Slaughtering Infants - Where is the Outrage?

Imagine walking down the street and seeing a man with a butcher’s knife attacking small children. You would feel deep outrage. At the very least, you would call the police. You might scream for help or even try to stop the attacker yourself.

Yet, you could walk right past a clinic where a doctor is taking the lives of infants in the womb without ever knowing. The massive scale of this killing is hard to imagine. It is even harder to believe that this happens under the protection of the law.

Many people try to frame this as an issue of women’s rights or personal choice. However, it affects all of society and how we value human life. Most importantly, God has spoken about the sanctity of life (the belief that all human life is sacred and has holy value). He has given us a clear responsibility to protect the most innocent lives.

Life is God’s Creation and is Inherently Priceless

God is the creator of all life, and He values it deeply. Consider what these scriptures say about how God forms and values life:

• Zechariah 12:1 – ”…Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him…”
• Ecclesiastes 11:5 – Just as you do not know how bones grow in the womb of a pregnant woman, you do not know the works of God who makes everything.
• Job 10:11-12 – “You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.” (ESV)
• Psalm 139:13-16 – This passage offers a beautiful, poetic description of God forming us in secret.
• Jeremiah 1:4-5 – “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you (set you apart for holy use); I ordained you (officially appointed by God for a specific purpose) a prophet to the nations.”
• Galatians 1:5 – “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace…”
• Psalm 127:3 – “Behold, children are a heritage (a gift or inheritance) from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”

In the Bible, even an unborn child is spoken of as a person. For example, in Luke 1:39-44, the unborn John the Baptist reacts to the presence of Jesus:

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 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. (Luke 1:39-44 ESV)

Consider this observation by Dave Miller, Ph.D.:

“Notice that Elizabeth’s pre-born baby is being represented as a living human being. In fact, the term “baby” used in verses 41 and 44 to refer to the pre-born John is the exact same term that is used in chapter two to refer to Jesus after His birth as He laid in the manger (Luke 2:12, 16). So in God’s sight, whether a person is in his or her pre-birth developmental state, or in a post-birth developmental state, that person is still a baby!”1

Under the Old Testament law, an unborn child was legally treated as a person. In Exodus 21:22-25, if a man injured a pregnant woman and caused the death of her child, he faced the ultimate penalty: a life for a life.

Society Chooses Which Life is Valuable and Which Is Worthless

When people reject God, they become the arbiters (decision-makers) of what life is worth. Some lives are protected, while others are ignored or destroyed. Those in power, using political or economic force, decide who gets to live and who is sacrificed for convenience.

As a society, we are horrified by historic atrocities. We look back with anger at the Nazi Holocaust, where six million people were murdered. We also condemn genocides (the deliberate killing of a large group of people from a specific nation or ethnic group) throughout history, such as in Rwanda, Korea, or Saddam Hussein’s attacks on the Kurds. We are deeply disturbed by murders in our own cities and country.

Yet, to avoid feeling the same outrage toward abortion, society uses softer language. We avoid words like infanticide (the act of killing an infant) or murder. Instead, we use terms like “right to choose” to hide the harsh reality of abortion.2

Many argue that an unborn child is not fully human and does not deserve protection. However, even some abortion supporters admit that the embryo is human. As one wrote:

“The status of the human embryo appears a simple matter. It is alive, and it is neither hamster nor chicken—it is human.”3

More frighteningly, some writers acknowledge that the fetus is human but still defend the right to end its life. Some even argue for this right after the baby is born.

The late President Ronald Reagan described the deep loss of these unborn lives:

These children…will never laugh, never sing, never experience the joy of human love; nor will they strive to heal the sick, or feed the poor, or make peace among nations. Abortion has denied them the first and most basic of human rights, and we are infinitely poorer for their loss. We are poorer not simply for the lives not led and for contributions not made, but also for erosion of our sense of worth and dignity of every individual. **To diminish the value of one category of human life is to diminish us all.**4

Devalued Life Leads to Warped Values

Allowing the killing of unborn babies creates a twisted morality. This warped view reflects the selfishness of those in power and leads to logical contradictions.

The Warped Logic of Timing

A mother who kills her newborn child or leaves them in a dumpster is prosecuted for murder. Yet, if that same mother had ended her child’s life just days before birth, she would face no legal penalty. Some might even praise her for making a “choice.”

This suggests that a child’s life is valuable after birth, but completely worthless a moment before. This is a deeply warped view of human value. Recognizing this logical gap, some modern philosophers now argue that parents should also be allowed to kill children after they are born.

Valuing Animal Life Over Human Life

Our laws sometimes value animal offspring more than human offspring. Consider this observation by Dave Miller:

“Merely taking possession of an egg containing the pre-born American bald eagle—let alone if one were to destroy that little pre-birth environment and thus destroy the baby eagle that is developing within—results in a stiff fine and even prison time. Yet one can take a human child in its pre-born environment and not only murder that child, but also receive government blessing to do so! Eagle eggs, i.e., pre-born eagles, are of greater value to American civilization than pre-born humans!”5

Protecting the Guilty while Ending the Innocent

Many people strongly oppose the death penalty for violent criminals. They will hold vigils outside prisons to protest the execution of murderers and abusers. Yet, some of these same individuals will defend the destruction of the most fragile and innocent members of humanity.

Consider this description by Bert Thompson:

“While our own Supreme Court was outlawing the death penalty for hardened adult criminals, at the same time it was imposing that same penalty upon millions and millions who never had committed a single crime or harmed a single hair on another person’s head. Their only “crime” was that they inadvertently—through no fault of their own—had “inconvenienced” the fornicator (someone who participates in sexual activity outside of marriage). Their only “crime” was that they had arrived at a “bad time” for the married couple that had time to concentrate only on careers, condos, and cash. Their only “crime” was that they were unexpected, unwanted, and unloved.”6

The Devaluation of All Life

Allowing the destruction of unborn life opens the door to ending other human lives for convenience. R.A. Gallop warned of this slippery slope:

“Once you permit the killing of the unborn child, there will be no stopping. There will be no age limit. You are setting off a chain reaction that will eventually make you the victim. Your children will kill you because you permitted the killing of their brothers and sisters… If a doctor will take money for killing the innocent in the womb, he will kill you with a needle when paid by your children.”7

When physical pleasure becomes a society’s god, the unborn child becomes the sacrifice.

Echoes of Historical Horrors

If someone defended building a “perfect race” through extermination, we would be horrified. We would compare them to Adolf Hitler. Yet, respected intellectuals use similar logic to support abortion and infanticide.

Consider these quotes from well-known thinkers:8

• Bentley Glass argued that in the future, “no parents will… have a right to burden society with a malformed or a mentally incompetent child.”
• Joseph Fletcher (pioneer of situation ethics) suggested that any individual with an IQ of 20 or less is not a person. He argued those with an IQ ranging from 20 to 40 are only marginally people.
• Francis Crick (Nobel laureate) urged that no newborn should be declared human until passing genetic tests. If they fail, they should forfeit the right to live.

These are respected academics, not extremists on the fringe of society. In 2012, Professors Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva published an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics. They argued for the legalization of “after-birth abortion” (killing a newborn baby).

They claim that infants cannot anticipate the future, so they lack a right to life. They do not consider birth morally significant (having moral importance or weight). Here is their argument:

1. The moral status of an infant is the same as a fetus. Neither is a “person” in a moral sense.
2. You do not harm a newborn by preventing them from growing into a person.
3. Therefore, both infants and fetuses lack a right to life.

Once we reject God, deciding who lives and dies becomes completely arbitrary. The ideas of Glass, Fletcher, Crick, Giubilini, and Minerva sound chillingly familiar. They mirror a famous order from 1939:

“the authority of certain physicians to be designated by name in such manner that persons who, according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a mercy death.”

Adolf Hitler signed this order. It set the precedent for “Aktion T 4,” the Nazi infant euthanasia (the practice of painlessly ending a life to relieve suffering) program. It targeted children with mental or physical disabilities.9

Under “Aktion T 4,” doctors had to register disabled children under age three. Three medical experts then decided if the child should live. They made this choice based only on a form, without any medical exams or records.

The world recoils at the Nazi furnaces that burned those deemed “undesirable.” Yet, today, millions of aborted babies are cremated, and society remains silent.

Our Inconsistent Outrage

People share stories of horrific events on social media, yet the massive scale of abortion is often ignored. The numbers show a stark double standard.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there were 825,564 abortions in the United States in 2008.

“The majority (62.8%) of abortions in 2008 were performed at ≤8 weeks’ gestation (the period of development in the womb) and 91.4% were performed at ≤13 weeks’ gestation…”

Worldwide, the annual number of abortions reaches into the millions.

For example, millions of people were outraged by the “Kony 2012” campaign. That campaign exposed the abduction of 30,000 children in Uganda over 30 years. While those abductions were tragic, that number is tiny compared to the number of children aborted in the United States in a single year.

Similarly, consider the national debate over war casualties. The combined wars in Iraq and Afghanistan resulted in 6,580 U.S. military deaths over 11 years. Yet, during that same time, there was no national outrage for the over eight million abortions in the U.S.

In fact, the 825,564 abortions in 2008 alone represent a massive loss of life. Just two years of U.S. abortions exceed the total military deaths from every American war combined since the Revolutionary War.

How Should We Respond?

Should We Forcefully Stop Abortionists?

Some might argue that we should use violence to stop doctors who perform abortions. They compare it to stopping a killer in a playground.

However, Jesus did not use violence to destroy the evil rulers or murderers of His day. Christians must reflect the longsuffering (patiently enduring difficulties) and mercy of Jesus. He taught people to reject evil, but He did not kill the Caesars or Herods of the world.

The Bible teaches that all vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:17-21). We cannot use evil methods and expect good results. Instead, we must work peacefully to change hearts and laws.

Active and Faithful Actions

We can make a difference through several key actions:

• Pray: Ask God to change the hearts of parents and leaders. Pray that the senseless loss of life will end and that society will value children once again.
• Teach: Defend the truth and teach your children to value life. We commit hypocrisy (claiming high moral standards while acting otherwise) if we criticize bystanders of past genocides but stay silent about abortion today.
• Oppose the Killing: Work within the law to stand against abortion. Use your voice in government to urge leaders to protect unborn children.
• Stay Aware: Do not become numb to this tragedy.

Always remember the scale of the loss. If the babies aborted in the U.S. in 2008 had lived, they would form the 11th largest city in America. That city would be roughly the size of San Francisco.

This injustice triggers God’s anger. It should also arouse righteous indignation (anger caused by injustice) in us. Throughout scripture, God commands us to protect the weak:

• Exodus 23:7 – “Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.” (ESV)
• Proverbs 6:17 – The Lord hates “hands that shed innocent blood.” (ESV)

Conclusion

Abortion is the destruction of the weak and defenseless. They cannot speak for themselves or defend their rights. It is wrong when a dictator kills the weak, and it is wrong when a mother and doctor do the same. We must remain alert and never allow ourselves to become indifferent to this tragedy.

What would an unborn child say in their own defense? Consider the testimony of Gianna Jessen. She survived a failed saline abortion (an abortion method using a salt solution). Although the attempt left her with cerebral palsy (a physical condition affecting movement), she was adopted by a loving family.

She shared this testimony:

Fortunately for me the abortionist was not in the clinic when I arrived alive, instead of dead, at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of April 6, 1977. I was early, my death was not expected to be seen until about 9 a.m. … I am sure I would not be here today if the abortionist would have been in the clinic, as his job is to take life, not sustain it. Some have said I am a “botched abortion”, a result of a job not well done.

I am happy to be alive. I almost died. Every day I thank God for life. I do not consider myself a by-product of conception (the moment a new life begins in the womb), a clump of tissue, or any other of the titles given to a child in the womb. I do not consider any person conceived to be any of those things.

I have met other survivors of abortion. They are all thankful for life. … When I speak, I speak not only for myself, but for the other survivors, like Sarah, and also for those who cannot yet speak.

You can watch her moving testimony in Australia on YouTube.

Footnotes

1 Miller, Dave. “Abortion and the Bible” Apologetics Press. Accessed 9/25/05. http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1964 2 Krauthammer, Charles. “Roe vs. Roberts” Washington Post Online. Accessed 9/25/05. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/library/AR2005091502141.html 3 Robert Edwards quoted in Apologetics Press article: “Shall We Murder to Stop Abortion?” Accessed 9/25/05. http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/435. 4 Ibid 5 Miller. 6 Thompson, Bert. “God’s Attitude Towards Abortion.” Accessed 9/25/05. http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1976 7 Thompson. 8 Thompson. 9 Cochran, Sylvia. http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/pro_life/115711