There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
(Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV)
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. Decided simultaneously with a companion case, Doe v. Bolton, the Court ruled that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman’s decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against the state’s two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting women’s health. Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the trimester of pregnancy.
The Court later rejected Roe’s trimester framework, while affirming Roe’s central holding that a person has a right to abortion until viability. The Roe decision defined “viable” as being “potentially able to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid”, adding that viability “is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.”
In disallowing many state and federal restrictions on abortion in the United States, Roe v. Wade prompted a national debate that continues today, about issues including whether and to what extent abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, what methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional adjudication, and what the role should be of religious and moral views in the political sphere. Roe v. Wade reshaped national politics, dividing much of the United States into pro-choice and pro-life camps, while activating grassroots movements on both sides.
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Moloch the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.
(1 Kings 11:1-8 ESV)
God had forbidden the Israelites to worship Chemosh or Molech. Both of them are the gods of fire, Chemosh is Moabite god and Molech is the Ammonite god. But what did they sacrifice to these gods? The people of Moab and Ammon sacrificed their firstborn sons to these gods. Some say the children were to pass through the fire, the fire would be on two sides and the children would walk through the middle. But that is not what Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel understood. It is clear from reading the prophets that the children were killed and burned. The whole point of the offering consisted, therefore, in the fact that it was a human sacrifice. For what reason? To bring blessing upon the family. The father, with his arms outstretched, holding his firstborn son, he walked toward this statue of a man with the head of a calf and turned down horns. The statue would have its arms out to receive the sacrifice. The child was put in a iron mold of Molech and placed in the fire. Now we see why God called this an abomination.
You may say, how barbaric, and you may be repulsed that people acted in such a way. How can civilized people sacrifice their children in such a way? It is indeed interesting that you are repulsed at all with societies current attitude toward abortion. Actually you may even be taken back by the passage we read. How could such a smart man like Solomon, such a godly man as he was, turn to such a practice? How could Israel which had seen the mighty workings of God, turn to this detestable god, who is no god at all?
The gods of the Egyptians, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites are still very much alive and well. These demons used people like Norma Leah McCorvey, better known by the legal pseudonym “Jane Roe“, was the plaintiff in the landmark American lawsuit Roe v. Wade in 1973. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned individual states’ laws against abortion by ruling them unconstitutional. Later, McCorvey’s opinion on abortion drastically changed, and she is now active in Pro-Life causes.
On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court deemed abortion a fundamental right under the United States Constitution, thereby subjecting all laws attempting to restrict it to the standard of strict scrutiny (Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113). The Court ruled that the right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman’s decision to have an abortion. This court ruling allowed abortions on demand in America. Before this decision, abortions could only be performed to save the mother’s life.
Why are children aborted? The Alan Guttmacher Institute (the research arm of Planned Parenthood) states that one percent are of abortions occur when the expectant mothers are victims of incest or rape, one percent of aborted babies allegedly had fetal abnormalities, four percent of abortions are performed when a doctor stated that the expectant mother’s health would worsen if she were to continue the pregnancy, fifty percent of expectant mothers who received abortions said they didn’t want to be a single parent or they had problems in the current relationship, sixty-six percent of expectant mothers who had an abortion said stated they could not afford a child, and seventy-five percent of expectant mothers who elected to have an abortion said the child would interfere with their lives or career.
This survey says four percent of expectant mothers who received abortions had doctors who said their health would worsen. C. Everett Koop, the former Surgeon General of the United States of America, stated that during his 35-plus years of practicing medicine, “Never once did a case come across my practice where abortion was necessary to save a mother’s life.”
A recent poll of couples in New England revealed that if they were able to know the future one percent would abort a child on the basis of sex, six percent would abort a child likely to get Alzheimer’s disease, and incredibly eleven percent would abort a child predisposed to obesity.
Abortions happen in America, a nation founded under Godly principles for all people. The United States Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration of Independence states that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are God given inalienable rights.
The Preamble to the United States Constitution says, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says that the definition of posterity means:
- The offspring of one progenitor to the furthest generation.
- All future generations.
Just reading and applying the Preamble to the United States Constitution anyone can easily see that the Constitutional Rights of the unborn child are being violated, Where is the justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, general welfare, and the secure the blessings of liberty of our posterity of the innocent blood that was just slaughtered as a medical procedure. Abortion is the only medical procedure in the world that intentionally kills at least one of the patients.
It is not the Court’s job to decide whether banning abortion is morally or socially acceptable; it is the Court’s job to decide whether or not the statute in question violates the Constitution. In Roe v Wade, this Court ruled that a pregnant woman’s “right of privacy” through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause’s guarantee of liberty allowed for the termination of pregnancy through abortion. Clearly, the posterity was denied liberty in this ruling.
Abortion proponents state that, “It is a fetus, it is not alive yet.” Medical authorities determined a person to be “alive” if the is either a detectable heartbeat or brain-wave activity. It is eye opening to realize that a heartbeat is discernible less than 18 days after conception, and there are detectable brain waves in less than 45 days after conception. What is so disturbing is that essentially all abortions occur after the seventh week, more than fifty days after conception.
How many babies are aborted? Worldwide about forty-two million babies are aborted every year. And those are only the reported cases. In the United States alone over 1.31 million babies are aborted every year. Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unplanned, and about four in ten of these unplanned pregnancies are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all U.S. pregnancies end in abortion. What happened to the “unalienable rights” of these murdered children to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” that were “endowed by their Creator” and guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution? The Preamble to the United States Constitotion states, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Posterity is the succeeding or future generations and all one’s future descendants. Posterity includes the child that was murdered in the process of the abortion.
The Bible does not specifically mention the word abortion, but it has a number of significant things to say about unborn children. These biblical statements indicate that the unborn are people. Therefore, abortion is wrong since it is the unlawful killing a human being. Most Rabbinical scholars would agree that abortion is required when it is necessary to save the life of the mother (refer to Dr. C. Everett Koops above statement). However, once the head has been birthed, the child and mother both have Constitutional Rights that need to be safeguarded. If the mother dies and the child survives, that is what God intended. Likewise, if the child dies and the mother lives, that is also what God intended. Furthermore, if both the mother and child die in the process of delivery, that is also to be considered part of God’s plan and design.
There are few objections to the notion that it is wrong to murder a person. Murder is the unlawful taking of someone’s life, while killing is the lawful taking of someone’s life. Biblical passages that forbid murder include Genesis 9:6, Matthew 15:19, Matthew 19:18, Mark 10:19, Luke 19:20, John 8:44, Acts 3:14, Romans 1:28-29 and Romans 13:9.
Unborn children are human beings. It is this fact which is disputed by many in our culture today. However, the Bible clearly teaches that unborn children are human beings.
The unborn possesses personal attributes such as sin and joy. In Psalm 51:5, David says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” In Luke 1:44, “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.”
The Bible also uses personal pronouns to describe unborn children. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Matthew 1:20-21 states, “But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’”
Regarding the conception of Jesus, Matthew 1:20 says, “But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.’” The fact that the angel tells Joseph that “the Child who has been conceived” is “of the Holy Spirit” indicates that Jesus certainly was a person at the moment of conception.
The unborn are called children. Luke 1:41-44 states, “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.’”
Perhaps the strongest argument against abortion from Scripture is the fact that the same punishment is applicable to someone who kills or injures an unborn child as for one who kills or injures an adult. Exodus 21:22-23 states, “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life….” This passage strongly indicates that Mosaic Law viewed the unborn as persons worthy of the same protection and rights as adults.
The unborn are even called by God before birth. Almost echoing the prophetic commission of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5, Isaiah 49:1 says, “Listen to me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar, the LORD called me from the womb; from the body of my mother He named me.”
The unborn are known personally and intimately by God in the same way He would know any other person. Describing David, Psalm 139:15-16 says, “My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written; the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”
The Bible definitely teaches that the unborn are persons because they possess personal attributes, they are described by personal pronouns, Jesus is called a child at conception, they are called children, they are protected by the same punishment as for adults, they are called by God before birth, and they are known personally by God just like any other person. Since abortion is murdering a person, abortion is morally wrong (Genesis 9:6, Romans 1:28-29).
We need to look at is what God did to Israel because of their grievous sins.
God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah. And he gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band, after the killing by David. And they went to Damascus and lived there and made him king in Damascus. He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria. Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did.
(1 Kings 11:23-33 ESV)
God handed them over to their enemies, Israel became a divided nation that was eventually carried off into captivity. God removed his blessing on Israel and made them a poor nation that would continually be overrun by others. Eventually they became a dispersed nation and for nearly 1,900 years they were a people without a home, wanderers around the earth, like Cain. That could very well be our future as well.
What could we do as a nation? We can teach our children right and wrong. We need to educate ourselves. We could talk to our neighbors about the sanctity of all human life and only support political candidates who share our views. We could volunteer to work at prevention centers, opening our homes to shelter women in crisis situations if necessary. Finally, we can repent and pray.
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
(2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV)
The American Holocaust is continuing, these unborn children need us to speak for them. We can educate people and show them there is a choice, and help them choose life. No longer sacrificing children to the god of convinence. In Israel, Josiah tore down the altars to Molech and the other gods, we can do the same by simply teaching others the truth of life and the gift of salvation and forgiveness we have through Yeshua Ha’Mashiach (Jesus Christ). Abortion is not an unforgivable sin. Those who have had abortions and those who performed them can and will be forgiven if they repent of their sins and receive the gift of salvation.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
(John 3:16-21 ESV)
Heidi Begley writes, “Abortion is the greatest delusion to ever hit mankind. The argument that an unborn child is not a life and therefore disposable is a lie. As mother after mother believes these lies, and doctors and nurses snuff out these lives without any remorse of conscious, the blood of the unborn cry out before God. Unfortunately, after almost 40 years, our young women of child bearing age have come to believe this lie. 40 years of propaganda by politicians, media, women’s rights groups, planned parenthood, drug companies and population control freaks have made abortion an acceptable option. The peer pressure has shifted and now you are considered irresponsible if you bring a child into this world before you finish your education. I know, I have talked to several young ladies. I was actually shocked one night as I sat at work with several young college girls and all but one had already had an abortion.”
“The conversation came up because I was working in the hospital with a suicidal young lady who was grieving from having an abortion. She was suffering from post-abortion syndrome. No one told her that 80% of all young women who have an abortion will suffer from depression. As she struggled with her emotions, her values, her religious beliefs and the choices she made, she became overwhelmed, and felt that all was lost. She felt she had no hope, no where to turn and no one to talk to.”
“All the more reason 14 year old young women have no business taking a morning after pill without their parents permission. Where is their support group? How is their mother suppose to know how to console her daughter? Why shouldn’t her mother be able to help her sort through this decision.”
“So is this really about women’s right to do what they want with their body? No! This has a much more sinister motive. The population can be controlled, the schools teen pregnancy statistics go down, the drug company can sell it’s drug and a young woman can commit the murder of her own child in an acceptable and even expected manner. For women to be able to exercise their rights they need to have the truth represented to them so they can make informed decisions.”
“It is not only a temporary sadness. I also took care of a woman in her late thirties that became suicidal on what would have been an 18th birthday of her unborn child. 18 years later, this woman did not have closure, who could she turn to?”
“So what do you do if you find yourself in this situation? There are all kinds of reasons you would contemplate abortion, being a teenager, career plans, money, husband or boyfriend pressure, fear of parents, or God forbid a young girl is the victim of a rapist or a family pedophile.”
“First thing is, get information from lots of different sources. Find a woman mentor, if you don’t have a mom or a mom you can confide in, try your pastor’s wife, the grandmother in the pew a woman of a good repute, that can give you wisdom.”
“Adoption is always an option, but it also carries with it emotional repercussions.”
Heidi, I have to somewhat disagree about repercussions from adoptions. My bother and I were both adopted into a loving Christian home. I cannot speak what the parents who gave us up might be feeling, but the children turn out very well.
“The greatest thing you can do for a young woman who is faced with this is offer her support and love. Know that these decisions come with a price and we are placed on this earth to love, not to judge. We in no way condone abortion, but so many women sit in the pews with an unspeakable secret, that I felt we need to address those that have had an abortion.”
“If you have had an abortion the best resource that I have found is in Chattanooga, TN where there is a National Memorial to the Unborn They do a very good job of the steps of healing that are needed after having an abortion.”
“Know that God is with you and never turns his back on you. God hears you and can heal your heart. Feel free to ask for prayer.”
Heidi Begley’s blog is located at http://heidibegley.blogspot.com/. Paul Begley, Heidi’s better-half has several of his own ministries. Paul can be found at http://www.paulbegleyprophecy.com/, http://www.youtube.com/user/paulbegley34, and https://www.facebook.com/paul.begley.37?fref=ts,
Thank you, Heidi for allowing me to reference your blog and link to it. Something needs to be done or we are finished as a nation.
Sound Doctrine Ministries 