on live babies who have not been specifically anesthetized.

Furthermore, abortion involves killing. The zygote, which fulfills the criteria needed to establish the existence of biological life (metabolism, development, the ability to react to stimuli, and cell reproduction), is indeed terminated. In Woman and the New Race, Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger tacitly acknowledged this point when she wrote: "The most merciful thing a large family can do for one of its infant members is to kill it."

Finally, abortion kills innocent human beings. The child that is terminated is the product of human parents and has a totally distinct human genetic code. Although the emerging embryo does not have a fully developed personality, it does have complete personhood from the moment of conception. Thus, far from deserving capital punishment, these innocent humans deserve care and protection.

Thankfully, in God's economy there is hope for those who have experienced the ravages of abortion. Not only can they receive God's forgiveness in the here and now, but they can yet look forward to the ecstasy of reuniting with their unborn loved ones in eternity. - Hank Hanegraaff

Adapted from Hank Hanegraaff, The Bible Answer Book (Nashville: J Countryman, 2004).

Saturday, August 01, 2009