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The Word of God on Abortion
At the Saddleback event, John McCain affirmed his opinion that life begins at conception. But what does the word of God have to say about it?
(Exodus 21:22-25) When two men fight, and one of them pushes a pregnant woman and a miscarriage results, but no other damage ensues, the one responsible shall be fined according as the woman's husband may exact from him, the payment to be based on reckoning. But if other damage ensues, the penalty shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
Thus, since the word of God determines that no life (nor eye, nor tooth, nor hand, nor foot) is taken in an induced miscarriage, then life cannot begin with conception, and abortion is not murder, in any so-called "Judeo-Christian tradition."
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Comments (7)
Since by conception most conservatives mean fertilization, they really mean sex is murder. (This because most fertilized ova do not implant, the result that morning-after pills ensure.)
So calling a fertilized egg a human, a women (or anyone) is liable for any negligence that may lead to miscarriage. Surely the old definition of life, "quickening", when movement is felt, is too vague and not very generous. But until a fetus can live outside its mother, it is part of the mother's body. Pregnancy is inconveniently invisible at first (the reason men prize those narrow waists), and when women gain the capability of ensuring their own morning-after protection, abortion questions will become moot.
August 18, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well said.
We can also point out that although science and technology make it possible for us to bring together egg and sperm in a Petri dish, that embryo cannot sustain itself to full term without the life support of a womb. Until such time as that is possible, the primary human rights to be preserved and protected belong to the mother -- or the owner of the womb.
August 18, 2008 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
You should read the contortions that the Pro-Life people go through to say that's not what it means. Of course, the rest of us know that that crowd is not Pro-Life when it comes to anything else, like sending soldiers off to war to die for lies, or putting poeple to death, even if there might be some possibility that they're innocent. Life begins at conception and ends at birth for that crowd.
August 18, 2008 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sometimes we gotta fight fire with fire, and brimstone with brimstone, folks.
August 18, 2008 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm an atheist - the loss of a pregnancy whether by miscarriage or abortion is the loss of a life.
Passing a law against abortion won't end abortions, we have laws against rape & murder and we still have plenty of those.
August 18, 2008 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pointless comparison. While we have a majority of Americans comfortable with Roe v. Wade, I challenge you to find a single American that would endorse rape or murder, (except for in the case of detainees in various prisons).
But true that laws won't stop abortions, just make them expensive.
August 18, 2008 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Disagree strongly. Since nothing is genuinely alive until it can exist on its own, miscarriage is the loss of potential life. Do atheists deal with gray areas any better than bible thumpers?
August 19, 2008 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
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