By Hank Hanegraaff

Abortion is the painful killing of an innocent human being. Painful for the child because the methods employed involve burning, smothering, dismembering, and crushing. Killing in that, from the beginning, that which is terminated fulfills the criteria necessary for establishing the existence of biological life, including metabolism, development, the ability to react to stimuli, and cell reproduction. Innocent in that a preborn child deserves protection rather than capital punishment. A human being in that the child who is killed is the offspring of human parents and has a totally distinct genetic code. Since abortion is nothing short of terminating the life of a person created in the image of God, I’ve developed the acronym A-B-O-R-T-I-O-N as a memorable tool by which to annihilate pro-abortion arguments.

ADOPTION. Whoopi Goldberg et al. employed the adoption argument in suggesting that abortion rights advocates would take pro-lifers more seriously if they were willing to adopt babies slated for abortion. The fallacy becomes obvious when it’s put in different words: “If you won’t adopt my babies, don’t tell me I can’t kill them!”

BIBLICAL PRETEXTS. Pro-abortionists routinely use biblical pretexts to retain some semblance of religiosity while at the same time espousing the radical planks of the pro-abortion movement. A classic case in point is what is known as the “argument from breath.” Because Adam was not a “living soul” until God had breathed the “breath of life” into him, a child does not become a human being until he or she begins to breathe. Dispensing with this argument is a simple matter: Adam was inanimate before God breathed the breath of life into him, but a preborn child is alive from the moment of conception. It is the form, not the fact, of oxygen transfer (breath) that changes at birth.

OPIUM EFFECT. Clever code words are the opium of the pro-abortion lobby. They are specifically designed to dull human sensibilities to the horrors of abortion. The moniker Planned Parenthood may well be the quintessential example. The positive ring of the words masks the horrific reality that to abort a preborn child is to terminate a life. As Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger famously pontificated, “The most merciful thing a large family can do for one of its infant members is to kill it.” Such killings are positively repositioned as pro-choice prerogatives. The preborn children terminated are indelicately rendered fetuses. And pro-life advocates are profanely recast as social extremists.

RAPE AND INCEST. To annihilate arguments that abortion should be allowed in cases of rape and incest is a most difficult task. The emotion of the argument often precludes serious examination of its merit. Though every case of rape and incest is horrific, one cannot hope to remove the pain by compounding it with murder. Two wrongs do not make a right. The very thing that makes rape and incest evil likewise makes abortion evil—the brutal dehumanization of an innocent human being.

TOLERANCE. Tolerance is no doubt the first and greatest commandment of the pro-abortion lobby. Its essence forever memorialized in the oft repeated refrain, “Don’t like abortion? Then don’t have one. Just don’t impose your morality on me.” At first blush this mantra sounds eminently tolerant. A moment’s consideration, however, exposes its flaws. Imagine someone—in the interest of tolerance— applying the same reasoning to rape. “Don’t like rape? Don’t rape anyone. Just don’t impose your antiquated morality on me.” We do well to remember that tolerance with respect to personal relationships is a virtue, but tolerance with respect to truth is a travesty.

INEQUALITY. Simply put, the inequality argument posits that a woman forced to carry her baby to full term could not compete equally with a male counterpart in the workplace. Thus, she must be provided the latitude to abort. Carried to its logical conclusion, the inequality argument would apply to abandonment as well. But imagine the absurdity of arguing that in order for a woman to compete on an equal basis with a man, she should be afforded the opportunity not only to abort a preborn but to abandon a preschooler.

ORAL ABORTIFACIENTS. In The Dragons of Eden, Carl Sagan argued that a first-trimester abortion does not constitute the painful killing of a human being but rather the termination of a fish or a frog. Sagan, of course, was wrong. While an emerging embryo does not have a fully developed personality, he or she does have full personhood from the moment of conception. This is no longer a matter of opinion; it is plain old experimental evidence. Thus, the abortion pill RU486 and the “morning-after pill” must never be used. (It is also instructive to note that oral contraceptives [i.e., the birth control pill] not only prevent fertilization but may also prevent uterine implantation if fertilization should occur.)

NONPERSONHOOD. Nonpersonhood is perhaps the subtlest of all contemporary pro-abortion arguments. While conceding that science has demonstrated that human life begins at conception, some pro-abortionists—like the aforementioned Sagan—argue that the fetus is a nonperson until the second or third trimester of gestation. Only then does the creature become a child. In reality, we are distinctly human in each stage of our development. Moreover, we are conceived not only with all the earmarks of biological life but with eternity etched in our hearts. Put another way, both the physical and nonphysical aspects of our humanity are present at the moment of conception.

Sad but true, ethics and morality are frequently a function of the size and strength of the latest lobby group rather than being firmly rooted in scientific and spiritual standards. With no enduring reference point, societal norms have been reduced to mere matters of choice. As a result, year by year multiplied mil- lions of preborn children are sacrificed on the altar of abortion. To be silent or uninformed in an age of scientific enlightenment is to be complicit in the carnage. Thankfully, however, those who have participated in abortion may receive God’s forgiveness in the present, and they can also look forward to the ecstasy of reuniting with unborn loved ones in eternity.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Psalm 127:3 NKJV

 

ADOPTION

BIBLICAL PRETEXTS

OPIUM EFFECT

RAPE AND INCEST

TOLERANCE

INEQUALITY

ORAL ABORTIFACIENTS

NONPERSONHOOD

See also Frederica Mathewes-Green, Real Choices: Listening to Women, Looking for Alternatives to Abortion (Linthicum, MD: Felicity Press, 2013); and Ryan T. Anderson and Alexandra DeSanctis, Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2022).

See also, Should abortion be permitted in the case of rape or incest?  and Hank Hanegraaff, “Annihilating Abortion Arguments”.

 

 

 

***Note the preceding text is adapted from The Complete Bible Answer Book: Collector’s Edition: Revised and Expanded (2024). To receive for your partnering gift please click here. ***