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Abortion: When Bible Not Standard, Confusion Reigns

Supreme Court states that an unborn baby is neither just a fetus nor human being. Get this: It is a body part to be protected by law.

  • J. Grant Swank, Jr.
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Confusion. Is "it" baby or thing?

The Connecticut Supreme Court is hurting for straddling. That happens when trying to go over a fence and getting stuck mid-way.

Supreme Court states that an unborn baby is neither just a fetus nor human being. Get this: It is a body part to be protected by law.

Therefore, Edwin Sandoval argues that he cannot be charged with attempting aggravated assault because the unborn baby in the mother's womb was the target and not the woman.

Edwin declares that the unborn baby is not a baby. It is a body part. It is like teeth or hair, something that can be done away with.

Edwin was sentenced in 2001 to 12 years behind bars because he used ulcer medication to try to induce a miscarriage in his girl friend. The woman eventually birthed a healthy baby boy.

The Connecticut Supreme Court this week concluded that the unborn was not a human being but a body part, agreeing with Edwin. The justice stated that the 5-week-old child was not a child but an extension of the female's body.

Pro-life is not happy with the conclusion. Pro-choice is not happy with the conclusion. It is hard when hopping a fence and getting stuck mid-way.

That's what happens when one does not have an eternally revealed standard for ethics and morality. When one works solely from relativity, that is, situation ethics, one can conclude anything, just as Hitler concluded that Jews were an impediment to the human race fulfillment, just as Hussein concluded by killing his own people because they were in the way of his likings. Whoever has the power wins. Whoever is in charge calls the ethical, moral shots.

But when one has an eternally revealed standard called the Bible, then whoever has the power, whoever is in charge, bows before that revelation. The revelation calls the shots.

The Bible states clearly that the unborn child is a human being.

"Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk ... and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit" (Job 10:8-12 NIV).

"Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name...and now the LORD says — he who formed me in the womb to be his servant..." (Isaiah 49:1, 5).

"The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:4-5).

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:13-16).

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him" (Psalm 127:3).

The Gospel of Luke ascribes personality to the fetus within Elizabeth:

"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit... As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy" (1:41, 44).

Mere tissue does not leap for joy; only personhood leaps for joy. The Bible regards the fetus as having personality. In Galatians, Paul speaks of himself as a person while still in his mother's womb, but more a person consecrated by God for a holy mission (compare Jeremiah 1:5 for the same accent):

"But when God, who set me apart from birth, and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles..." (Gal. 1: 15-16).


  • J. Grant Swank, Jr.
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