By Mark duBarry, Member of Olmstead Baptist Church

Are you pro-life?  Are you pro-choice?  Is the opposite of pro-life pro-death?  Is the opposite of pro-choice anti-choice?  In today’s world, these two terms are being used constantly.  But what do they mean?  What does the Bible have to say?

Abortion is the abnormal termination of a pregnancy by some external means.  Prior to 1973, abortion of a pregnancy was illegal.  The famous Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in all fifty states with one ruling was known as "Roe v. Wade".  Some woman had sued for the right to terminate her pregnancy.  The Supreme Court not only heard her case, but ruled that she and every other woman in America now had a constitutional right to choose to abort her pregnancy.  The ruling basically said three things:

* States may not ban abortions during the first six months of pregnancy.

* A fetus is not a person protected by the U.S. Constitution.

* A woman's right to choose is protected by the U. S. Constitution from outside state intervention.

It is popular to promote abortion as a woman's right to choose.  It sounds as we are freeing the slaves; liberating the oppressed; helping those who cannot help themselves.  Why, being against a woman's right to choose is equal with being a racist!  The news media openly promotes free abortion on demand, and portrays any one willing to oppose it as a raging fascist who is set on undermining the U. S. Constitution.  Almost all television programs promote free abortions.

What about the cowardly politicians who say, "Well, personally, I'm against abortion, but I support a woman's right to choose."?  Is this a right guaranteed under the U. S. Constitution?  Did the founding fathers intend this?  And what does God's Word say concerning this subject?

Why is it that some couples cannot have children?  Why is it others seem to have too many?  God says that He controls pregnancies in women.  The Lord has the power to withhold conception or to grant it.  He has the power to deliver a full term child or to miscarry it.

Rut 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son.

Gen 30:1-2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?

1Sa 1:5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb.

God Himself causes the fertilized egg in the mother to develop into a beautiful baby.

Job 31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

Isa 44:2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.

The Devil is the author of abortion.  He has been a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).  When Moses was born, Satan through Pharaoh began baby killing (Exodus 1:8-22).  When Jesus was born, through King Herod, Satan started up the baby killing machine again (Matt. 2:11-18).

Babies in the womb can hear the voice of their parents.  They move and sleep.  They respond to love and closeness.  They are much more aware than we may think.  John the Baptist, when he was yet unborn in the womb, was aware of the mother of the Son of God.

Luk 1:41-44 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

Abortion is the taking of the life of a defenseless infant.  It is premeditated murder.  God will not hold the nation blameless who slaughters its children. 

Psa 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 

Yes, Jesus does love the little children, all the children of the world; even those within the womb!