As Christians, we believe and affirm the sanctity of life.
From conception, an unborn baby is a human being created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28), fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-17), with dignity and worth (Genesis 1:26-27; 5:1, 3; 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9).
All human life—at whatever stage of development, from conception to death; at whatever socio-economic status; and at whatever level of physical or intellectual capability—is sacred, because all human beings are created in God’s image. Even when this image has been corrupted by our sin, every human being is still worthy of honor and respect.
Therefore, it is always, everywhere, morally wrong intentionally to kill an innocent human person. Since abortion is the intentional taking of a human life, we are opposed to it, at any stage of development.
Even if you approach this question from a different perspective, the issue comes down to two key questions. First, is killing any innocent human being is wrong? And second, is an unborn child is a human being?
We generally all agree that it’s wrong to kill innocent people. That’s why it’s illegal. It’s not wrong to kill innocent people because it’s illegal, it’s illegal because it’s wrong to kill innocent people.
So then, is an unborn child a person?
Yes. At conception, a new distinct individual human organism is formed as egg and sperm combine to create a new human. It is genetically distinct from the mother. There is no point from here on where anything changes in this organism that makes it more human. Rather, there is a gradual phase of development that begins here and continues slowly throughout pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence as the human grows to become an adult.
Some argue for “fetal viability” as the dividing line, but fetal viability is more about medical technology (100 years ago, fetal viability in the US was around 32 weeks; today, it can be as early as 22 weeks) than it is about personhood. There is no moment when there is a clear change from being not human to being human. Personhood begins at conception.
The Constitution actually doesn’t say anything about abortion.
The argument for a constitutional protection for abortion comes from a chain of reinterpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment says:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; 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.”
The concept of due process was reinterpreted to broadly include a right to privacy as a part of that due process. That was later reinterpreted again to include the idea of a right to privacy with respect to terminating an unwanted pregnancy.
(It gets a bit more complicated than that but that’s the gist of it.)
However, we would argue that there’s a stronger case the Constitution bans abortion than gives a right to it.
The Fifth Amendment says:
“No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
And even the Fourteenth Amendment can be interpreted to protect the unborn. Here’s what it says:
“…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property”
There is no scientific evidence that unborn children are not distinct human beings from their mothers, and thus they must be considered to qualify as persons.
The Bible doesn’t speak specifically of abortion, but it does tell us that we should look at unborn babies as individual persons with intrinsic value who should not be killed.
Psalm 139:13-16:
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born.
Jeremiah 1:5:
“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
Genesis 1:27:
So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Psalm 51:5:
For I was born a sinner yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
Luke 1:41-44:
At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, ‘God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.’
Exodus 21:22-25:
Now suppose two men are fighting, and in the process they accidentally strike a pregnant woman so she gives birth prematurely. If no further injury results, the man who struck the woman must pay the amount of compensation the woman’s husband demands and the judges approve. But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.
Right now, this is Missouri’s law:
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no abortion shall be performed or induced upon a woman, except in cases of medical emergency. Any person who knowingly performs or induces an abortion of an unborn child in violation of this subsection shall be guilty of a class B felony, as well as subject to suspension or revocation of his or her professional license by his or her professional licensing board. A woman upon whom an abortion is performed or induced in violation of this subsection shall not be prosecuted for a conspiracy to violate the provisions of this subsection.
Here’s the legal definition of abortion:
(1) “Abortion”:
(a) The act of using or prescribing any instrument, device, medicine, drug, or any other means or substance with the intent to destroy the life of an embryo or fetus in his or her mother’s womb; or
(b) The intentional termination of the pregnancy of a mother by using or prescribing any instrument, device, medicine, drug, or other means or substance with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth or to remove a dead unborn child;
Here’s the definition of medical emergency:
(8) “Medical emergency”, a condition which, based on reasonable medical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert the death of the pregnant woman or for which a delay will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman;
Here is how the law defines unborn child and viability:
(11) “Unborn child”, the offspring of human beings from the moment of conception until birth and at every stage of its biological development, including the human conceptus, zygote, morula, blastocyst, embryo, and fetus;
(12) “Viability” or “viable”, that stage of fetal development when the life of the unborn child may be continued indefinitely outside the womb by natural or artificial life-supportive systems;
For minors, it’s a little different:
2. The right of a minor to self-consent to an abortion … may be granted by a court pursuant to the following procedures:
A hearing on the merits of the petition shall be held as soon as possible within five days of the filing of the petition.
At the hearing, the court shall hear evidence relating to the emotional development, maturity, intellect and understanding of the minor; the nature, possible consequences, and alternatives to the abortion; and any other evidence that the court may find useful in determining whether the minor should be granted majority rights for the purpose of consenting to the abortion or whether the abortion is in the best interests of the minor.
Here are the main points:
Section 36. 1. This Section shall be known as “The Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative.”
2. The Government shall not deny or infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which is the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.
3. The right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted unless the Government demonstrates that such action is justified by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means. Any denial, interference, delay, or restriction of the right to reproductive freedom shall be presumed invalid. For purposes of this Section, a governmental interest is compelling only if it is for the limited purpose and has the limited effect of improving or maintaining the health of a person seeking care, is consistent with widely accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and does not infringe on that person’s autonomous decision-making.
4. Notwithstanding subsection 3 of this Section, the general assembly may enact laws that regulate the provision of abortion after Fetal Viability provided that under no circumstance shall the Government deny, interfere with, delay, or otherwise restrict an abortion that in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional is needed to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.
5. No person shall be penalized, prosecuted, or otherwise subjected to adverse action based on their actual, potential, perceived, or alleged pregnancy outcomes, including but not limited to miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion. Nor shall any person assisting a person in exercising their right to reproductive freedom with that person’s consent be penalized, prosecuted, or otherwise subjected to adverse action for doing so.
6. The Government shall not discriminate against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care or assisting another person in doing so.
7. If any provision of this Section or the application thereof to anyone or to any circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of those provisions and the application of such provisions to others or other circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
8. For purposes of this Section, the following terms mean: (1) “Fetal Viability”. the point in pregnancy when, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures. 2) “Government”, a. the state of Missouri; or b. any municipality, city, town, village, township, district, authority. public subdivision or public corporation having the power to tax or regulate, or any portion of two or more such entities within the state of Missouri.
We encourage you to vote no. If you believe that additional protections for miscarriage and birthing conditions and prenatal care are needed, or if you believe there should be more exceptions to Missouri’s law, those are issues that can be debated and voted on in the future.
Supporters say Amendment 3 provides much-needed protections for women in Missouri concerning reproductive rights for miscarriage, prenatal care, postpartum care, respectful birthing conditions, and abortion. But this amendment goes far beyond allowing abortion up to fetal viability and essentially allows for abortion on demand at any time during the pregnancy so long as a healthcare professional agrees it is needed to “protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.” This is intentionally broad and vague.
We believe that it is always, everywhere, morally wrong intentionally to kill an innocent human person, and that is why we oppose this Amendment.
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