Secular ProLife

Students for Life of America is trying to reach a maximal audience by branching out toward the secular side of the abortion issue. A recent e-mail from them linked to the web site SecularProLife.org, which has as its subtitle, "Pro-life for a reason."

I have to say, that subtitle made me smile.

As their description on facebook says,

SecularProLife.org exists to promote secular pro-life arguments and fight the media portrayal of pro-lifers as "religious extremists." The scientific facts support our cause- let's use them!

We are not anti-religion. We welcome people of all faiths, atheists, agnostics, etc. We don't get involved with things like the pledge of allegiance, gay marriage, or In God We Trust on coins. SecularProLife.org is dedicated solely to issues of life and death.

Although this group is just getting off the ground, I'm encouraged by their mere existence. In order to defend innocent human life, it is necessary to break down the walls of rhetoric that the pro-"choice" movement has made over the years.

Specifically, the separation of church and state should not be given as a reason to defend abortion. The pro-life position on abortion is non-sectarian. It is not based on any specific doctrine of any religious denomination. It is based on good scientific evidence and one basic moral principle: that all human beings deserve the chance to live.

In honor of SecularProLife.org, I decided to write my top reasons why I don't use the Bible to defend the unborn. I'm sure this list will scandalize some Christians, but I feel like this stuff needs to be said--if for no other reason than that innocent children should not have to die because we can't agree on a single religion.

Top 5 reasons I don't use the Bible to defend the unborn

1. Non-Christians don't care about the Bible. This sounds really straightforward, but sometimes it feels like conservative politicians forget this.
2. Christians don't care about it, either. That's right, I said it. The fact is, about half the country doesn't agree with the pro-life position on abortion. About 80% of the country is Christian. That means there have to be plenty of Christians out there who are pro-choice; what are you going to do about it? Quoting scripture probably isn't doing the trick. Maybe they're from a more liberal mainline denomination that doesn't interpret scripture like you do. Or maybe one of the other reasons below has something to do with it.
3. The Bible doesn't even mention abortion. There is no commandment given by God in the Bible that prohibits, specifically, killing a child in the womb. Of course, "Thou shalt not kill," but everyone already agrees with that. Defining the word "kill" can be tricky, though, and unfortunately the Bible doesn't give us straightforward guidance on the issue. (Phrases often quoted such as "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you," when read in context, are not at all about the life of the unborn.)
   
4. The Bible may even find abortion acceptable. There are some interpretations of Exodus 21:22 that find no legal rights given to the unborn (see the NRSV). Whether this is true or not is not mine to say, but I have wondered many times about this verse.
5. The scientific facts are more compelling than the Bible. Consider one of the most often quoted passages of scripture used in pro-life circles:

   For you formed my inward parts;
   you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13)
   

   This actually gives an image of life in the womb that is misleading and could suggest that unborn children are nothing more than bits and pieces being "knitted together." Other than for fear of defying God's sovereignty, why not "abort" such a creature? If growth in the womb is really a process of parts being put together, then maybe it's not too late to "abort" such a process.
   
   The scientific image, on the other hand, is one of continual growth. From the moment of conception, a human being in the womb is doing what humans do--growing, consuming nutrients, and struggling to survive. All the various parts of the human body naturally differentiate (very quickly!) from stem cells. From the time you're about 8 weeks old in the womb, you already have major vital organs--a heart, a brain, something like lungs--and even more, you have fingers, toes, and eyes that are not much more than little buds. All of these parts will grow--they won't be "put together." You are a complete organism from day 1.

There is one other reason why maybe using the Bible to defend the unborn isn't always such a good idea: the abortion issue is not primarily an intellectual one. It involves all of our emotions and fears. Even when scripture is appropriate, it must be used with extreme care. The unborn child is not the only human life at stake.

So there you have it. I will say that there is a right way to use the Bible in defense of the unborn: to inspire hope, to motivate change, and to provide a foundation for compassionate ministry to women in need of better options than abortion.

With that, I think there's one scripture passage that reminds me that I need to speak out on this issue, whether or not I use the Bible to do it:

If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength being small;
if you hold back from rescuing
those taken away to death,
those who go staggering to the slaughter;
if you say, "Look, we did not know this"--
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it?
And will he not repay all according to their deeds? (Proverbs 24:10-12)