Prochoice Argument: “The Fetus may be alive, but so are eggs and sperm. The fetus is a potential human being, not an actual one; it’s like a blueprint not a house, an acorn not an oak tree.”
Prolife Answer: As I’ve been writing these articles I was reminded that not only do most prolifers likely not know their own position past Scripture quoting and conviction, but also, many prolifers don’t know many of the arguments of prochoicers. I hope these arguments and answers help give you a good view of both. Please note my earlier articles and the fact that I’m gleaning information from Randy Alcorn’s book on this subject and verbatim quoting him most often. Alcorn responds to the above prochoice argument by pointing out that “The ovum and sperm are each a product of another’s body; unlike the fertilized egg, neither is an independent entity.” Carl Sagan, using the same prochoice argument above asked if masturbation was “mass murder?” Former president of Planned Parenthood Faye Wattleton said to a prolife Congressman “Your sperm are alive too.” Alcorn states “Neither egg nor sperm is complete. Like cells of one’s hair or heart, neither egg or sperm has the capacity to become other than what it is. Both are dead-ends, destined to remain what they are until they die within a matter of days. In contrast, when egg and sperm are joined, a new, dynamic, and genetically distinct human life begins. From the first instance of fertilization that first single cell contains the entire genetic blueprint in all its complexity. This accounts for every detail of human development, including the child’s sex, hair and eye color, height, and skin tone. Take the single cell of the just conceived zygote, put it next to a chimpanzee cell and gorilla cell, and a geneticist could easily identify the human. Its humanity is already that strikingly apparent.” Dr. Thomas Hilger states, “No individual living body can ‘become’ a person unless it already is a person. No living being can become anything other that what it already essentially is.” Dr. Paul Ramsay states, “Thus it might be said that in all essential respects the individual is whoever he is going to become from the moment of impregnation. He already is this while not knowing this or anything else. Thereafter, his subsequent development cannot be described as becoming something he is not now. It can only be described as a process of achieving, a process of becoming the one he already is. Genetics teaches us that we were from the beginning what we essentially still are in every cell and in every generally human attribute and in every individual attribute.” This sounds funny, so I have to say this. Alcorn, speaking of the analogy of the acorn (funny? Alcorn…acorn…get it? Oh well), states “When an acorn is stepped on, the forest experiences no moral dilemma. When a ‘toddler’ sapling or a ‘teenage’ oak dies the ‘mother tree’ does not weep, nor do the saplings siblings. We naturally value oak trees more than acorns. Unfortunately, the comparison encourages us to make a quantum leap of concluding we should value bigger and older people more than smaller and younger ones (specifically, the unborn). But what are our reasons for valuing the oak tree over the acorn? They are not moral or humanitarian, but simply pragmatic. The oak tree serves us well, either aesthetically or for the lumber or fire wood it can provide. Acorns are plentiful and expendable. But why are they expendable? For the same reason the oak tree is also ultimately expendable—it isn’t a person, only a thing. A baby, however, isn’t a thing, it’s a person. The unborn are not more expendable because they haven’t developed into infants, not infants more expendable because they haven’t developed into toddlers, nor teenagers more expendable because they haven’t developed into adults. Blueprints are not houses, nor do they become houses no matter how long we care to wait, because by nature they are something else. But while the blueprint in no sense becomes the house, the acorn does become the oak tree. It can do so only because in the most basic sense it is the oak tree! While no house was ever a blueprint, every oak tree was once an acorn. So it is with the person—a person doesn’t simply come from an embryo or fetus. A person was an embryo, then a fetus. As every oak tree was an acorn, every person was once a fertilized egg. All the oak tree is or ever will be was in the acorn. If the acorn were destroyed, there would be no oak tree. Likewise, all that the adult is or ever will be was in the embryo. If the embryo were destroyed, there would be no baby, no teenager, and no adult. When the baby dies the teenager dies. When the embryo dies the baby dies. Abortion doesn’t kill potential people. It kills actual people.” Grace and understanding to us all, Pastor Kevin Boone
Tags: abortion
