No one wants to believe that life begins at conception when she discovers that she’s pregnant against her will. Whether she suffered sexual abuse or willingly gave her body for the sake of pleasure, however, she has indeed created a human life. At that point, she probably feels trapped, desperately wanting to escape her pregnancy with as few consequences as possible. And even when she actually would like to keep the baby, her husband, boyfriend, parents or abuser may pressure her to “get rid of it.” Abortion can definitely seem like us easiest way out.

Especially if she convinces herself that it’s nothing more than a clump of tissue.

This webpage from BabyCenter.com, while it sadly avoids stating that life begins at conception, shows the week by week development of an unborn baby. Please notice that a baby’s heartbeat starts in the fifth week — before a mother usually knows she’s pregnant. Even if you can argue that the fetus isn’t a life prior to that occurrence, that heartbeat definitely indicates that life has begun! Psalm 139, in fact, includes a beautiful passage celebrating God’s care for the unborn:

¹³ For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
¹⁶ 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. ~~Psalm 139:13-16 (NASB95)

Although this passage doesn’t explicitly declare that a fetus is an actual person, it most assuredly supports that idea. Verse 16, in particular, presents the image of a fertilized egg that hasn’t even reached the embryonic stage. Even then, please notice, God ordains that unborn person’s entire life. King David wrote this psalm with the clear assumption that his life — like all human life — began at conception, and that God regarded him as a person. Therefore, taking unborn human life constitutes murder, an act that God condemns (Exodus 20:13).

While I do understand that women submit to abortion out of desperation, Scripture doesn’t allow me to justify the sin of killing an unborn baby. Just as He judges every other sin, so the Lord will judge everyone who participates in aborting a child. I wish I could say this truth more gently, knowing that a woman doesn’t usually make the decision to walk into a clinic lightly. I wish compassion included assuring an expectant mother that God accepts her decision. But fidelity to His Word requires me to warn her, her sexual partner and the doctor that God will judge their actions unless they repent. Hebrews 9:27 makes it clear that everyone must appear before Him to be judged, so anyone who participates in abortion needs to know that he or she will be held accountable for taking a little life.

Having said that the Lord will judge the sin of abortion, let me now direct your attention to God’s forgiveness to all who repent and turn to Him. Again I think of David, who impregnated another man’s wife, and then arranged the murder of her husband so that he could cover up the adultery by marrying her before the pregnancy was discovered. True, the child wasn’t aborted. Nevertheless, David committed both sexual immorality and murder. Psalm 51 records his prayer of confession and repentance. A Psalm placed earlier in the Psalter, but most likely referring to this same episode, expresses David’s confidence and joy at being forgiven.

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
² How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

³ When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long.
⁴ For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
⁵ I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
⁶ Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.
⁷ You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. ~~Psalm 32:1-7 (NASB95)

Aborting a baby is a serious sin, but it’s not a sin beyond God’s forgiveness. If you’ve sinned in this way, let me encourage you to confess your sin to Him, trusting that Jesus paid for all your sins on the cross (Colossians 2:13-14). Please rejoice in the unshakeable hope of His mercy.

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