The abortion issue is probably one of the greatest moral
battles of our time. There seems to be two sides when you look at the debates,
pro-choice and pro-life. The issue is typically framed by one side as a woman’s
rights issue while the other side is a life issue. We have shown here on the
podcast how this is a problem of language more than anything else where the two
side are often talking past each other.

However, candidate for President Mayor Pete Buttigieg has
chosen to go where few people before him have gone before like the star ship
enterprise on its many voyages. In a recent interview Mayor Pete attacked
conservatives on the abortion issue, not just from a rights perspective as is
usually done, but on Biblical grounds. His point was basically that the Republican
party has held voters in check with this issue over life when in fact the Bible
speaks of how life begins with breath. Later in the interview he did admit that
this wasn’t what made him pro-choice and fell back to the rights argument as the
main factor for him since we all draw lines on life in different places but the
person who should be drawing the line is the woman making the decision

So this is the first time I have heard a candidate attempt
to take both a rights and Biblical position on the pro choice side and I was
amazed at the boldness of Mayor Pete, but then again not so much as he is a
self-proclaimed gay Christian so living a life full of paradoxes is not strange
thing for him. Many like him are going to the Bible on issues of racism and
homosexuality and making positive cases on the Christian side and some even “falling
away” after coming to terms with what they see as Biblical truths they can no
longer hold.

So, what is to be said of this? Does the Bible promote the
pro-choice position in any way?

The answer is no, and I think that Mayor Pete knows better
than this, but it does make for interesting politics. The pro-choice Christian
candidate from the left defending his positions with the Bible makes for a
great separation from his competitors in a crowded field. However, let’s explore
this further

 In our very first
podcast we touched on the issue of Abortion and I explained how it is a battle
of language. Pro-Life supporters are talking about the issue of life and where
it begins. The opposite position would be to support death at some point. To
this issue Mayor Pete quickly passes it by, saying that we all have different
ideas of this and then moves to the choice argument as his solid ground to
stand on. This has always been the case since a pro-death argument is not only
impossible to make but is not politically palatable either.

I have often said that the pro-life position is the only
true pro-choice position. On the pro-life side the woman has many choices to
make, but the choice on when life begins and when she can take that life is not
one of them. The pro-choice position seeks to skirt the pro-life argument by
making it a women’s rights issue but that leaves out the idea that the choice
can’t be made to take a life, so the life position must be determined
regardless. If the fetus is a living human being, then the woman has no right
to take the life assuming her own life is not at risk. If the woman is in a
life risk situation then her decision comes down to sacrificing her life for
the child or not which is a different argument.

So the pro-life side of the argument lost the battle of
language and therefore the culture and the courts in this matter and the impact
has been millions of lives lost since Roe V. Wade. The focus isn’t on the
science behind when life begins, this is just a secondary argument to rights
the way it’s set up. This is good for the pro-choice crowd because science has
no consensus on this. Science gives us a development cycle of life stages from
fertilization to implantation, embryo, fetus and finally birth. It is for this
reason that when a pro-choice person is pressed on the beginning of life, they are
all over the developmental map. Mayor Pete eludes to this in his brief comment about
everyone having their different ideas on it before he switches to the rights
argument.

But now there is this idea of Mayor Pete taking a Biblical
stand on pro-choice, attempting to make a real pro-life argument in favor of
abortion, and although I applaud his courage, he has absolutely no grounds here.
Let’s look at the Biblical record.

The Psalmist says that God formed covered him in his mother’s
womb and that God’s eyes saw his substance when he was unformed. There is the
idea of personhood before actual birth and no timeline for humanity in the womb
is given. Jeremiah says very similar words to this lest the argument be made
that the Psalmist is just waxing poetic. There is also Biblical language In
Luke about a baby leaping in the womb.

What about the notion of breath meaning life that Mayor Pete
alludes to? There is nothing that shows any of the above to be false and
instead life is only beings that give breath. God speaks and breathes life into
creation in Genesis. Job says the breath of the almighty gives life. Scripture
is God breathed which simply means it is the very words of God. God breathed
into mans nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul which is
part of the creation account mentioned above. Breath can also be something that
comes from God in judgment.

So Mayor Pete managed to hit on every failed argument of the pro-choice movement and then take the opportunity to do what most don’t dare to do which is defend the position Biblically. Although I can’t blame him for doing so, given the success the homosexual community has had at twisting scripture to fit their agenda, the Biblical record is clear and in fact levels with the scientific developmental process we know of quite well. The life of the unborn child develops over time and is human throughout from fertilization to birth. Both the Biblical record and the scientific record support the unique nature of human life. It’s time that those on the right side of life stop losing the language and the culture to those who twist and turn truth and language to meet agendas.

For more on the issue of abortion and the radicalization of the left check out our very first podcast at the top of this post