Science and human life.
Both depend on an origin outside human decision.
The Atlantic published “Pro-Life, Pro-Science” this past Thursday (here). Emma Green documents the obvious science behind neonatology studies.
She suggests that pro-life groups are “winning” the debate on abortion since science is “instilling a sense of awe that we never really had before at any point in human history” quoting pro-life mother Ashley McGuire. Citing the latest scientific advances McGuire contends there is a fundamental
Shift [in] the moral intuition around abortion. New technology makes it easier to apprehend the humanity of a growing child and imagine a fetus as a creature with moral status. Over the last several decades, pro-life leaders have increasingly recognized this and rallied the power of scientific evidence to promote their cause. They have built new institutions to produce, track, and distribute scientifically crafted information on abortion. They hungrily follow new research in embryology. They celebrate progress in neonatology as a means to save young lives.
In a “science obsessed” culture, Green’s article is powerful. She points out that the debate has shifted in the last decade away from science supposedly supporting abortion. McGuire continues
When you’re seeing a baby sucking its thumb at 18 weeks, smiling, clapping, it becomes harder to square the idea that that 20-week-old, that unborn baby or fetus, is discardable.
Yes, we live in an age when science is dominant
. “Studies show” and “doctors tell us” preamble any news broadcast with the latest knowledge about space exploration, communicable diseases, water usage, genetic engineering, or robotics. Global warming advocates point to their interpretation of data contending for environmental legislation. Flu shots are said to be the physician preferred response to winter viruses. Businesses tend to run productivity on so-called quantitative “big data,” knowledge based on numbers.
Yes, scientific advances have given a louder megaphone to the pro-life movement. For those of us who are unabashedly pro-life we are grateful for affirmation of what we already knew was true.
And there is the rub. “Truth,” “rights,” “life,” and “science” are all dependent upon an ethical origin.
I do not need science to tell me that my grandchildren, while in the womb, were human, needing protection, care, and compassion.
The pro-life movement does not depend upon science for its truth.
All human life has worth, value, and dignity ONLY because there is a transcendent source of ethics.
As a Hebraic-Christian thinker I attest without question nor equivocation that The Personal Eternal Triune Creator of the universe is the source of human life.
On this, the sordid anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the day given to remember the murder of 60 million of our fellow citizens by judicial fiat, I once again speak for the voiceless. Any pro-death positions – infanticide, euthanasia, abortion – should rule the day if humans arbitrate truth, rights, life, or science. But justice issues begin with our beginning. If we are not truly human in the womb, than we are not truly human outside the womb.
I am glad science can affirm the pro-life position.
But I am pro-life not because of science but because God said, “Let us make humans in our image.”
January 22nd marks the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision entitled “Roe v. Wade” which is gave women the “right” to decide to abort a child through the 28th week of pregnancy. As I have stated many times in the past, I will always speak unapologetically for life.
I also celebrate the lives of many of my students – not to mention my daughter and son-in-law – who have given birth, adopted, provide compassionate services for single moms, give nursing care, and have generally sacrificed time, treasure, and talent on behalf of those who cannot care for themselves.
Dr. Mark Eckel is President of The Comenius Institute (website), spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video), and teaches weekly at his church (video). Picture credit: snappygoat.com, lifenews.com