Bumper Sticker Comes up Short

I was passed by a car driven by a young woman who had parking permit stickers to a state university on the window. On the back she had a bumper sticker that read, “Don’t like Abortion? Don’t have one.” I wonder how far she would go advocating for this type of personal freedom? Don’t like murder? Don’t murder. Don’t like rape? Don’t rape. Her argument was, don’t tell me what to do. Don’t force your beliefs or morals on me. You do what you want to do, and I’ll do what I want to do. You live how you want and I’ll live how I want. If I want to murder, I should be able to. If you don’t like it, then don’t murder, but don’t tell me what to do.

Obviously this is not how she would see the argument. Why Not? She and everyone else who bought the bumper sticker fail to recognize the unborn child as a victim. They fail to recognize the unborn child as having any value, let alone as a human being. They therefore see the abortion as something done to them and them alone, so who should have the right to tell them what to do? Well even against this reasoning there are arguments, the kind of arguments I would use against suicide and euthanasia. But let’s stick to abortion for now.

Scripture says in Psalm 139:13, “For you formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb.” God is the one credited with forming us in our mother’s wombs. If it is God knitting together the unborn child, do you think He would want anyone destroying that work? Even those malformed or still born are the work of God’s hands. No doubt these are the results of the fallen sin-cursed world in which we live, but He is still sovereign and He has promised to work all things for good. Trust Him. Life is precious, all life, and we should do everything we can to help it, foster it, and preserve it, not to end it. The taking of life is in God’s purposes and hands, and I don’t think we should be meddling there. What about war and capital punishment? I’ll touch on that in a minute.

Another Scripture you have to deal with when talking about abortion is Exodus 21:22-25, “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” To cause a premature birth is to cause an injury that incurred a fine as penalty. But if the child was injured the same penalty was demanded as when one adult injured another, including life for life. So if the injury to the unborn child caused its death the one who caused the injury was to be put to death. I think this is powerful testimony to the belief that the unborn child is a human being, and a life sacred to God.

I have heard this used to support the view that the unborn child is actually regarded as less than fully human. It is based on a misinterpretation. “Gives birth prematurely” has been translated “miscarriage.” This is not correct, but let’s assume for a moment that it is. The argument is that if a person is killed then the punishment is life for life, but if an unborn baby is killed the punishment is a fine. Even if this was the case it does not mean that the unborn child is to be regarded as less than human. It also says in this same chapter that if you strike your slave and they lose their eye you must set them free. If you hit a free man and he lost his eye, the penalty would be the loss of your eye. You would never assume that the slave was regarded as less than human. Indeed there is plenty of Scripture to teach one other wise. Neither should such an argument be made in the case of the unborn.

Now against the translation “miscarriage” I offer two arguments. If you translate it miscarriage the verse then says that a miscarriage is not to be regarded as an injury. But more importantly, if you look up “miscarriage” in a NASB concordance you find it 4 times in the Old Testament. There is a word for miscarriage, nephel, that accounts for three occurrences. The forth found in Exodus 21:22 comes from two common words, yatsa = to go out, and yeled = child. Only once is this translated miscarriage. The updated NASB got it right with “gives birth prematurely.”

So how can one support capital punishment and then decry abortion on the grounds that the unborn baby is a human being and all human life is sacred? It is because life is sacred that those who take it unlawfully must be punished, including forfeiting their life. A life of a criminal may be taken to protect the lives of others. Similarly when countries go to war, the war can be justified when its purpose is to protect the welfare of the country’s citizenry. Not that this is the only way in which a war may be judged a just war, but it is enough to demonstrate that war is not necessarily at odds with the belief in the sanctity of life.

So the bumper sticker comes up short. It either is ignorant of the personhood of the unborn child, or it is making a conscious statement against it. You wouldn't get this view past the Scriptures. Not to mention what we know medically about the unborn supports the biblical position that life begins at conception.

I know and love several people who have had abortions. This is in no way to offend or hurt them. I just need to speak out against what I see as a great evil. If anyone is likewise convinced and burdened with guilt over such a past decision, I plead with you to be free in Christ. Like any other sin, if you come to God by faith in Christ seeking forgiveness, you will have it.