Abortion - The Hidden Holocaust Part 6

                                                              i.      What about natural miscarriages

We will speak more about the sovereignty of God later on but we must make mention at this point. God controls life and death and a natural miscarriage is an entirely different scenario from a purposeful abortion.

Sometimes miscarriages do result from the carelessness of the mother but often they are entirely natural and unavoidable.

Like me you have probably seen signs, adverts and literature warning expecting mothers to not eat the wrong type of food, drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, take drugs or behave in such a way that would potentially harm the unborn child. These signs and the motive behind them are admirable and proper.

However, when we consider the implications this is the height of hypocrisy and ignorance.

In some US States and in some criminal cases here in the UK we find individuals being jailed or at the least counselled if they behave in a way that will harm the unborn child.

There is tremendous social pressure to condemn pregnant women who drink alcohol, take drugs or behave in a way that will harm the unborn child. The media recently condemned and verbally attacked a celebrity for partying all night even though she was some months pregnant.

The message is clear, do not harm your unborn baby, but it is okay to kill him.

                                                            ii.      The Sanctity of the Mother's Life

Abortion not only kills the baby, in most instances (for cases do occur where the baby survives the attack), but it also harms the mother. There are a number of health problems to the mother associated with abortion but we will only take one of the most common. Let me stress, abortion is not the only cause of breast cancer. Like all cancers it occurs for a variety of reasons.

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer occurs for a number of reasons but one cause is abortion. Due to changes in the mother's body during pregnancy, "a premature cessation of pregnancy (such as that caused by abortion) creates an unnatural condition. Consequently women who have first trimester abortions face twice the risk of contracting breast cancer as those who complete their pregnancies and give birth." - Randy Alcorn

When testifying before the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee in the USA Dr. Brind said, "Only induced abortion - not spontaneous abortion - is consistently linked to the incidence of breast cancer."

This does not occur in a natural miscarriage because the mother's body instinctively releases a certain hormone which negates the health problem. However, this hormone is not released in deliberate abortions and so increases the possibility of breast cancer.

Contrary to popular teaching abortion does cause many health problems to the mother.

b.      Conclusions from the Sanctity of Life

                                                              i.      Any abortion at any stage is wrong

Whether the baby has taken on a human form or she is just in her earliest stages and measures less than an inch, she is still a human being and to take her life deliberately is to commit murder.

                                                            ii.      Current forms of IVF are wrong

In IVF and other reproductive assisting treatments a considerable number of embryos are destroyed. Some figures state that as many as 29 out of every 30 embryos die in the attempt to implant a single child. Normally three to six embryos are implanted in the hope that one will survive. The "surplus" are then frozen and kept for future use or in some cases scientific research.

In 1996 in the United Kingdom thirty-three hundred embryos were thawed out, destroyed in a saline solution, and incinerated as biological waste. Randy Alcorn shares that a medical magazine, Lancet, showed that 904 out of 1344 embryos were thawed because the couples involved did not request another five-year extension to their preservation. In other cases they were sold for medical research.

We do not have time to go into it today but there is a "black market industry... grown up around tissue and organs from aborted unborn children, donated to ‘help medical research,' and then marketed for hundreds or thousands of dollars." (Pro-life Answers to Pro-choice Questions, page 34)

One pathologist has stated that he wants to run his own abortion facility in Mexico so that he can get a greater supply of tissue from unborn babies. He has stated, "If you control the flow, it's probably the equivalent of the invention of assembly line." One individual commentating on this situation has made the observation that there is no doubt that we are seeing in our world today active trading in body parts. (Pro-life Answers to Pro-choice Questions, page 34)

Let me say that any human life is a wonderful thing and I am by no means wishing away the lives of those precious children brought about by IVF treatment.

However, I do not believe IVF treatment should be given unless there are means to deal with just a single embryo and there is a certainty or best possible chance of that single embryo surviving.                                                          iii.      Contraceptives should be carefully considered

The conclusion that life begins at birth should make us consider the contraceptives on the market today.

The drug should stop conception from taking place but many of the pills on the market stop the fertilised egg from implanting in the womb in the days that follow conception. This is essentially abortion at the earliest stage.

The morning after pill and many drugs do not prevent conception but they stop implantation in the womb and for that reason should not be used.

This is a huge topic on its own and should be studied carefully and deeply by all.

Conclusion: Scripturally and scientifically we have every reason to believe that life begins at conception. To end the pregnancy at any stage is, in most cases, straight forward murder.