Madisonville Church of Christ

In the quarter-century since abortion was legalized in the United States, millions of innocent lives have been lost at the hands of doctors willing to act against all that they have been taught and murder babies in their mothers' wombs. In the next 25 to 50 years, the number of innocent victims will surely increase, thanks in part to the development RU-486, which is being called the "abortion pill." Now that the Federal Food and Drug Administration has approved its use by the general public, women in our country will be able to terminate pregnancies by taking a couple of pills, without any kind of invasive procedures. This method is praised by its supporters as a way to make abortion quick, easy, and relatively painless for women who might otherwise choose to let their babies live to see the light of day. Gloria Feldt, the president of Planned Parenthood, called the announcement of the drug's approval by the FDA "an historic moment."

This new method of abortion accomplishes the termination of an unborn child in two stages. First a pregnant woman must, within the first seven weeks of pregnancy, visit a doctor who will provide her with a drug called mifepristone, which is designed to block progesterone receptors in the lining of her uterus. This causes the lining to thin, which in turn causes the child to detach from the uterus. Two days later, she must return to the doctor for a drug called misoprostol, which is designed to induce the contractions necessary to expel the baby from his mother's body. Two weeks later, she returns to the doctor to confirm that the abortion was successful, and if it was not, the she must undergo a more traditional means of abortion.

There are many advocates of RU-486, including some who are opposed to D&C, suction, saline injection, and partial birth abortion. Their argument is that, since the pregnancy is terminated at such an early stage of development, it presents little ethical difficulty. Actually, this has always been the primary assertion of abortion apologists: an unborn child is not a "viable" form of human life, and may, therfore, be killed and disposed of at any time prior to birth. The only difference in this case, is the length of time after conception in which the baby's life is ended.

This is why it is necessary for Christians to impress upon the minds of people the Biblical fact that human life begins at the point of conception, and not at the point of birth. Many Americans who say that they want abortion to be legal in their country say so because they have believed the pro-choice propaganda, and in their opinion, a fetus in his mother's womb is not a human being. Christians must have the courage to defy the "conventional wisdom," and boldly declare that the God of Heaven who "giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts 17:25) has taught us in His Word that life begins at conception!

The Old Testament tells us that, before the prophet Jeremiah was born, the Lord "knew" him, and "sanctified" him, and "ordained" him to be a prophet (Jer. 1:5). How could the Lord make such a statement about Jeremiah, if he was not really a human being, until the day of his birth? David declared that the Lord "covered" him, while he was still in his mother's womb, and that the Lord say his "substance" (Psa. 139:13-16). The Hebrew word, which is translated "substance" in that passage is one that literally indicates and embryo, according to some scholars. This leaves no<

Murder in a Pill