What is an abortion?

From debating and discussing this topic for almost 40 years, I can tell you, people either care about what the word “abortion” means, or they don’t. After you say the word, you will know almost immediately how the person feels. On either side, people will be passionate about their view, for and against, but there are also a lot of indifferent people out there.

Let me cut to the chase right from the beginning, the abortion argument can always be ended with another, simple question. Are we talking about a human life? From here on, you will find plenty of supporting material that you can use in a discussion, but this question sums it up. If the answer is yes, then the main disagreement is whether or not the person has a right to live.

There is middle ground in all things, but with abortion, there is none. You are either alive or you are dead. If anyone ever tells you “Let’s agree to disagree,” tell them “Absolutely not. We’re not talking about food or a movie, this is human life. I won’t agree to disagree.”

Many times, the person you are discussing abortion with will just want to agree we are talking about a human life, but they still believe abortion is a solution. Then, you can just say, “To be clear, we agree abortion kills a human being in the womb. I believe the person should have a right to live, you believe the mother should have the right to kill her child.”

Defining Abortion

I did a search on abortion and this answer came up:

a·bor·tion??bôrSH(?)n/ – “the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.

Really?

The left-wing, pro-abotion site Wikipedia says:

“Abortion is the ending of pregnancy by removing a fetus or embryo from the womb before it can survive on its own.^{[note 1]} An abortion which occurs spontaneously is also known as a miscarriage. An abortion may be caused purposely and is then called an induced abortion, or less frequently, “induced miscarriage”. The word abortion is often used to mean only induced abortions. A similar procedure after the fetus could potentially survive outside the womb is known as a “late termination of pregnancy“.^[1]”

Facts:

1) Abortion is decriminalized through all nine months in the womb.

2) Abortion can be any method you use to kill a person inside the womb. It doesn’t matter is she is a fetus, embryo or a blastocyst, After all, to “abort” is to stop something from progressing. Of course the word abort wasn’t meant to be used for intentional killing of humans. The normal definition is more like the generic one:

– bring to a premature end because of a problem or fault.

Why? Because you don’t abort the launch of a rocket when everything is fine, and obviously, you don’t “abort” a child if you want her.

The problem is, people identify an “unwanted pregnancy” as a candidate for abortion, because, to them, that is a “problem.” What do we do with problems? We get rid of them.

In 1973 two laws were fabricated by pro-abortion people, to make sure women could kill their babies through all 9 months of pregnancy. The first was Roe v Wade, the 2nd, Doe v Bolton. The United States Supreme Court took it upon themselves to create these laws.

Described another way, a mother can kill her child until the day she would be naturally born!

What is inside the womb of a pregnant woman?

A woman is pregnant, she’s having a?

• frog?
• snake?
• turtle?
• goat?

No, a pregnant human being will have a human child, and a person is created when sperm meets egg. All biology books will confirm this.  She won’t deliver a frog or a turtle. In 9 months, give or take a few days or weeks, she will deliver a child.

Here are some statements from various professors & doctors:

Professor Hymie Gordon, Mayo Clinic: “By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”

Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard University Medical School: “It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive…. It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception…. Our laws, one function of which is to help preserve the lives of our people, should be based on accurate scientific data.”

Dr. Watson A. Bowes, University of Colorado Medical School: “The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter—the beginning is conception. This straightforward biological fact should not be distorted to serve sociological, political, or economic goals.”

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, internationally known obstetrician and gynecologist, was a cofounder of what is now the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). He owned and operated what was at the time the largest abortion clinic in the western hemisphere. He was directly involved in over sixty thousand abortions.

Dr. Nathanson’s study of developments in the science of fetology and his use of ultrasound to observe the unborn child in the womb led him to the conclusion that he had made a horrible mistake. Resigning from his lucrative position, Nathanson wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that he was deeply troubled by his “increasing certainty that I had in fact presided over 60,000 deaths.”

In his film, “The Silent Scream,” Nathanson later stated, “Modern technologies have convinced us that beyond question the unborn child is simply another human being, another member of the human community, indistinguishable in every way from any of us.” Dr. Nathanson wrote Aborting America to inform the public of the realities behind the abortion rights movement of which he had been a primary leader.5 At the time Dr. Nathanson was an atheist. His conclusions were not even remotely religious, but squarely based on the biological facts.

Dr. Landrum Shettles was for twenty-seven years attending obstetrician-gynecologist at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. Shettles was a pioneer in sperm biology, fertility, and sterility. He is internationally famous for being the discoverer of male- and female-producing sperm. His intrauterine photographs of preborn children appear in over fifty medical textbooks. Dr. Shettles states, I oppose abortion. I do so, first, because I accept what is biologically manifest—that human life commences at the time of conception—and, second, because I believe it is wrong to take innocent human life under any circumstances. My position is scientific, pragmatic, and humanitarian

Just in case you think it’s just pro-life fruitcakes who say these things:

Ashley Montague, a geneticist and professor at Harvard and Rutgers, is unsympathetic to the prolife cause. Nevertheless, he affirms unequivocally, “The basic fact is simple: life begins not at birth, but conception.”

Are we talking about a human being?

The beginning of the abortion discussion has to be whether or not the person acknowledges we are talking about a human being. If they don’t, well, you might as well not even bother talking about abortion. There are man pro-abortion people who are just hard-core pro-abortion. Accept that. You MIGHT be able to plant a seed, but, it will become obvious in the first few seconds whether or not that is going to be possible.

When asked what is inside a pregnant woman, people might say it’s a fetus, or an embryo, or they might even say “it’s” not human. This brings up another point. When discussing a child in the womb, use “she,” not “it.” This will put a human face into the discussion. You can even say things like “What if your grandmother had an abortion, your mother would not have been born, and neither would you.”

I have had a number of scary abortion discussions. One man said “Yes, it’s a human being in the womb, but people should have the right to kill them at any time through the younger years, even up to age 9 or so.”

One time, I said to a woman, “What if a mother and her child were standing in front of you, then, she turns to her daughter, wraps her hands around her neck, and proceeds to strangle her to death. Would that be ok with you? I’m not kidding, with a totally straight face, she said “Yes.” I have to admit, I was stunned. I really didn’t know what to say for a second. I then said, “Really? If a woman just killed her child right in front of you, you wouldn’t have a problem with that? Again, she said yes. Frightening!

Other Language

Again, when talking about the pre-born, use him, her, she or he, never “it.” Pro-abortion people will use “it” to dehumanize the child in the womb.

Next, pre-born versus unborn. Most people use the term unborn, but Nellie Gray, God rest her soul, the founder of the March for Life, said that it is better to infer that the child will have a life. To say unborn leaves the door open.

Miscarriage? Yes, women have miscarriages, that’s a fact of life. There’s a big difference between losing a child without intent and killing a child on purpose.

Murder?

If you intentionally kill someone it is called murder. Just because we have decriminalized the intentional killing of a human being, that doesn’t mean it’s not murder.

Resources

There are many pro-life movies out there, or good movies that have a strong pro-life message. Here are some lists:

Students for Life film recommendations

Bound for Life recommendations

180 The Movie – Free & powerful!

Pastor’s Letter – Free and powerful! – Filmed and produced by Pro-Life Unity

Speak up for the pre-born: Who What Where When Why

Pro Life Apologetics training – Include materials from various sources, like the PLA from Biola

There are also videos at ProLifeTraining.com that we can use. On this page you can see some of them, including my interview with Scott Klusendorf.

Scott Klusendorf’s book “Pro-Life 101: A Step-byStep Guide to Making Your Case Persuasively”

Ultimate Pro-Life Resource List – Put together by Pro-Life Unity

AbortionNo.org – Hard-core truth of abortion

Mark Crutchers video – Pro-Life 101 “Five Reasons Viability does not justify abortion”

I’m Pro-life

Pro-life is not just a word, it’s an action. If we say we are pro-life, we must do something to defend the defenseless. Yes, donating to a pro-life person or group is important, but just as important is what you do. One simple thing everyone in the world can do is contact their representatives on a regular basis. One such effort is Cherish Life Ministry’s Monthly Call for Life. Every month, on the first Friday, people are encouraged to call and/or email their representatives. Go to the website for more information.

I’m pro-life, but

Finally, the most important thing, discuss the topic of abortion, and let people know, there is no such thing as not being involved. Don’t accept an answer like “I’m pro-life, but abortion is a divisive topic, and I don’t want to argue with friends and family.” The answer to that statement is simple. Ask them, “What would you do if we were talking about saving your mother, your father, your sister or your brother? Would you still be quiet?