By Emma Burnsworth
When Mary visited Elizabeth, Luke chapter one points out that the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy when Mary, who was carrying the baby Jesus, entered the room. This shows that even a preborn child can be filled with the Spirit of God. Every person is made in God’s image for His glory. The preborn baby, who is as fully human as an adult, has dignity and value because he is made to carry out God’s purpose. Therefore, it is wrong to kill a preborn child in an abortion. Sadly, the culture argues otherwise, degrading the dignity of human life. In order to establish the sanctity of life, a measuring tool must be used. Civil laws help determine right and wrong. However, those laws are created by people. Absolute truth is the tool, which all laws are founded upon. The only true and right tool is the word of God. The very body of the preborn baby is a clear and wondrous manifestation of the mighty and intricate works of God in His creation, which is also validated by this measuring tool, the word of God.
Everyone is created in God’s image for His glory: “For you (God) formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (English Standard Version, Psalm 139:13-14a). Every baby is created by God for His glory alone. Every person created is made in the image of God. By taking the creation of life so lightly as to think little of ending it, one is degrading and mocking God and what He has created and called “good.” “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31a). If God saw fit to create a little child to carry out His purpose, then that person, no matter how big or small, has a great value. Every person has dignity because everyone is fearfully and wonderfully created in the image of God.
Everyone, including the preborn baby, has value because everyone is created to bear the image of God. But many of those who support abortion use the phrase, “It’s just a bunch of cells.” Scientifically, they are right. But that “bunch of cells” is incredibly organized with a unique DNA structure in every cell. The average human has 30-40 trillion living cells in his body. So, those supporters are exactly right. Every human is a “bunch of cells.” The very blood cells in a person’s veins are living, so the cells that make up a baby are alive, unique, and multiplying. By day 25, the baby’s heart has started beating and the cardiac muscle, blood vessels, nerves, fat tissue, cartilage, and other tissues have developed. By day 32, the liver has begun to form (Fulbright and Ryan, chap.14 pg3). Before the end of the second month when a baby is less than an inch long, he already has blood pumping in his little body. This is when the mother usually knows she is pregnant and can choose to have an abortion. But, abortion is not more “okay” when the baby is less developed, more like that “bunch of cells.” Just because a baby is less developed does not mean he is less human. Life is special. The life in a person’s blood cells is special because only God can give it. A baby is special because he is created in God’s image for His glory.
Abortion degrades the value and dignity of life by taking its end lightly. “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). According to God’s law, abortion is murder. It is the ending of a very valued, special, and helpless human being. Many people are horrified when an active shooter guns down children in a school who have “so much potential,” yet they support abortion, which also kills children who have “so much potential.” Another faction of abortion is the abortion of babies who might have AIDS, Down syndrome, or any other type of disease or physical impediment. Any baby with a risk for a type of disability should be all the more protected, helped, and loved. There are doctors who have no regard for a child in the womb, but if a baby is born early, those doctors are suddenly rushing to give the best of highly technical and expensive Neonatal Intensive Care. The baby’s location makes no difference. Murder is unlawful, and it destroys the sanctity of a special, helpless life.
The sanctity and value of the human life is taken lightly by society. “My body, my choice,” cries the pro-abortion crowd. It takes little to see the holes in this argument. There are two bodies: The baby and the mother. How could a woman’s body have different DNA, even male DNA? If a woman does not become pregnant, is she missing part of her body? When she delivers, did she lose a part of her own body? And how can that part of her body suck his thumb, yawn, and move inside of her? Odd. This sounds like another body. A baby. The mother’s body is a house. The baby lives inside of this house during a crucial part of development when he needs the most protection. Another lie of the culture is “it’s okay to abort if the mother’s life is in danger.” Abortion is still murder. It might have a different name, but it is murder. The culture is evil and does not see that every human being is created for God’s glory and is valued in His sight.
Regardless of what the culture says, all human life has dignity and should be protected. God created the very body of the preborn baby. All people are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, giving them dignity and value, and the preborn child is no exception. Therefore, killing a preborn baby is wrong because it degrades a person made in God’s image. The culture, however, does not see this, and consequently has engaged in the murder of millions of helpless children. It is crucial that all preborn babies are protected from abortion because they are image bearers of God and are just as fully human as anybody else.
WORKS CITED
The Bible. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2001.
Fulbright, Jeannie, and Brooke Ryan, M.D. Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology. Apologia, 2010.
Emma Burnsworth is the 9th-10th grade third place winner in CLSP’s 2019 Pro-Life Essay Contest.
This article has been reprinted with permission and can be found at cultureoflifestudies.com/2019-essay-contest/9th-10th-grade-third-place-winner-emma-burnsworth.
