The Questions Most People Ask About Abortion

Written and compiled by
Melody Green

In 1978 we first printed "Children - Things We Throw Away?" and since that time we have printed over nine million copies of it. It has been responsible for saving the lives of countless children (and we are ever so thankful to God for that!).We have been so encouraged by the response that we have decided to print the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about abortion, along with some "random notes" on the subject. We hope this speaks to your heart as much as it spoke to ours.

Q: Does the Bible give a stand on a woman who’s pregnant and gets, say, German measles, and the baby she carries in her womb is most likely to be deformed or retarded? What can we do then?

A: The Scriptures don’t change just because a child might be born with a handicap. What about the deformities that aren’t detected before birth shall we just kill these children on the delivery table? If we can abort the defective unborn, why not just kill the defective newborn? The baby will be just as dead if killed six months before the delivery or six minutes after. What’s the difference? What if a ten-year-old gets a disease that leaves him deformed or blind... shall we kill him too? It is no less savage to abort a deformed child than to exterminate a retarded adult. Where do we draw the line? If we decide to eliminate those who are imperfect, we need to ask ourselves two important questions:

1. Just how perfect does one need to be before he is allowed to live?
2. Who will have the power to make these decisions?

Does anyone have the right to play God?

"Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Exodus4:11)

Q: There is one thing I’m confused about, and that’s rape. I have never been raped, but if I had been and became pregnant, I would die at the thought of carrying a cruel, thoughtless stranger’s baby. If you did become pregnant by rape, what would God want you to do?

A: First of all, rape practically never results in pregnancy, due to the trauma involved. But if it should occur, what is needed is loving support and assistance for the mother - not added guilt for her already burdened heart. It’s a strange sort of justice that would kill an innocent child for the crime of its father. Two wrongs never make a right. One violent act does not condone another.

If this were to happen to you, I know God would help you to forgive the baby’s father, and give you a real love for the baby (whether you kept it or gave it up for adoption). After all, that baby would be half yours, no matter who the father was. Think about this: If you found out tomorrow that you were the product of a rape - would you wish that your mother had aborted you?

Q: You have unfairly dramatized the issue of abortion by playing up the horrors. Let’s not become idol worshipers of a wad of cells that adhere to the wall of a uterus. Until those cells free themselves and become an independently functioning unit, they are hardly any different than any other tissue in the woman. Do we mourn over the loss of an appendix? A woman wanting an abortion has made a difficult decision. Let’s not become judgmental and deny her what she wants. Such a woman needs all the Christian love we can manifest.

A: How can you compare an unborn child to a mere appendix?? An appendix does not turn into a baby, it has no eternal soul... and it does not have the gift of life so generously bestowed by God. A baby is a different person with his or her own distinct set of chromosomes - different than any part of the mother. The child has its own blood supply that may even be a different type than the mother, and the child can be of the opposite sex. He or she is obviously a separate individual.

I am totally in favor of giving "all the Christian love we can manifest." The question is, what is Christian love? One of the problems facing Christians today is that we are afraid of people thinking we are "judging them" that we are reluctant to get involved in their lives. Instead, we just stand by and let our brothers and sisters fall into a pit without opening our mouth to stop them. We can’t continue to hide behind Cain’s sarcastic question, "Am I my brother’s keeper?" (Gen.4:9) Of course we are! Jesus taught that anyone in distress is our neighbor and we must come to his aid. (Luke 10:30-37) Let’s do all we can to help the mother without exterminating her baby. Complacency and failure to watch over each other spiritually is definitely the path of least resistance... but please, let’s not call it love... least of all, Christian love!

"Deliver those who are being taken away to death,
And those who are staggering to slaughter, O hold them back.
If you say, ‘See, we did not know this,’
Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts?
And does He not know it who keeps your soul?
And will He not render to man according to his work?"

(Proverbs 24:11-12)

Q: Don’t unwanted children usually end up being battered and abused children later on in life?

A: This is a totally false notion. Dr. Edward Lenoski, Professor of Pediatrics at U.S.C., showed in a recent study of 674 battered children that 91% were planned pregnancies and 90% were legitimate. Also, statistics show conclusively that since the legalization of abortion, child abuse has risen very sharply, along with illegitimate births, welfare, and an overall national increase in immorality that is reaching epidemic proportions. Abortions in the U.S. alone have killed 30 million children since 1973. The plain fact is, abortion is the ultimate in child abuse.

Q: Isn’t legally preventing a woman from having an abortion an invasion of her privacy?

A: Our laws are very funny. They allow police to enter the privacy of people’s homes to stop them from battering and abusing their children. Then they use the same force of law to guarantee the "privacy and right" of parents to dismember or poison their babies before birth. In fact, I think almost all crime is done in private (i.e., murder, theft, rape, kidnapping, etc.). Does this mean that if we know it’s going on, we turn our heads and look the other way, so as not to invade anyone’s right to privacy? Of course not! Abortion is murder and it cannot be tolerated any easier when committed behind closed doors than if it were performed on a street comer!

Q: Awhile back, one of my friends became pregnant. She asked me to drive her to the doctor’s office to get an abortion. Since I was the only person she trusted, I did all I could do to help. I now feel that I have become an accomplice to murder since I actively supported her in her decision. Am I as guilty as if I had an abortion myself?

A: I’m sure there are many mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and boyfriends who have either encouraged someone to get an abortion, or actually helped them to obtain one, as you did. You need to realize that since you assisted in that abortion, you are a partaker in that sin. By your actions you were saying, "Yes, I agree with what you are doing." Since you now see the wickedness of this, you need to immediately go to the Lord, and with your whole heart ask Him to forgive you. He will be quick to do so as long as you are completely sincere. I also think it would be best for you to go back to your friend and ask her forgiveness for your help in leading her astray. Even though she may still think you did her a great favor, you might have a chance to share with her what God has shown you, and how she, too, needs to repent and get right with Him.

Q: Isn’t birth control just another form of abortion?

A. It depends on what you use. Some methods do cause abortions and should be avoided, such as the inter-uterine device (IUD) and most birth control pills.

When birth control pills were originally developed, they contained such high levels of estrogen that there was almost no chance of a woman releasing an egg for fertilization - starting a new life. However, most of today’s lower-estrogen-level pills are not as effective in preventing the release of an egg - so these pills also prevent pregnancies by affecting the lining of the womb in such a way that a fertilized egg has a difficult time attaching and growing. A new life trying to grow finds no place to take root. We encourage you and your spouse to draw your own conclusions what the Lord would have you do. True contraception will prevent new life from beginning, not abort that life once it has already begun.

Q: Since Adam was not alive until God breathed into him the breath of life, and since the baby does not breathe until he leaves the womb, isn’t it true that the unborn baby has no soul and therefore can be aborted without guilt?

A: There is no parallel here. Adam had no life until God breathed into him, but from the moment of conception the babe is alive and growing. James says that the body apart from the spirit is dead. (James 2:26) If the baby in the womb is not alive, there would be no one there to kill! A live baby not only has a soul - but an eternal spirit as well.

Q: Isn’t the age of viability (the ability for the baby to live outside the mother’s womb) one of the deciding factors in whether or not someone should have an abortion? It seems to me that that would be a pretty fair way to decide.

A: According to the courts, viability is a consideration, but in actual practice it doesn’t really seem to matter. There have been many babies prematurely born as early as the fourth month of pregnancy, weighing only one or two pounds, who have survived and grown into normal children because they were given intensive medical care. On the other hand, abortions are being performed on perfectly healthy babies much older than that (even up to the ninth month in some cases!) - and if they do happen to be born alive, they are usually left unattended to suffer and die. In the face of this, the whole viability question just doesn’t seem to make much sense.

Dr. Magda Denes says, "Abortion based on viability is as logical as maintaining that drowning a non-swimmer in a bathtub is permitted because he would have drowned anyway if he would have fallen into the sea." You also have to think about the many people on life-support systems, iron lungs, kidney dialysis machines, etc. Should we just pull the plug on anyone who cannot survive totally on his own?

Q: Is it fair to bring an "unwanted baby" into the world?

A: It’s too late to ask that question after a baby has been conceived. Whether you may personally think it’s fair or not doesn’t change the fact that the pre-born child has already been brought into this world and no one has the right to destroy his or her life. All people, born and unborn, have the same value in the eyes of God. God created each of us in His own image, and He knows each one of us by name - even when yet in the womb. "For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb...My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret...Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." (Psalm 139:13-16)

Actually, the "unwanted baby" is a myth. There is no such thing. Due to shortages of newborn babies for adoption, there are thousands of couples who long night and day to hold and love the children so many mothers are throwing away. Those who say they are getting an abortion for the sake of their "unwanted child" are obviously not thinking of the child’s happiness and well-being... but of their own.

Q: If your parents and/or your pastor counsel you to get an abortion, what should you do?

A: I know of one girl who was really glad her parents were "making her get an abortion," so that she didn’t have to take the responsibility for the decision herself. However, God knows our hearts, and only through self deception do we think we can hide behind others and pretend "it was all their idea."

Even if you are a minor living in your parents’ home, there is nothing that can be done legally or spiritually to make you get an abortion against your will. Yes, we are to honor our parents and respect our spiritual authorities, but not if they are asking us to do something illegal, immoral, or unscriptural... that is where the line is drawn. Unfortunately, abortion is not illegal, but it is definitely immoral and unscriptural. We must honor God above all others - and we simply cannot break His commandments to please anyone, no matter who they are. This is not rebellion - but true submission to God’s authority in the face of possible persecution.

Unfortunately, many parents (even "Christian" ones) are uninformed or selfishly motivated, just as many pastors and counselors are giving tragic advice to those who are truly seeking a scriptural answer.

"It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble." (Luke 17:2)

 Q: Isn’t it true that before 1973 when abortion was made legal, that 5,000 - 10,000 women a year died from "back alley" abortions?

A: Dr. Bernard said that this figure is totally false, and he should know, since he was one of the several pro-abortionists who circulated this figure before the 1973 Supreme Court hearings. He now says the figure was closer to 500, and in 1972 (the year before abortion was made legal) only 39 deaths were recorded. He explains he circulated these false figures in order to bring about legal abortion. However, after presiding over 75,000 deaths as the head of the world’s largest abortion clinic, Dr. Nathanson came to believe that those infants in the womb were little people, and that he was murdering them. He has written the best seller, Aborting America, and even while involved in abortions, he could not understand how Christian clergymen could promote them when Christianity insists on protection for the weak.

Q: If we make abortions illegal, they will still go on. The poor will suffer, and the rich will get them anyway - so what’s the point? At least if they are legal everyone will get good clean medical care.

A: I agree. They will still go on - but not in such high numbers. As for the rich, they have always been better able to afford their vices. It would be just as wise to buy abortions for the poor as it would be to buy them heroin. Yes, abortions will go on. Rape also goes on in spite of our laws - should it no longer be a crime? Or should we spend tax money to buy the rapist a good clean hotel room to commit his crime in...after all, "He’s going to rape people anyway!"

Some Closing Comments

Abortion is not an issue that you can remain "neutral" on. You are either for it or against it. What would you do if you were walking down the street, and looking up, you saw a woman about to throw her three-month-old baby out the window? Would you turn and walk away saying, "Well, I wouldn’t do that, but I won’t interfere. It’s her decision - that baby’s probably messing up her life anyway."

Our laws give us absolute "rights and wrongs" (i.e., don’t speed, don’t shoplift, pay your taxes, etc.), and if our laws don’t, God certainly does. If you can’t tell someone "Don’t!" you might as well load them in a car and drive them to the abortion clinic yourself!

Many girls, through selfishness, have fallen into deep deception concerning God’s will. They say, "I have been praying about it, and I really feel God wants me to get an abortion," or "I know it’s wrong, but my pastor said God will forgive me afterwards." I have heard too many girls tell me they were counseled to get an abortion at their church. I am wondering just how these pastors and counselors are going to withstand the judgment of God for leading these sheep astray. (Luke 17:2)

The American Holocaust

The "final solution" to the Jewish problem of the Third Reich rested on the belief that it was not enough to simply be human to have the right to live. One had to have certain other qualities, and unfortunately, the Jews and Gypsies lacked them. Aren’t we doing the same things with our babies?

Each day in America over 4,400 babies are being put to death without benefit of due process - trial or defense. They are executed by techniques more cruel and inhumane than any horror movie has ever portrayed. This year, over two million will die in the U.S. alone, and it is estimated that up to 60 million abortions will be performed this year worldwide. In the face of this, Pharoah’s extermination of the Hebrew boys or the slaughter by Herod of the babes in Bethlehem pales in comparison.

Each day in America alone, over 4,400 babies are being put to death by abortion. That’s1 every 20 seconds (approx.) - 24 hours a day -365 days a year!

What You Can Do

We must take a stand... and not a silent one. I’m not saying we should all put on sandwich boards and picket our local abortion clinic... although it doesn’t sound like a bad idea. But we should take every opportunity to speak out and let our views be known. We should do everything we can to prevent someone from making a mistake they will always regret. We must offer all the help and support we can if we expect the unsure mother to carry her child to full term. Open your home to her, help pay her doctor bills... be her friend.

Too many times when an unwed mother does make the right choice, she is shunned and made to feel "dirty" by the Church. In an attempt to discourage promiscuity by penalizing the unwed mother, we have actually encouraged her to take the so-called "easy way out." Rather than endure the social stigma and persecution by those who claim to love Jesus, she heads for the friendly abortion clinic. How do you think Jesus would treat these, who, although they had made a serious mistake, were now willing to bear the shame, whispering, and humiliation to do the right thing? Can we do any less than He would?

I pray you take this to heart and and prayer and see what the Lord might have you do. Please, try to imagine God’s grief. He sees it all, you know. I wonder if He didn’t think a mother’s womb was the safest, most loving place in the world for a little baby to be nurtured and protected. Let’s do all we can to keep it that way! - Melody