A professor in a college ethics class presented his students with a problem. He said "A man has syphilis and his wife has tuberculosis. They have had 4 children. One has died, the other 3 have what is considered to be a terminal illness. The mother is pregnant. What do you recommend?"
After a spirited discussion, the majority of the class voted that she abort the child.

"Fine," said the professor. "You've just killed Beethoven."

SURGEON GENERAL

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop says in his 35 years in medicine he has "never seen one case where abortion was necessary to save a mother's life."

EMBRYIONIC STEM RESEARCH - Matthew Ramsey, Chapel Hill, N.C. in R.Digest 10/03

As a graduate student at the University of North Carolina's genetics department, I can assure you that embryonic stem cells are no the miracle cure people then they are, nor are they even the ideal medical treatment. The goal of much stem cell research today is to identify and harvest cells from adult patients, and use them to treat that patient's disease. These cells - found in many organs such as the skin - may be the most useful. They have the same DNA as the patient and carry none of the moral issues of embryonic cells.

NEW SCANNING TECHNIQUES--www.sky.com/skynews, September 12, 2003

New scanning techniques have produced amazing pictures of babies inside the womb, which show babies apparently smiling and crying. The procedure has been pioneered by London obstetrician professor Stuart Campbell at the Create Health Center for Reproduction and Advanced Technology.  The new techniques, known as 3D and 4D scanning, make a more
detailed picture examination of the fetuses possible.
The new pictures offer new insight into fetal behavior.  The techniques have captured images of fetuses yawning, blinking, and sucking their fingers.  They even seem to smile and cry, and move their limbs at very young ages.
Campbell says, "There are many questions that can now be investigated." He asks, "Does the fetus smile because it is happy, or cry because it has been disturbed by some event in the womb?" Campbell also wonders, " Why does a fetus blink when we assume it's dark inside the uterus?"

Up to now, doctors did not think infants made expressions like those captured until after birth.  They previously thought babies learned to smile by copying their mothers.

CONSEQUENCES OF ABORTION Josh McDowell, Right From Wrong, 158
Dr. Anne Catherine Speckard, of the University of Minnesota, reports the following long-term (five to ten years) consequences of abortion:
· 81 percent reported preoccupation with the aborted child
· 73 percent reported flashbacks of the abortion experience
· 54 percent recalled nightmares related to the abortion
· 23 percent reported hallucinations related to the abortion

THE REGRET OF ABORTION Lee Strobel, God’s Outrageous Claims, 141   

One study showed they are more likely to attempt suicide than other women; in other research, psychiatrists reported negative psychological manifestations in 55 percent of women who had undergone legal abortions; and in another study, "even those women who were strongly supportive of the right to abort reacted to their own abortions with regret, anger, embarrassment, fear of disapproval, and even shame.

LIFE AT CONCEPTION  SBC Life, January 2002, p. 1
     According to Dr. Hymie Gordon, Professor of Medical Genetics & a Physician at the
Mayo Clinic, life begins at conception.  "Now we can say unequivocally that the question of when life begins is no longer a question for theological or physiological dispute.  It is an established scientific fact.  Theologians and philosophers may go on to debate the meaning of life or the purpose of life, but it is an established fact that all life, including human life begins at conception."

ABORTION STATISTICS - 1998--CNSNews.com, Fathers Play a Big Role in Abortion Decision, Experts Say, January 21, 2002. Submitted by Jim Sandell.

  A 1998 study by the Guttmacher Institute of 1,900 women seeking abortions found the
number one reason these women wanted an abortion was either they could not afford a child or
felt unready for the responsibility. Forty-two percent of women cited those two reasons. The
Guttmacher Institute labeled other reasons as social problems. These concerns included life
changes (16%), trouble in the relationship with the baby's father or fear of single parenthood
(12%), or lack of maturity/too young (11%).
   An analysis by Catholics for Choice supports that conclusion. They found in study after
study in many countries of the world, women who have abortions would have continued the
pregnancy if circumstances had been different. They are often poor and feel they can not provide a decent life for the child. Many are concerned that the men in their lives are not prepared to love or commit to women and children.
   Pro-Life activists say the single most important factor in the decision women make is the
attitude of her partner, the baby's father   It is sad to see so many human lives destroyed in the
name of choice, especially when the choice is in name only.

THE BIBLE WEIGHS IN

The first list of genealogies in the Bible begins “And Adam... begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. After he begot Seth... he begot sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:3-4). The rest of that chapter lists a long line of men who “begot” children too. The term “begot” (Heb. yalad), when used of a mother describes her conceiving, bearing and giving birth to a child, but when used of the father it always refers to conception because that is the only part the father has in the birthing process of a child!! Don’t confuse yourself with questions about first, second, or third trimester... that child’s life begins at conception!
Does the Bible make a distinction between a fetus and a child? “... Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her... And the Lord said to her: ‘Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger...” (Genesis 25:21-26). Although these two children were still “unborn” they were “alive.” They were still “children”—which happens to be the same word used of Keturah’s “children” (Genesis 25:4) who had already been born (Heb. ben). The Bible makes no distinction between a child and a fetus; that distinction originated with man!
The great sufferer Job cursed the day of his birth when his pain and suffering became so great during his testing by Satan. He cried out “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?” (Job 3:11). Job could not give up something he did not have. One cannot die if he has never been alive!!
The prophet Jeremiah was called to be a prophet long before his birth, “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.’” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). Did God call and ordain a fetus or a man?
The Psalmist sings of God’s watchful care even while his fragile body formed in his mother’s womb, “For you have formed my inward parts; you have covered me in my mother’s womb... My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret... Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they are all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” (Psalm 139:13-16). Every time a doctor’s tools invade the safety and security of a mother’s womb to abort a baby, God’s eyes witness it!
God never makes a distinction between an “unborn child” and a “child” (see Amos 1:13; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:41,44). Besides, most abortionists begin their argument with a false premise—that man does not have a living, immortal soul. We are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and we have a spirit that will live within or without the body (2 Cor. 5:1-10).

MOTHER THERESA ON ABORTION (Mother Theresa -- "Notable and Quotable," Wall Street Journal, 2/25/94, p.A14)
 "America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts--a child--as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience."

NUMBER OF ABORTIONS WORLDWIDE The Alan Guttmacher Institute
Number of abortions per year: Approximately 46 Million
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 126,000

SYMPTOMS OF POST ABORTION STRESS SYNDROME (PASS)
First 3 months after an abortion:
*Self-harm, strong suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts.
*Increase in dangerous and/or unhealthy activities (alcohol/drug abuse, anorexia/bulimia, compulsive over-eating, cutting, casual
and indifferent sex and other inappropriate risk-taking behaviors).
*Depression that is stronger than just 'a little sadness or the blues'.
*Inability to perform normal self-care activities.
*Inability to function normally in her job or in school.
*Inability to take care of or relate to her existing children or function normally in her other relationships (i.e. with a spouse,
partner, other family member or friends).
*A desire to immediately get pregnant and 'replace' the baby that was aborted, even when all the circumstances that led her to
'choose abortion' the first time are still in place.

PERCENTAGE OF THOSE WHO ACCEPT IT freshministry.org
A person's faith does make a difference in how they view abortion. According to George
Barna, 43% of non Christian adults believe abortion should be illegal in all or most circumstances compared with 73% of Christian adults. REV, Nov/Dec 2001, p. 79
What accounts for the 30% difference? Not an affiliation with a political party, but a
world-view that values life. Life is sacred all life even the life of an unborn child. Children are a
gift from God, after they are born, and before. Psalm 127:3 KJV "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."

STATISTICS ON ABORTING WOMEN Family Voice January/February 2001

The Elliott institute gathered data from 192 women (3 of whom experienced miscarriages) who had become pregnant through incidents of rape (164) or incest (28).

Of those who had abortions (56):

• 44 (88 %) regretted the decision and said it was the wrong one.
• 19 of the 44 rape victims said they had been pressured by others to abort.
• 6 didn't provide information on their feelings about abortion
• 1 rape victim reported no regrets
• 1 incest victim said abortion was correct for her.

("Of those who expressed an opinion, over 90% stated they would discourage other sexual assault victims from having an abortion)

Of those who carried their children to term (133):

• 82 women expressed an explicit opinion about abortion: 77 (94%) of them "rejected abortion as a good option for pregnancies resulting from sexual assault"
• All 4 incest victims were happy they carried to term.
• Not one of these women expressed regret over giving birth to their children.

("Over 80% explicitly expressed happiness that they had chosen to give birth to their child.")

Case #1: There’s a preacher and his wife who are very, very poor. They already have 14 children and now she finds out that she’s pregnant with the 15^th. They’re living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending an abortion?

Case #2: The father is sick with a bad cold, the mother has tuberculosis (TB). They have four children. The first is blind, second is dead, third is deaf, fourth has TB. She finds that she’s pregnant again. Given their extreme situation, would you consider recommending an abortion?

Case #3: A white man has raped a 13-year old black girl, and she became pregnant. If you were her parents, would you consider recommending an abortion?

Case #4: A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancée’ is not the father of the baby, and he’s concerned. Would you consider recommending an abortion?

If you said yes in the first case, you just killed John Wesley, one of the great evangelists in the 19^th century. If you said yes to the 2^nd case, you killed Ludwig van Beethoven. If you said yes in the 3^rd case you killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer who thrilled audiences for many years at Billy Graham Crusades around the world. And, if you said yes in to the 4^th case, you killed Jesus Christ.

YOU DECIDE R.C. Agnew, U.S.C. Medical School

The father has syphilis and the mother has tuberculosis. They have had four children. The 1^st one was blind, the second one died. The third one was deaf and dumb, and fourth one had tuberculosis.

The mother is now pregnant with her 5^th child but is willing to have an abortion if you determine that she should. What would you decide for her?

If you chose abortion, congratulations! You’ve just murdered Beethoven!

THE CHEAPENED LIFE Focus on the Family Newsletter 1/2001

The value of human life has been cheapened, not only, for those still in their mothers' wombs, but for all of humanity. Radical feminists promised us in the 70s that abortion on demand would result in every child being a wanted child. They were dead wrong. More children are abandoned, abused and neglected today than ever before" (Patrick F. Fagan, et al., The Child Abuse Crisis: The Disintegration of Marriage, Family, and the American Community, The Heritage Foundation, Roe Backgrounder No. 1115, 15 May 1997. See All Types of Child Abuse Have Increased Since 1980. See http://www.heritage.org/library/categories/family/bg1115b.gif. Also see Don Babwin, Child Abuse Not Dropping As Much As Other Crime, Report Finds, The Associated Press, 18 November 1999).

Indeed, a misguided professor of Bioethics at Princeton University (Peter Singer, Practical Ethics, 2^nd ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 169). Has argued for the legalized murder of unwanted newborns at the whim of their parents. They are no more valuable, he said, "than the life of a pig, a dog, or a chimpanzee."

MARGARET SANGER’S RACISM Family Voice January/February 2000 p. 11

Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, is often hailed for her crusade to bring birth control and abortion to America early this century. But while abortion advocates laud her as a "woman of valor," they often don’t mention her advocacy of eugenics.

Sanger’s magazine, Birth Control Review published an article in June 1932 entitled "Eugenics for the Negro." Editor Elmer Carter stated "that the race problem in America is infinitely aggravated by the presence of too many unhappily born subnormal, morons, and imbeciles of both races."

Prompted by this thought, Sanger developed the "Negro Project" in 1939. This was her plan to limit the black population. It included enlisting the leadership of educated blacks to make birth control and abortion viable solutions for poor blacks.

"[Sanger] bemoaned the burden of the ‘unfit’ on the productive members of the community," wrote her biographer Ellen Chesler in A Woman of Valor. "She was committed to the creation of a ‘race of thoroughbreds.’"

In her zeal to erase the "unfit" from society, Sanger openly advocated sterilization of the disabled and mentally challenged, as well as linking welfare benefits to birth control, abortion and sterilization. And she supported the sterilization of prison inmates – doubtlessly believing such a move would alleviate crime in the next generation.

PARENTAL CONSENT LAWS & AFFECTS Family Voice January/February 2000 p. 15

Dr. Wanda Franz of the National Right to Life Committee notes: When Minnesota had a parental involvement law for 7 years, "not only were there fewer abortions performed on teens during that time, but the overall pregnancy rate declined too. If you involve parents in the decision, kids are more careful about what they do."

WRONGFUL BIRTH LAWSUITS Family Voice January/February 2000 p. 7

A few years ago, Deborah Campano gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. However, he was not perfect. Campano sued her doctor, Dr. James Delahunty, for "wrongful birth." She believes the doctor acted incompetently because he did not encourage her to abort when he saw signs that the developing boy had Down Syndrome.

Campano sued, and won - to the tune of more than $1 million. Her case is but one in a growing trend of wrongful-birth cases.

Today, 27 states allow wrongful-birth suits. Gone are the days when physicians simply had to worry about suits over a patient’s death. Now doctors, regardless of their personal conviction, are required to participate in weeding out the "unfit" or they could lose millions in court.

PRINCETON HIRES EVIL Family Voice January/February 2000 p. 7

Prestigious Princeton University has given credence to eugenic philosophies by hiring bioeticist Peter Singer and appointing him - interestingly enough - to its University Center for Human Values. Singer does not stop at advocating killing the unfit before they pass through the birth canal. He openly advocates infanticide up to 28 days after birth. "Killing a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person," Singer argues in his book Practical Ethics. "Very often it’s not wrong at all."

FETUS GRABS DOCTOR Chuck Colson Breakpoint 4/2000

Recently, Americans were introduced to a baby who easily could have been a candidate for partial-birth abortion. When Samuel Armas was just a 14-week-old fetus, he was diagnosed with spina bifida. Doctors operated on Samuel while he was in the womb at just 21 weeks gestation.
Then, as the surgeon was closing the womb, the miracle happened. Baby Samuel pushed his hand out of the womb and grabbed the surgeon's finger. Photographer Michael Clancy caught this astonishing act on film. And in that instant, Clancy went from being pro-choice to being pro-life. As he put it, "I was totally in shock for two hours after the surgery . . . I know abortion is wrong now -- it's absolutely wrong."

BREAST CANCER RISK NRLC web site 3/2000

There is strong evidence that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. A study of more than 1,800 women appearing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 1994 found that overall, women having abortions increased their risk of getting breast cancer before age 45 by 50%. For women under 18 with no previous pregnancies, having an abortion after the 8th week increased the risk of breast cancer 800%. Women with a family history of breast cancer fared even worse. All 12 women participating in the study who had abortions before 18 and had a family history of breast cancer themselves got cancer before age 45.

Of course, death of the mother is the most serious of all complications. Over 200 women have died from legal abortions since 1973. The risk of death increases according to the duration of pregnancy and the complexity of the abortion technique employed.

MATERNAL DEATHS FROM ABORTION National Right To Life News 2/2000

The number of dead children after 27 years of legalized abortion is about 39 million. As to maternal deaths from abortion, the Centers for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of August 9, 1997, gives statistics for the 20 year period from 1972-1991. According to Table 35 (p. 96), the numbers of abortion related maternal deaths for 1972 (the year before abortion on demand became legal nationwide): are

Legal abortions - 24

Illegal abortions - 39

Spontaneous abortions - 25

For the subsequent 19 years (1973-1991) of legalized abortion, the total numbers for maternal deaths are:

Legal abortions - 263

Illegal abortions - 51

Spontaneous abortions - 159

THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH National Right To Life News 2/2000 by James Freeman

You may know the Hippocratic Oath which all doctors take, as "Do no harm." Well, apparently that’s the short version. According to the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, "the Father of Medicine," actually said something more specific: "The Oath varies somewhat according to the particular translation, but in any translation the content is clear: ‘I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion,’ or ‘I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly, I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy.’"

GLAD SHE HADN’T BEEN ABORTED Pulpit Helps 10/99

Kay James, a lovely black, and a recent government official, used to defend the pro-life position in college campus debates. After a debate in Virginia, an abortion clinic counselor in the audience told her she (James), being middle class, could not relate to the need of the poor for abortions.

James responded, "Tell me how you would counsel a woman who comes to you in tears and says, ‘I’m pregnant and I don’t know what I’m going to do. I already have 4 children. My husband is suffering from alcoholism and he physically abuses the children and me. He can’t hold a job, and I don’t know how I’m going to put food on the table.’"

The woman said, "The most loving thing that woman could do would be to have an abortion. What loving mother would bring a child into the world under those circumstances? What quality of life could that child be expected to have?"
James replied, "I have a vested interest in how you would counsel that woman, because that woman was my mother. And that 5^th child she carried was me. And the quality of my life is very, very good."

NURSES OBJECT Reuters 3/18/99

Nearly 2/3’s of hospital based registered nurses in the United States say they would refuse to work in an OB/GYN unit where abortion procedures are performed, according to results of a poll conducted by RN magazine. In an interview with Reuters Health, RN articles editor Suzanne Wolfe explained that the magazine had last queried its readership about ethical issues in a large survey a decade ago. "The most notable change was the position taken by nurses on abortion," she said. "Back in 1988, most respondents said they would work on an obstetrics/gynecology unit where abortions were performed. Today 6 out of 10 responded that they wouldn’t work on (such) an OB/GYN unit, The issue of partial birth abortions elicited a strong response from respondents, with nearly 2/3’s of nurses saying that ‘partial birth abortion should be prohibited by law."

THE CHANGE IN NORMA Christian Reader July/Aug. 98

Norma McCorvey (the "Jane Roe" of Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade) was baptized not too long ago because of the witness of those who opposed her abortion clinic. This is the story:

God began working on Norma’s heart through a 7 year old girl named Emily, the daughter of (Operation Rescue) volunteer Ronda Mackey. Quite understandably, Norma had difficulty relating to children. She had given birth to 3, all of whom had been placed for adoption (one of them against Norma’s will. And because she worked in an abortion clinic, Norma was fearful of bonding with anyone so young. "It was part of my denial," she explains. "When you know what is happening to the children behind closed doors, it’s difficult to become attached to them outside."

Emily’s blatant affection, frequent hugs, and direct pursuit disarmed Norma. The little girl made it clear that she accepted Norma, but not her lifestyle. Early on, Norma explained to Emily, "I like kids and wouldn’t let anyone hurt little kids," to which Emily responded, "Then why do you let them kill the babies at the clinic?"

This childlike innocence cut open Norma’s heart. Over time, Emily began to personify the issue of abortion for Norma – especially when Ronda confessed to Norma that Emily had almost been aborted.

Ronda was engaged when Emily was conceived, and nobody was very happy about the pregnancy. Ronda’s future in-laws, her mother, and her fiancé, all pressured her to get an abortion during the first trimester. Ronda admits that she gave abortion serious consideration, until memories of a high school friend’s emotional devastation following an abortion strengthened her resolve to let Emily live.

Shortly after Ronda told Norma that story, the 2 went shopping with Ronda’s girls. Norma was stunned when she saw Ronda’s bumper sticker, "Abortion Stops A Beating Heart," which has a vivid red heart on the side.

Norma saw Emily’s heart in that sticker; it just about destroyed her when she realized that "my law" (as she once fondly referred to Roe v. Wade) made it legal to snuff out young Emily’s life. Norma asked to be taken home immediately.

Norma was forever changed by this experience. For her, abortion was no longer an "abstract right," because it had a face in a little girl named Emily.

EARLY VIEW ON ABORTION Focus on the Family 1/2000 p. 3 by Dr. Ruth A Tucker, teacher at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Calvin College.

Yet despite an inclination to go far beyond the teaching of Scripture, the early church had a uniformly high view of the family that stood in stark contrast to the pagan world. Christians consistently opposed abortion and infanticide, practices that were not uncommon among pagans. Tertullian, a 2^nd century Christian leader, reflects this conviction: "In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb… To hind birth is merely a speedier man-killing."

SUSAN B. ANTHONY’S ABORTION VIEWS Focus on the Family 1/2000 p. 6

Susan B. Anthony is a hero of the feminist movement, and with good cause: She was a trailblazer in the women’s movement in the late 1800s. A Quaker who never married, Anthony devoted her energy first to the abolition of slavery, and then to women’s equality at the ballot box. She and other early feminists believed that the power of the vote was the key to fulfilling all other goals.

Willing to go to jail for what she believed, Anthony illegally cast a ballot in the 1872 presidential election and was arrested. Regard for her by modern-day advocates of women’s rights led to the production of the Susan B. Anthony $1 coin in 1979.

There is, however, one thing these advocates don’t know about Anthony, something that might temper their adoration: Susan B. Anthony was pro-life.

A hundred years ago, Anthony wrote an essay in her publication, The Revolution, about the "horrible crime of child-murder." She was considering specifically the tragedy of abortion within marriage, wherein a pregnant wife "destroys the little being, she thinks, before it lives."

Anthony wanted to "eradicate this most monitors crime" but feared that laws alone would not be sufficient: "We must reach the root of the evil and destroy it."

Anthony wrote about this evil with passion: "Guilty? Yes, no matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is woefully guilty who commits this deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; but oh! Thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation which impels her to the crime."

When a man sought to compliment (Susan B. Anthony) by saying what a fine mother she would have been, she responded, "Sweeter even than to have had the joy of caring for children of my own has it been to me to help bring about a better state of things for mothers generally, so that their unborn little ones could not be willed away from them."
Mary Krane Derr, an author, researched the writings of early historical feminists for the book Pro-Life Feminism: Yesterday and Today. Derr discovered dozens of essays by a wide range of feminists decrying the violence of abortion and its damage to women.

"According to the early feminists, abortion resulted from the denial of the pregnant woman’s humanity as much as from a denial of the unborn child’s," wrote Derr who still terms herself a feminist. "Women felt pressured into aborting because they were deprived of truly life-affirming sexual and reproductive options. This is still very much the case. If we don’t want unborn children to be treated as insensate clumps of tissue, we must first of all ensure that their mothers are not treated as insensate clumps of tissue."

Often in her speeches Sidney Callahan (feminist, author and psychologist) often shocks her audiences by declaring "Women will never climb to equality over mounds of dead fetuses."

SCRIPTURAL THO’TS ON ABORTION - Dr. Johnny Pressley. Cincinnati Bible College

I. The Bible always refers to unborn children by human person terms:

A. An unborn child is typically spoken of by terms such as "baby" (Luke 1:41,44)

And boy (Job 3:3; Luke 1:36)

B. Pregnant women are typically spoken of as being "with child" at all stages of

1. Near the end of pregnancy: as with Phinehas’ wife (I Samuel 4:19)

And Mary the mother of Jesus (Luke 2:5)

2. At 3 months pregnant: as with Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar (Gen. 38:24-25)

3. Even when the pregnancy is 1^st discovered: as with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11:5)

II. The Bible refers to the unborn child as being under God’s special care while in the mother’s

III. The Bible refers to some unborn children as being objects of God’s special plans while in

A. The prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 1:5)

B. John the Baptist (Luke 1:15)

C. The Apostle Paul (Gal. 1:15)

D. The Messiah (Isa. 49:1,5)

IV. The Mosaic law seems to apply the rules that protect human beings to the unborn

A. A person received a fine for causing a premature birth with no serious injury to mother

a. The term "miscarriage" implies that the unborn child dies

b. The phrase "no further injury" implies that the baby was "injured" (or

d. This translation implies that the life of the child was not considered of

2. However, the Hebrew text suggests a different translation:

a. The text literally says: "if her children come out and yet there is no

b. This sounds more like a premature birth with no injury to the child

c. The Hebrew text does not use the Hebrew terms "miscarriage" or

d. The NIV provides a more accurate translation

RATIONAL ARGUMENT AGAINST - Dr. Johnny Pressley. Cincinnati Bible College

I. The biological data supports the idea that the unborn child should be viewed as human life

A. 18^th week of pregnancy (4 mo. 1 wk.): the point of "viability" at which it is possible

B. 12^th week: (3 months) all the child’s organs should be functioning by now and the

C. 10^th week (2 mo. 2 wks.): the child now has a distinctive set of fingerprints

D. 8^th week (2 months): child can now swim in the fluid in the womb & can grasp objects

E. 6^th week (1mo. 2 wks.): the child now has brain activity

F. 3^rd week: child now registers heart activity

G. Conception: the fertilized egg contains all the genetic data the child will ever have

II. The argument that human life status should not be granted in the womb until there is a human appearance and a functioning heart and brain will still not justify most of the abortions practiced today.

A. Heart activity begins as early as the 3^rd week, and brain activity as early as the 6^th wk.

B. Most women do not know they are pregnant until after this stage of development.

THE TRAUMA OF ABORTION Human Events 12/13/96

More than 1/3 of the respondents in a post-abortion survey - 36% - described themselves as self destructive after having tan abortion. The study, first published in the 1994 fall edition of Post Abortion Review, said fully 20% reported having a subsequent nervous breakdown, with 10% requiring hospitalization for psychiatric care; 61% said abortion made their lives worse, and 6% said abortion improved their lives. Only 31% felt "reconciled" with their abortion.

PRO CHOICE BANK ROBBERS James N. Watkins in Editorial Marion Newspaper

We've heard a lot about "Pro-Choice" this election year. We too want to avoid "legislating our values or claiming there are moral absolutes. Ethics is a personal choice, not a political or religious concern."

That's why we have established "Planned Bank Robbery." Now we personally don't approve of bank robbery, but we don't want to inflict our morals on anyone else either. We're "pro choice" when it comes to bank jobs. It must be a personal decision of each individual.

Education is the key. It is shocking the number of teens who don't know how banks are robbed. Or even how to load a 357 magnum, drive a get away car, or yell "Hand over the cash, Turkey, or you're dead meat." Young people need to know the wide range of career options available to them.

And we're also concerned that a lot of young people are robbing banks without proper protection. Personal injury and irresponsibility are much greater crimes than actually bumping off First National. We at "Planned Bank Robbery" don't approve of bank robbery. But we do want to offer, free of charge, bullet proof vests, ski masks, and if necessary, a get a way car. This is the compassionate thing to do.

And young people who want to knock over the all night liquor store shouldn't have to get their parent's permission to buy a reliable car or a bullet proof vest. If that were the case, we'd have hundreds more teens needlessly injured by narrow minded parents who are trying to inflict their morality on children.

Again, let me emphasize that "Planned Bank Robbery" does not condone or encourage grand larceny. We only want to stress it is a personal decision - we're "pro choice."

ABORTION TECHNIQUE 1994 Pregnancy Prevention Center Newsletter

Why is this ministry important? (ministry of helping stop abortions) Let me share with you the contents of an article that recently came across my desk. The article describes a new more humane" way of ending the Life of a child in the womb. This "humane" procedure is called dilatation and extraction. The abortionist takes forceps and proceeds up through the birth canal until he is able to grab the baby's leg. He then proceeds to grasp the leg and to pull the infant down through the canal until only the head remains inside the mother. Why? If the baby were completely removed before killing it then the doctor could be held for murder - according to the world! As the back of the neck is exposed, the abortionist then takes a pair of scissors and makes a hole in the soft area at the base of the skull and then proceeds to create a larger opening by expanding the scissors with his hand. A suction catheter is then inserted into this "relatively painless and more humane" hole and then the baby's brain is sucked out. According to the abortionist that developed this new technique, this is a more humane and less painful way to end life rather than burning to death by saline solution or by being dismembered. How less painful would it seem to you if I were to stick sharp scissors in the base of your skull and then open them up to create a hole so that I may "more humanely" end you life by sucking out your brain. Imagine the countless number of women and young girls that are being presented this option every day! That's why the work and ministry of the Pregnancy Care Center is so important! !!

"Protection of the life of the mother as an excuse for an abortion is a smoke screen. In my 36 years of pediatric surgery, I have never known of one instance where the child had to be aborted to save the mother's life. If toward the end of the pregnancy complications arise that threaten the mother's health, the doctor will either induce labor or perform a Caesarian section. His intention is to save the life of both the mother and the baby. The baby's life is never willfully destroyed because the mother's life is in danger."

-- C. Everett Koop, M.D., U.S. Surgeon General

"I'm a housewife and a registered nurse from Jacksonville. I worked the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, and when we weren't busy, I'd go out to help with the newborns. One night I saw a bassinet outside the nursery. There was a baby in this bassinet -- a crying, perfectly formed baby -- but there was a difference in this child. She had been scalded. She was the child of a saline abortion.

"This little girl looked as if she had been put in a pot of boiling water. No doctor, no nurse, no parent, to comfort this hurt, burned child. She was left alone to die in pain. They wouldn't let her in the nursery -- they didn't even bother to cover her.

"I was ashamed of my profession that night! It's hard to believe this can happen in our modern hospitals, but it does. It happens all the time. I thought a hospital was a place to heal the sick -- not a place to kill.

"I asked a nurse at another hospital what they do with their babies that are aborted by saline. Unlike my hospital, where the baby was left alone struggling for breath, their hospital puts the infant in a bucket and puts the lid on. Suffocation! Death by suffocation! "Another nurse said she had to stop helping with abortions. The little severed arms and legs from suction abortions were just too much for her to look at.

"Aren't you happy our moms weren't born in this generation? It could have been one of us in that lonely bassinet -- or that ugly bucket." -- Kathleen Malloy, Jacksonville, FL

QUOTE: Recent surveys suggest that most people who favor abortion have already been born! -- Mark Russell

Carol Everett was involved in the abortion industry in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas, area from 1977 until 1983. As director of four clinics, owner of two, Ms. Everett was responsible for the clinics' daily operation as well as for all employee training programs. Everett, who had an abortion soon after it became legal in 1973, now speaks out on: "What I Saw in the Abortion Industry."

Each time I sold an abortion to another woman, I justified my own abortion all over again. I was really quite good at abortion marketing, and soon watched my employer's abortion business more than double. When I realized how profitable the "business" was, I wanted more money.

Because my employer would not give me an equity interest, I negotiated a more lucrative arrangement with the next clinic, I was paid $25.00 for each abortion that was done. The first month we did 45 abortions and the last month in the abortion business, with two clinics open, we did 545 abortions. Multiply 545 times $25.00 and I made $13,625.00 in July, 1983. However, we had much bigger plans. We actually planned to have five clinics, all run out of one yellow page advertising budget and one central telephone counseling center. We wanted to eventually pull patients from a five-state advertising area.

Starting in January, 1982, we had at least one major complication each month. The woman would be loaded into my car (an ambulance outside an abortion clinic is terrible advertising) and transported to a hospital that would protect the doctor and the abortion clinic's reputation. The woman was always told she would have had the complication if she had continued her pregnancy.

Then we had a death. A 32-year-old woman hemorrhaged to death as a result of a cervical laceration. I finally realized, we weren't helping women -- we were destroying them.

Women are told that abortion is a "choice." Abortion is not a choice, but rather a skillfully marketed product sold to a woman at a crisis time in her life. And when she discovers the product is defective, it's too late -- the baby is dead!

TEEN FACTS Since the popular push for contraceptives for kids began, teenage sexual activity and pregnancy have increased almost 500%. 70% of unwed teen mothers will go on welfare. Of teens who marry because of pregnancy, 60% will be divorced in five years.

WHY DO THEY ABORT THEIR CHILDREN 1987 Guttmacher Institute Study (affiliated with the Planned Parenthood organization).

Concerned how a baby would change her life....................76

Can't afford a baby right now............................................68

Wants to avoid single parenthood......................................51

Not ready for responsibility...............................................31

Doesn't want others to know she had sex or is pregnant.....31

Too young to have a child.................................................30

Has all the children she wants............................................26

Husband or partner wants her to have an abortion.............23

Fetus has possible health problems....................................13

Woman has a health problem..............................................7

Woman's parents want her to have an abortion....................7

Woman was a victim of rape or incest.................................1

PROCHOICE AGAINST CHOICE "Our Daily Bread" April 24, 1991
If we make our own preference the basic principle for determining right from wrong, eventually we destroy all principle. If we reject the absolute moral stands of the Bible, sooner or later we end up with no standards, or at best a flimsy foundation of inconsistencies.

In India, for example, many couples prefer boy babies over girls and therefore use amniocentesis to find out their child's sex before lit is born. In a June 1989 newsletter, Chuck Colson cites a study done in Bombay of 8000 abortions and 7900 of those were female fetuses. Feminists worldwide condemned this selective abortion as "female feticide." Yet they defend any abortion for reasons of convenience, birth control, or economic hardship. Colson calls this "pro-choice against choice."

WHEN ABORTIONS SAVE LIVES? Time 4/6/92 p. 52ff

... many medical researchers ... think the experiments (with fetal cell transplants) could lead to therapies for many disease. They have been joined by an unusual coalition that includes victims of such diseases as Parkinson's and even by quite a few converts from the pro-life camp. Their tactic is to separate the issue of fetal tissue research from the debate over abortion. As they see it, fetal cells are equivalent to vital organs that are available to save lives, but are now being thrown away.

Fetal cells are unlike any other tissues. "There's something magic about them," says California neurosurgeon Robert Iacono. In experiments with rats, mice and monkeys, scientists have discovered that fetal cells are effective in treating a wide range of stubborn conditions. Transplanted cells have cured diabetes and restored some sight in animals. The cells have repaired some spinal cord injuries, allowing injured rats to run at normal speed. Implants in the brain have improved memory and learning. The work has led scientists to treat epilepsy, combat leukemia and stop such degenerative diseases as Huntington's chorea and Alzheimer's.

More than 600 people have received fetal cell transplants. The cells have effectively treated DiGeorge syndrome, an extremely rare and fatal genetic disease, and appear to have helped people with Parkinson's. But in victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe, fetal cells failed to regenerate bone marrow function lost to radiation exposure. People with diabetes have been the largest group of transplant recipients, but while there was limited improvement, no patient ever came off insulin. Says Hans Sollinger, a diabetes researcher at U of Wisconsin: "In animals we were extremely successful, but in humans there's been no success (with diabetes) up to this point.

Scientists do know that the best cells for transplants come from elective abortions. Cells from spontaneous abortions and ectopic pregnancies (where the fetus never makes it to the uterus) are often abnormal. Yet the reliance on elective abortions could lead to questionable decisions: women becoming pregnant to provide the aborted cells for a relative or simply selling the aborted fetus as if it were a pint of blood. In fact, Elliott Osserman's (renowned cancer researcher) two daughters volunteered to get pregnant to furnish fetal cells for their father.

ABORTION IN HISTORY Pulpit Helps

, 10/92 p. 14

Abortion was legal and common in the ancient pagan Greco-Roman world. It was not practiced among the Jews except when a mother was unable to have birth after protracted labor (solved today by cesarean birth).

The early church inherited biblical, Jewish moral values, creating the "Judeo-Christian ethic." The rapid spread of Christianity throughout the Roman empire during the 1st two centuries A.D. caused a widespread change in the pagan world's attitude toward fetal life.

Consequently, abortion was made illegal under secular Roman law at the beginning of the 3rd century. This was a side effect of Christian evangelism.

During the 4th century, many theologians became fascinated by Greek philosophy. As a result, Aristotle's pagan view, that the baby was not "formed" and did not get its soul until sometime after conception, became popular again.

However, all of these Christian theologians still considered abortion at any stage of development as killing. A 4th century church father, Basil of Caesarea, said it this way: "The hairsplitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us. Whoever deliberately commits abortion is subject to the penalty for homicide."

SHAME A BANE? by Sharon A. Sheehan in Good Health News, March 1993

After graduate school in public health, I was employed by the State of California to help solve the problem of teenage pregnancy by educating teenagers about birth control. The fundamental origin of the problem - i.e. the premarital sexual activity of the teenagers - was accepted as a given. The Planned Parenthood professional assigned to train me pointed out that the real solution to this problem was to eradicate the sense of shame associated with premarital sex.

I was stunned. But the logic was obvious: Teenage pregnancy is a problem. Birth control is the solution. Shame is the barrier to applying the solution. Therefore eliminate shame in order to solve the problem.

But taking a young person's sense of modesty and giving back a pill or a condom wasn't what anyone would call a fair trade.

Nonetheless, for the next several months I proceeded to talk to hundreds of teenagers about various methods of birth control. But I was never convinced that I was genuinely helping them. That one comment about shame was the tip of an iceberg that no condom could ever cover.

Professionally, I succumbed to the obligatory gag rule: Don't say anything that could arouse the sense of shame. In practice, then, I was compelled to imply that all sexual choices were morally neutral.

The new sexual ideology protected teenagers from shame by saying, "if you feel like you are ready, then it's OK." Ready for what? Ready to build a life together? Ready for another conquest? Ready to feel like a slut? Ready to bring a new life into the world?

Shame is powerful word that explodes off in many directions. There is a cruel, destructive side to shame. Controlling people by shaming them into self loathing or compliance, for example. But shame also protects us. It prevents us from treating others in a despicable fashion. And it protects the sanctity of our unfinished and unready selves.

Recently, I returned to the high school campus and was free to talk with students about how they see themselves and what they dare to hope for. The poignant, articulate expressions of their ideals and intentions belied every stereotype that the relentless construct in our minds.

Many are offended by the adult assumption that most teens are sexually active. One girl was so uncomfortable that she finally went to her teacher in Living Skills class to explain that she was not sleeping with her boyfriend. "It's like the adult world invading our world," another girl commented.

Yet they are embarrassed to ask the questions they care about most. "What should I look for in a guy?" "How do I know if it's morally right?" "How will I feel afterwards?"

Behind their "Correct," value free facade lurks a deep sense of loss. They lament the lack of guidelines and moral structure. One girl described it this way: "It used to be that people got married and they had sex. Then when the baby came there was a place for it. Now technology has taken away the worry of having children. That leaves sex to float around in everyone's life when there's no guy who's going to stick around."

"It used to be that kids wouldn't want to disappoint themselves or each other," a boy remarked. "I think it's really lonely," said another. "It's sad.

ABORTION FACTS Pregnancy Care Center Newsletter, Feb. 1994

* Abortion clinics are not required by law to be inspected by state health departments.

* 25 studies present clear evidence of a relationship between abortion and breast cancer.

* Abortion is the largest unregulated business in the United States, 2nd only to illegal drugs.

* Over 4400 children are aborted each day - 1.6 million each year.

* More than 2 million couples are waiting to adopt a child.

* Abortion is legal anytime during pregnancy - even right before birth!

* The heart of a preborn baby begins beating 3 weeks after conception - before most women even know they are pregnant.

* Brain waves can be measure at 40 days - babies feel pain.

* Abortion stops a beating heart and kills a unique individual.

THE GLORY OF FREEDOM OF CHOICE Adrian Rogers

Dear Mom: January 5, 2023

Can you believe it is already the year 2023? I'm still writing '22 on everything! It seems like only yesterday that I was sitting in the first grade and celebrating the change to a new century.

I know we haven't really chatted since Christmas, Mom, & I'm sorry. Anyway, I have some very difficult news to share with you, & I really didn't want to call & talk face to face.

But before I get to that, let me report that Ted's had a big promotion, and I should be up for a hefty raise this year if I keep putting in those crazy hours - you know how I work at it. Yes, we're still struggling with the bills.

Little Timmy's been okay at kindergarten, although he complains about going. But then, he wasn't happy about the day care center either. So what can I do? He's been a real problem, Mom. He's a good kid, but quite honestly, he's an unfair burden on us at this time in our lives.

Ted and I have talked this through, and we have finally made a choice. Plenty of other families have made the same choice and are really better off today.

Our pastor is supportive of our choice. He pointed out the family is a system, and the demands of one member shouldn't be allowed to ruin the whole. The pastor told us to be prayerful and consider all the factors as to what is right to make our family work. He says that even though he probably wouldn't do it himself, the choice is really ours. He was kind enough to refer us to a children's clinic near here, so at least that part is easy.

Don't get me wrong Mom - I'm not an uncaring mother. I do feel sorry for the little guy. I think he heard Ted and me talking about it the other night. I turned and saw him standing at the bottom of the stairs in his pj's with the little bear that you gave him under his arm - and his eyes were sort of welled up with tears.

Mom the way he looked at me just about broke my heart, but I honestly believe this is better for Timmy too. It's not fair to force him to live in a family that can't five him the time and attention he deserves.

And please, Mom, don't give me the kind of grief that grandma gave you over your abortions. It's the same thing, you know. There's really no difference.

We've told Timmy he's just going in for a vaccination. Anyway, they say the termination procedure is painless.

I guess it's just as well you haven't seen much of little Timmy lately. Please give my love to Dad.

Your daughter,

Situational ethics is now being taught in many schools. However, one teacher who wanted to illustrate the faultiness of human reasoning gave the following situation to a class of students:

"How would you advise a mother who was pregnant with her fifth child based on the following facts.

"Her husband had syphilis. She had tuberculosis. Their first child was born blind. Their second child died. Their third child was born deaf. Their fourth child had tuberculosis.

"The mother is considering an abortion. Would you advise her to have one?"

In view of these facts, most of the students agreed that she should have an abortion.

The teacher then announced, "If you said 'Yes' you would have just killed the great composer Ludwig Von Beethoven!"

RELIGIOUS ZEAL OF ABORTIONISTS? Newsweek, Oct. 17, 1994 p.40

Those who are left (performing abortions) are more convinced than ever that what they're doing is deeply, morally correct. Some are guided by religious beliefs they say are no less profound than those of the pro-life activists. "What is outrageous is that {the anti-abortion protesters} portray theirs as the only religious position," says Curtis Boyd, a Texas abortion doctor and former Unitarian minister. "You can be deeply religious and perform abortion services. I perform abortions because of my religion."

Suzanne Poppema, a Seattle abortion doctor, declares that "Every day I feel I've made a small difference in the world." Warren Hern, an abortion doctor in Boulder, Colo., believes he is "doing something very important for the cause of human freedom." At a recent National Abortion Federation meeting, members came out of a post-Pensacola strategy session crying, hugging each other and vowing to carry on. "There are a lot of parallels between my church and this group of abortion doctors," says NAF member Dennis Christensen, who's been singing in the Methodist church choir in Madison, Wis., for 16 years. "It's two things: the moral code and the feeling of community."

Religious abortion doctors want more support from their clergy. Dr. Boyd is often asked by Native American women to bless the aborted fetus, and by Roman Catholic women to baptize it. He proposes that schools of theology develop special ceremonies to mark the loss of a fetus.

Dr. Leo Alexander, consultant to the office of the Chief of Counsel for War Crimes wrote about how German physicians started a trend which resulted in the euthanasia of 275,000 people before the was began:

It started with the acceptance of the attitude, basic in the euthanasia movement, that there is such a thing as a life not worthy to be lived. This attitude in its early stages concerned itself merely with the severely and chronically sick. Gradually the sphere of those to be included in this category was enlarged to encompass the socially unproductive, the ideologically unwanted, the racially unwanted, and finally all non-Germans. But it is important to realize that the infinitely small wedged-in lever from which this entire trend of mind received its impetus was the attitude toward the nonrehabilitable sick.

After the 4th week in abortions performed on pre 18 year olds, there is an 800% increase in breast cancer. All other abortions (post 18), see a 50% increase in breast cancer. Perhaps this is tied to the interruption of milk production. By contrast, there is no marked increase in breast cancer of women who have experienced miscarriage.

FEMINIST ON EMOTIONAL EFFECTS OF ABORTION Newsweek 3/25/96 p.61 "A few activists on the abortion rights side are arguing for a radical shift in rhetoric as well. In a controversial New Republic article last October entitled "Our Bodies, Our Souls," the feminist Naomi Wolf criticized some in the pro-choice movement for refusing to acknowledge that abortion involves a real death or that some women have lasting moral qualms. Wolf says she has met "strong pro-choice women" who privately confessed that they light a candle every year on the birthday of the baby they didn't have. She also finds it increasingly difficult, in these days of "Mozart for your belly, framed sonogram photos {and} home fetal heartbeat stethoscopes" to accept the pro-choice language that calls unwanted babies mere "uterine material."