Expert: Brenda Martin - 8/17/2006

Question
This is a bit of an odd question, I know.  But I got into a debate with friends about abortion yesterday.  Most people know exactly how those debates turn out,  but I started thinking about it, and I'm wondering - where in the Bible does it say that life begins at the moment of conception?  I'm opposed to abortion on principle (I don't believe in killing children without definite medical reason) and am a practicing Christian, but considering how the pro-life debate gets almost typecast into Christianity, it's really starting to bother me.  So, does it mention it anywhere?  And if not, then why do we associate pro-life with Christianity?

Answer
Hi Sarah, you asked--"WHERE IN THE BIBLE DOES IT SAY THAT LIFE BEGINS AT THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION?"

God is “the source of life” and “by him we have life and move and exist.” (Psalm 36:9; Acts 17:28)

When does the Creator say life begins? He views the life of a child as precious even during the very early stages of development after conception he inspired David, his prophet, to write:

“You kept me screened off in the belly of my mother. I shall laud you because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, as my soul is very well aware. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret [within the womb], when I was woven [allusion to the veins and arteries, which are embroidered through the body like colored threads of fabric] in the lowest parts of the earth [poetic description of the darkness in the womb]. Your eyes saw even the embryo of me, and in your book all its parts were down in writing.”—Psalm 139:13-16.

From the moment of conception, the developing life follows a precise pattern as if obeying the instructions set forth in a book, a very large book.

The Life of an Unborn Is Precious

Thus, the unborn child developing inside the womb is something far more than a mere clump of tissue. It has great value, and for this reason, God has stated that a person would be called to account for injury to an unborn child.

His law at Exodus 21:22, 23 warns: “In case men should struggle with each other and they really hurt a pregnant woman and her children do come out but no fatal accident occurs, he is to have damages imposed upon him without fail according to what the owner of the woman may lay upon him; and he must give it through the justices. But if a fatal accident should occur, then you must give soul for soul.”

Some people may argue that a human embryo is not a human life because it cannot sustain itself outside the womb. This is hollow reasoning. No one doubts that a newborn baby—only minutes old—is a human being. Yet, if that child were put naked into an outdoor field, how long would the child survive? It is utterly helpless and, like the embryo or a fetus, lacks the capacity to sustain itself. The newborn baby needs shelter, warmth, and food—the sustenance, aid, and assistance only an adult, like a mother, can provide.

The Bible’s viewpoint then is that human life begins at conception. The life of the unborn is not something trivial to be swept away willfully as an inconvenient foreign object. Human life is sacred not only after it leaves the womb but also while it is inside the womb.

All the best
Brenda