First of all, I would say that I am fairly aware of the issue of abortion - I've been exposed to a lot of books, media, science, etc. surrounding the issue and I understand that to some extent it is very complicated. At any rate, it is a very difficult issue to comprehend.
I first want to tackle something that I've not actually done a bunch of research on myself. I've heard over and over again that a child in the womb is a human being from the moment of conception - and most certainly from about six weeks on (when a heartbeat can be detected) but had never looked up anything specific.
So for this post, I looked up a few different scientific articles and such online. I found one in particular that was incredibly helpful, succinct, and easy to understand. (You can read it here if you're interested.) This is my summary:
Basically, there are two questions we must answer to determine if a zygote (the one-celled embryo created immediately upon conception) is a human being. First, is the zygote a new type of cell - one different and distinct from both the sperm and the egg? And second, is the zygote an organism? This second question is important because a new cell is not necessarily a new organism (i.e. a person).
So how do we determine when a cell is a different type of cell? Two things: first, differences in molecular composition, and differences in behavior. When a sperm and an egg cell fuse together, there is clearly a new cell type (the zygote mentioned above). This zygote has components of both the egg and the sperm cell combined together and thus is molecularly distinct from either cell.
Secondly, after fusion, the zygote changes its internal state to block additional sperm from fusing to it. While the egg and the sperm strive to find and fuse to each other, the zygote almost immediately (within the next 30 minutes) strives to block fusion. Thus the second criteria is met.
Now - we have established that the zygote is a new cell, is it a new organism? If it' s a new organism, then it is a new person, a human being. Human beings are distinguished from some clumps of cells by acting as an interdependent and coordinated manner.
While normal cells can create more cells, they only form primitive tissues and structures. Normal human cells cannot coordinate their actions to the point of being able to create a new human body. However, this is exactly what the zygote does. From the zygote onward, human embryos direct themselves to create more and more complex cells, tissues, and organs. It is this organized behavior that is characteristic of a human being - a human organism.
Thus, from a scientific perspective, a "fetus" is a distinct, unique human being from the point of conception. Now, what level of importance we put on this human being obviously varies according to your worldview.
However, I believe that if we think shooting and killing a person is morally wrong, then we should believe that killing this unique human in the womb is morally wrong as well. I honestly don't see how we can condemn murder and yet support abortion.
If you have a different view - I believe that you are wrong, but I would welcome a helpful discussion. There are most certainly things that I have not thought of. I doubt it would change my mind, but I am welcome to hearing other viewpoints.
I think the next thing I want to pause on is how to respond to people who have had abortions, people involved in providing abortions, and pro-choice people in general. What I'm about to say is especially directed at other Christians - because how I think about this issue is inexorably tied to my faith.
A huge thing that I strive to remember whenever I'm dealing with this topic is that, ultimately, this battle is not against flesh and blood. Though I believe it would be amazing to permanently eliminate abortion, the main path to this goal is not entirely through political, physical measures.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." - Ephesians 6:12 (NASB)
Thus, I believe that it is not correct to respond with hatred or even to shun those who have had abortions, assist in providing abortions, or support abortion. While I believe what they are doing is wrong, ultimately they have no control over their decisions. Only God can open their eyes and show them the truth regarding abortion.
I think that prayer should be our very first reaction. Prayer for the children who are being killed every day and prayer for those who are too blind to realize what they are doing. Beyond that, we should respond with compassion and willingness to befriend these people. Show them the love of Christ and share the truth about abortion in love.
It is rarely helpful to be confrontational about issues like this - it's more helpful to be relational and through the relationship share truth. That way the person you're trying to help doesn't become defensive because then the truth will never reach them.
But returning to what I said first, I believe the most important, the most essential and helpful thing we can do is to pray. Because our battle is spiritual we must fight with spiritual tools.
Anyway! The third thing I wanted to briefly mention was how we can help make a difference when it comes to abortion. Obviously, as I mentioned before, prayer is the most effective way to make a change.
The main pro-life group in Unplanned was a group called 40 Days of Life. Basically, the premise of this group is that they would stand outside of a Planned Parenthood every day, all day for forty days and pray for those inside and the children inside. I think participating in some type of organized group like this might be helpful.
There are many many different ways to make a difference, but a third one that I can think of at the moment is simply to care for those whom you know have had abortions or for those whom you know are considering abortion. It sorta follows what I was saying before about showing Christ's love through relationships and such.
About the movie itself - I had read a lot about abortion and how it's done and such, but seeing it displayed so clearly was heartbreaking. I am not a cryer, especially not during movies. I don't know, they just don't tend to move me in this way. And I didn't cry rivers of tears but my heart hurt and I did tear up quite often.
Just thinking about all the children who have been killed, who have had their lives stripped from them... Oof. It makes me want to do something. I will definitely be praying for the victims of abortion much more from now on.
Whelp... That's really all my thoughts on this movie/the topic. I mean, it's not all of them I could probably talk about this for a long time but... that's all I'm going to really say for now. And that's it! I'll see y'all in a few weeks... :)
~ Anna
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