December 18, 2021

Subject: Modernism’s Triumph in an Age of Skepticism – The Humanity of the Unborn

Romans 1:20 “God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.’”

“The judiciary, at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is in no position to resolve the difficult question of when life begins… since those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus.” These are the words of Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, the author of the landmark 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws) and Director of New York’s largest abortion clinic, responded: “I was pleased with Justice Blackmun’s abortion decisions, which were a sweeping triumph for our cause… although our final victory had been propped up on a misreading of obstetrics, gynecology, and embryology, and that’s a dangerous way to win.” What does Dr. Nathanson mean when he says the Supreme Court “misread the science behind abortion”?

Years later, Dr. Nathanson explained in detail what the science says about the fetus: “There is simply no doubt that even the early embryo is a human being. All its genetic coding and all its features are indisputably human. As to being, there is no doubt that it exists, is alive, is self-directed, and is not the same being as the mother–and is therefore a unified whole.” What changed since 1973?

Dr. Nathanson explained: “In 1973, I became director of obstetrics of a large hospital in NY City and had to set up a prenatal research unit, just at the start of a great new technology which we now use every day to study the fetus in the womb.” He is speaking of the invention of the ultrasound machine.

In Dr. Nathanson’s own words: “Fetology’ (the science of the fetus in the uterus) makes it undeniably evident that life begins at conception and requires all the protection and safeguards that any of us enjoy.”

The recently passed Texas Heartbeat Law, which bans abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy, is based on this science. We are certain the fetus is an innocent human being. Dr. Nathanson’s phrase “undeniably evident” is how a modernist (one using empirical evidence, not feelings or preference) comes to the truth.

As this week’s verse says, who God has revealed Himself to humanity in the physical things that “have been made” that are now, thanks to science, “clearly seen”. No one can argue any longer that the baby in the womb isn’t an innocent, defenseless human being. And logic then dictates that abortion is wrong.

Ed Croteau is a resident of Lee’s Summit and hosts a weekly study in Lees Summit called “Faith: Substance and Evidence.”