Marvin Pirila, Northland Watch
 

Arguments for and against abortion rights start with the name for the unborn human.  Pro-lifers employ the words “unborn child” and “unborn baby” where “child” can apply prior to birth and “baby” from the point of birth forward.  Pro-choicers prefer the word “fetus” which generally refers to unborn offspring after major structures have been outlined in humans (nine weeks after fertilization until birth).

Several textbooks state that the zygote (fusion of egg and sperm) and early embryo are living human organisms.
 
Arguably, life is created the instant fertilization occurs; because it is at this point that the development of the unborn child begins.  A bean seed that sits dormant in a jar, with no sun, water, and nutrients will do nothing.  Once planted in soil, given water, and exposed to the sun it soon begins to grow.  The pro-lifer would say that life begin as soon as the seed begin to interact with the other elements, whereas the pro-choicer would demand it must be fully developed and produce beans first.  If I cut the bean plant off just after it became an inch tall, wasn’t it still a bean plant to that point, even if it didn’t have the opportunity to bear beans?

The next big item of contention is whether the unborn child has any rights.  The pro-lifer would argue they do because they are “living,” whereas the pro-choicer would say the woman’s’ rights trumps that of the unborn, and if early enough in the pregnancy non-living.

Fertilization normally takes place within one day of intercourse at which point the genetic composition is formed.  This genetic information determines gender, eye color, hair color, facial features, and influences characteristics such as intelligence and personality.  Genetically speaking, with the exception of identical twins, once a woman conceives a preborn human, the odds against her conceiving the same one again are greater than 10600 to one.  For comparison, there are roughly 1080 atoms in the known universe.  God made each person unique, with his or her own genetic makeup, and never again will there be the same “life.”  This unique, genetically coded unborn child is “special” by design, irreplaceable, and written in [Gods'] book (Psalm 139:16) from the moment of conception.

God points to the uniqueness of the unborn in Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart: I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."  As early as conception, God has a plan for you.

Even though most pro-abortionists acknowledge the life of babies after birth, and their rights thereon, they fail to acknowledge the “living unborn” child who clearly lives within the womb up to the point of birth.  Like the bean seed, an unfertilized egg, has not yet given life.  It is only when the decision to expose it to fertile sperm that life is spurned.  Life has shown it doesn’t hinge on whether the decision was made consciously or unconsciously, maturely or naively, morally or immorally.  When it occurs, whatever the circumstance, ending one life doesn’t necessarily aid the living.

Both sides, when invoking the Fourteenth Amendment, argue the point at which the unborn is considered life.  This amendment states, in part, that "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."  If there wasn’t life immediately at conception, why does the baby grow?  Non-living matter doesn’t grow.  The baby, perhaps at its earliest existence, is living in conjunction and with the help of the mother, but he or she is living.  If the unborn is living, the law would provide them legal rights similar to any citizen.  Where human laws fail to follow God's law, God's law must triumph.

As all human beings have originated from this same process, it seems logical to consider life as starting immediately at conception.  The stars have to line up just right for fertilization to occur.  There is no period of stagnancy as every day is one filled with the development of life.  To suggest that life suddenly appears at some determined time other than conception is no different than saying non-life suddenly becomes life.  This of course, would be a violation of the worldly accepted law of biogenesis, which says that only life can produce life.

In the context of abortion, the bible indirectly answers what God considers the unborn.  The scriptures never measure human beings in terms of age, developmental stage, or mental, physical, or social skills.

The bible speaks to God's molding of the unborn child in the womb (Isaiah 44:2, Job 10:8-12) and in Psalms (51:5) gives even greater clarity to the importance of conception.  It says, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."  Only an actual person can have a sinful nature and morality.  The presence of sin at the point of conception demonstrates that there is a person present who is capable of having such a nature.

A first reading of Exodus 21:22-25 gives some the belief that the unborn is subhuman.  The true meaning is that the status of the unborn child is equal in the eyes of the law to that of the mother.  The woman has right to solely decide when she becomes pregnant, excluding cases of rape or incest, but once pregnant has no more right to life than the unborn child.  The only consideration at that point is the health risk to the mother.  Clearly, the bible answers the question of when life begins – at conception – and that abortion is always murder.