 |
Taking Every Thought Captive |
 Got Life? Our Ministry Our Beliefs Our Staff Articles Contact Us Resources Bookstore Search
Featured Books
Kindle eBooks
|
A Brief Overview ofABORTION FACTS & COUNTER ARGUMENTS
Day 1 – Fertilization! All human
chromosomes are present and a unique human life begins. Day 22 – The baby’s heart begins to beat
with the child’s own blood – often a different blood type than the mother. Week 6 – At this stage, brain waves can be
detected. The child’s mouth and lips are present and fingers are forming. Week 8 – At this stage, every organ is in
place. Bones and unique fingerprints begin to form. Week 17 – The baby can now have dream (REM)
sleep. Ø Since 1973 (when abortion was
legalized in the U.S.) there have been more than 43 million abortions. Ø The annual number of abortions has
nearly doubled since Roe v. Wade, from 744,600 to 1,313,300 for 2000. Ø For every 1000 live births, there
are 306 abortions. Ø There are more than 140,000 second
and third trimester abortions each year. After reaching a high of over 1.6 million in 1990, the
number of abortions annually performed in the U.S. had begun to drop back to
levels not seen since the 1970s. What follows is a simple outline to help you
persuade other Americans to adopt a pro-life position in an effort to continue
to bring down the number of abortions performed in the United States. How to Argue Against Abortion The unborn differ from the newborn in four ways that have
disqualified them as persons (according to pro-abortion advocates). The acronym
SLED is a helpful reminder of those
differences. 1. First, size or physical appearance – the unborn
doesn’t look like a person. 2. Second, level
of development – the unborn doesn’t have the same abilities as real
persons. 3. Third, wrong environment
– the unborn isn’t located in the right place as real persons. This is implicit
in abortion laws. 4. Fourth, degree of
dependency – the unborn is too physically dependent on others to be a
person; he is not viable and can’t survive outside the womb. 1. Size or Physical Appearance – Do
humans lose value when they don’t look right? Does size equal value? Men are
generally larger than women. Does that mean men are more human than women?
Shaquille O’Neil is larger than Hillary Clinton. Does that mean Hillary Clinton
is less human than Shaq? The term used to describe the destruction of groups of
people based on their physical appearance is ethnic cleansing or genocide. But
human value transcends physical appearance. Therefore, “not looking right”
cannot disqualify a human being from being valuable. 2. Level of Development – Is a person’s
value defined by his abilities, by what he can or can’t do? Do we forfeit our
rights as human persons because we don’t have the capabilities others have? Do
stronger, more capable, more intelligent people have more rights than others?
Do human beings become disposable simply because at their level of development
they are helpless, defenseless, and dependent? Human value transcends abilities
or the lack of abilities. Therefore, missing abilities cannot disqualify human
value. 3. Environment – Do humans forfeit
their worth when they change locations? Baby Rachel was born prematurely at 24
weeks. She weighed only 1 lb. 9 oz.,
but dropped to just under 1 lb. soon after. She was so small she could rest in
the palm of her daddy’s hand. She was a tiny, living, person. Heroic measures
were taken to save her life. If a doctor had killed Rachel we would have
recoiled in horror. However, if this same little girl was inches away from the
outside world, resting inside her mother’s womb, she could be legally killed by
abortion. Clearly, one’s environment can’t be the deciding factor. Changing
locations is morally trivial. Environment has no bearing on who we are. 4. Degree of Dependency – Is human
value determined by our degree of dependency on others? The unborn’s dependency
on his mother for sustenance is irrelevant to the baby’s value. No baby is
“viable” if degree of dependency matters. All babies need their mothers for
feeding whether via blood (an umbilical cord), breast, or bottle. Human beings
may be dependent on others for their survival, but they aren’t dependent on
others for their value. All physically dependent people are at risk if degree
of dependency determines their value – those dependent on kidney machines,
pacemakers, and insulin would have to be declared non-persons. Dependency does
not determine worth.
END NOTES
1. The abortion statistics are from National Right to Life, www.nrlc.org; the counter arguments are from Gregory Koukl and Scott
Klusendorf, Making Abortion Unthinkable: The Art of Pro-Life Persuasion published by Stand to Reason, www.str.org.
The SLED acronym originally comes from Stephen Schwarz in "The Moral Question of Abortion" (Loyola University Press, 1990, p. 17.).
|
