Abortion: Precious Child or Potential Child?

Emotions run high when an abortion is being considered. And so they should – a lot is at stake: For the mother, for the often forgotten father, and especially for their … what? Unborn child? Foetus? Blob of cells? Parasite? Potential-but-not-yet-fully-human offspring? At the heart of the abortion debate lies the crucial question: who or what is being aborted?

Looking at the Bible, there is good reason to believe that every unborn child is both precious and human from the point of conception. Why?

1. Creation. All things are created by Jesus, including the unborn (John 1:3). Just as we answer to God for the way we treat our friends, a developing embryo is not ours to do what we want with, but his first and last. In Psalm 139:13, David recognises that “you [God] knit me together in my mother’s womb”. Even though we’re gaining scientific understanding of the processes, it’s God’s creative miracle each and every time. We know the physics of stars, but we still gaze in awe at the night sky. In the same way, we know something of how one cell turns into a baby, but each is still a sign and a wonder, pointing to the creator of all. We must find out from the maker’s instructions how he expects us to treat the unborn.
2. Humanity. David says “you knit me” together. In making his body, God was making David - not a pre-David, a potential David - but David. God knew him as he multiplied the cells and gave each its place. God knew David in the womb, though David himself knew nothing. Stronger evidence still is the humanity of Christ. Christ was fully human, like us in every way. It was a miracle - a virgin conception. Christ’s humanity began then. Mary, Elizabeth, and even the unborn John the Baptist recognised it (Luke 1:30-45). Jesus’ human life, like every human life, began in the womb.

Abortion matters because every one of the 200,000 every year in this country, is ending a human life, made by God, in his image. God takes that very seriously (Genesis 9:4-6). That makes it an important issue – for the doctors and nurses involved, for the MPS who make the laws, for the women who make that choice, for the fathers behind the scenes. Most of all, it matters for the glory of God. Unborn babies are his work, his image, his children.

Andrew Nicholls is the pastor of Christ Church, Kingston. Before moving into full time ministry, he was a doctor.