Justin Taylor's Blog, page 69

On Misunderstanding the Bible: “Parts of Any Complex Story Will Seem Absurd If You Don’t Know How to Interpret It”

This is under two minutes and is worth watching from Dr. John Stackhouse, the Samuel J. Mikolaski Professor of Religious Studies and Dean of Faculty Development at Crandall University in Moncton, New Brunswick:

The Bible Project: Free, Animated Biblical Theology

The Bible Project is producing some great, free resources for the church. Because the medium they use is animation, you might assume (without watching it) that this is only for kids. But it’s really something that could profit all of us.

(To find out more about how to provide donor support for this free resource, go here.)

The First Five Books

So far, they have covered the first four (Genesis-Numbers):

Biblical Themes through the Entire Narrative of the Bible

They have done four of these so far:

Book Overviews (Literary Structure and Flow of Thought for Each Bible Book)
They have covered four books so far:

A Conversation with Don Whitney on “Praying the Bible”

I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with Don Whitney about his new book on Praying the Bible.

Here are Crossway’s timestamps for the conversation:

00:00 – What is your ministry background?
00:54 – As you travel around the country, what are some of the common complaints you hear from Christians related to their prayer lives?
02:19 – What would you say to someone who feels like a failure in prayer?
04:40 – What areas of Scripture are particularly conducive for prayer?
05:47 – What are the Psalms of the Day?
07:55 – Can you illustrate praying through Psalm 23?
11:51 – How will praying the Bible help us remain focused in prayer?
13:37 – What are the sorts of testimonies you hear from people who have started praying the Bible?

The 6th Planned Parenthood Video

Since July 14, 2015, The Center for Medical Progress has posted the following undercover videos of Planned Parenthood’s handing of the body parts of its victims:

Planned Parenthood Uses Partial-Birth Abortions to Sell Baby Parts (July 14, 2015) [full footage]
Second Planned Parenthood Senior Executive Haggles Over Baby Parts Prices, Changes Abortion Methods (July 21, 2015) [full footage]
Human Capital, Episode 1: Planned Parenthood’s Black Market in Baby Parts (July 28, 2015) [full footage]
Planned Parenthood VP Says Fetuses May Come Out Intact, Agrees Payments Specific to the Specimen (July 30, 2015)
Intact Fetuses “Just a Matter of Line Items” for Planned Parenthood TX Mega-Center (August 4, 2015) [full footage]

And here are the complete transcripts:

Lunch meeting with Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Senior Director of Medical Services, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Second Planned Parenthood Senior Executive Haggles Over Baby Parts Prices, Changes Abortion Methods
Planned Parenthood VP Says Fetuses May Come Out Intact, Agrees Payments Specific to the Specimen
Intact Fetuses “Just a Matter of Line Items” at Planned Parenthood TX Mega-Center

Today (August 12, 2015), the sixth video has posted:

Human Capital, Episode 2: Inside the Planned Parenthood Supply Site

Here is their summary:

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12-The second episode in a new documentary web series highlights a young woman’s eyewitness narrative of the daily practice of fetal body parts harvesting in Planned Parenthood abortion clinics, describing tissue procurement workers’ coordination with abortion providers, the pressure placed on patients, and disregard for patient consent.

The “Human Capital” documentary web series, produced by The Center for Medical Progress, integrates expert interviews, eyewitness accounts, and real-life undercover interactions to explore various themes connected to Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted fetal tissue. Episode 1, “Planned Parenthood’s Black Market in Baby Parts,” premiered last month. Episode 2, “Inside the Planned Parenthood Supply Site,” launches today at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABzFZM73o8M

The series follows the personal narrative of Holly O’Donnell, a former Blood and TIssue Procurement Technician for StemExpress, a start-up biotech company from northern California that partners with Planned Parenthood clinics to purchase their aborted fetus parts and resell them for scientific experimentation. As a procurement tech, O’Donnell’s job was to identify pregnant patients matching the specifications of StemExpress customers and to harvest the fetal body parts from their abortions.

“It’s not an option, it’s a demand,” StemExpress supervisors instructed O’Donnell about approaching pregnant women at Planned Parenthood for fetal tissue “donations.” O’Donnell says the StemExpress techs working in Planned Parenthood clinics sometimes harvested fetal parts without obtaining consent from the patients: “If there was a higher gestation, and the technicians needed it, there were times when they would just take what they wanted. And these mothers don’t know. And there’s no way they would know.”

Federal laws on the procurement and use of human fetal tissue require that patients consent to the tissue donation subsequent to consenting to the abortion procedure (42 U.S.C. 289g-1).

According to O’Donnell, Planned Parenthood gave StemExpress workers access to patient records and schedules so that the harvesting company could plan for the days when patient “supply” would be greatest. “They give you a sheet, and it’s everybody for that day, who’s coming in for an ultrasound, who’s coming in for an abortion, medical or a late-term abortion,” O’Donnell explains. Even patients just seeking a pregnancy test at Planned Parenthood were considered part of the supply: “Pregnancy tests are potential pregnancies, therefore potential specimens. So it’s just taking advantage of the opportunities.”

Project Lead David Daleiden notes, “Experiences like Holly O’Donnell’s show that Planned Parenthood’s abortion and baby parts business is not a safe place where vulnerable women can be cared for, but a harvesting ground for saleable human ‘product.’ Taxpayer subsidies to Planned Parenthood’s barbaric abortion business should be revoked immediately, and law enforcement and other elected officials must act decisively to determine the full extent of Planned Parenthood’s offensive practices and hold them accountable to the law.”

Russell Moore’s thoughts on the Planned Parenthood videos:

“What I hope happens out of [these videos] is not just that we act in public justice and defund Planned Parenthood but also that we start to shape and form consciences to do away with the violence of abortion.”

Here are two websites to be aware of if you want to make your voice heard:

ProtestPP.com is planning a peaceful protest at Planned Parenthood facilities across America on August 22, 2015 from 9:00am-11:00am
EndPP.com unites prolife consumers in protest against corporate support of Planned Parenthood.

And here are a few resources that may be helpful or of interest for you:

Reuben Navarrette Jr.’s candid article, “I Don’t Know if Im Pro-Choice After Planned Parenthood Videos“
Francis Beckwith’s reading list of some books that make a sophisticated philosophical case for the pro-life position (see his follow-up on female pro-life scholars)
Ross Douthat’s bracing and brilliant piece, “There Is No Pro-Life Case for Planned Parenthood“; see also his first of two posts answering questions from a pro-abortion-choice advocate
Michael Krueger’s brief responses to four bad arguments to defend Planned Parenthood: (1) they do other good things; (2) the videos have been heavily edited; (3) Planned Parenthood is not making any money; (4) Fetal tissue is being used for important scientific research.
In a 2013 article from the liberal online magazine Slate, senior editor Rachael Larimore looked at the idea that only 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services are abortion and called it ”meaningless—to the point of being downright silly.”
A clip from Matt Chandler, pastor of the Village Church, preaching on January 12, 2014 (you can find the audio and transcript here):

Do You Have a Few Minutes to Listen to Matt Chandler on Abortion?

Matt Chandler, pastor of the Village Church, preaching on January 12, 2014 (you can find the audio and transcript here):

Kevin DeYoung’s “The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden”

 

Kevin DeYoung’s new biblical theology for kids—the whole story of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, told in one continuous narrative—is now on sale with WTS Books for a great introductory price. This hardcover (with jacket) book retails for $18, but you can get it for as low as $8/copy (for 72 hours) if you order enough copies. You can get more info here.

To see samples of the unique illustrations, go here. But also see this little video for a quick peek:

You can also pre-order the book at Amazon.

Don’t Know What a Fetus Is? Here Are Your Options

Philosopher Peter Kreeft argues that “either we do or do not know what a fetus is.”

He explains:

Either there is “out there,” in objective fact, independent of our minds, a human life, or there is not; and either there is knowledge in our minds of this objective fact, or there is not.

There are four possibilities, he writes:

The fetus is a person, and we know that.
The fetus is a person, but we don’t know that.
The fetus isn’t a person, but we don’t know that.
The fetus isn’t a person, and we know that.

Kreeft then looks at what abortion is in each of these four cases.

Abortion in Case 1

In Case 1, where the fetus is a person and you know that, abortion is murder. First-degree murder, in fact. You deliberately kill an innocent human being.

Abortion in Case 2

In Case 2, where the fetus is a person and you don’t know that, abortion is manslaughter. It’s like driving over a man-shaped overcoat in the street at night or shooting toxic chemicals into a building that you’re not sure is fully evacuated. You’re not sure there is a person there, but you’re not sure there isn’t either, and it just so happens that there is a person there, and you kill him. You cannot plead ignorance. True, you didn’t know there was a person there, but you didn’t know there wasn’teither, so your act was literally the height of irresponsibility. This is the act Roe allowed.

Abortion in Case 3

In Case 3, the fetus isn’t a person, but you don’t know that. So abortion is just as irresponsible as it is in the previous case. You ran over the overcoat or fumigated the building without knowing that there were no persons there. You were lucky; there weren’t. But you didn’t care; you didn’t take care; you were just as irresponsible. You cannot legally be charged with manslaughter, since no man was slaughtered, but you can and should be charged with criminal negligence.

Abortion in Case 4

Only in Case 4 is abortion a reasonable, permissible, and responsible choice. But note: What makes Case 4 permissible is not merely the fact that the fetus is not a person but also your knowledge that it is not, your overcoming of skepticism. So skepticism counts not for abortion but against it. Only if you are not a skeptic, only if you are a dogmatist, only if you are certain that there is no person in the fetus, no man in the coat, or no person in the building, may you abort, drive, or fumigate.

This undercuts even our weakest, least honest escape: to pretend that we don’t even know what an apple is, just so we have an excuse for pleading that we don’t know what an abortion is.

Here’s Kreeft in video form:

John Gardner depicts Kreeft’s argument as follows:

You can read his whole Apple Argument Against Abortion here.

What Was the First Study Bible in English?

Given the release this month of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible (edited by D. A. Carson), and because I worked on the ESV Study Bible (edited by Wayne Grudem), this short summary from Jane Dawson’s new biography of John Knox (Yale University Press, 2015) stood out to me:

The Geneva Bible’s revolutionary format created the first English study Bible with all the necessary apparatus and commentary lodged within one set of covers.

The division of chapters into numbered verses was adopted from the French translations that were being printed in Geneva, and this simple but dramatic change in layout transformed the reading and citation of the Bible and dictated how that book is understood today.

The Geneva translation provided a full critical apparatus with carefully structured additions placed to guide the reader at all stages. At the start of each biblical book was placed an ‘argument’ or summary of the contents, and each chapter had a short list of main points and key verses. Down the margins, side notes explained difficult ideas, alternative readings, linguistic points and cross-references. They also gave explanations and interpretations of the biblical messages. Maps and diagrams were inserted within the text, making the experience of the people of God real to the eye, with a diagram of a Jewish priest’s garments or maps of the places in the Gospels or the early churches, while tables and indices allowed the text to be searched.

As an immensely friendly book, the Geneva Bible became a bestseller and by far the most popular version for the people of Protestant Scotland, Elizabethan England and the early American colonies. Down the generations and across the seas, this Bible transmitted the specific vision of Knox’s exile congregation. (p. 153)

The 5th Undercover Planned Parenthood Video Drops

Today The Center for Medical Progress released its fifth video exposing the work of Planned Parenthood.

Here is the press release:

HOUSTON, Aug. 4–The fifth undercover video in the controversy over Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted baby parts shows the Director of Research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Melissa Farrell, advertising the Texas Planned Parenthood branch’s track record of fetal tissue sales, including its ability to deliver fully intact fetuses.

In the video, actors posing as representatives from a human biologics company meet with Farrell at the abortion-clinic headquarters of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston to discuss a potential partnership to harvest fetal organs.

“Where we probably have an edge over other organizations, our organization has been doing research for many many years,” explains Farrell. When researchers need a specific part from the aborted fetus, Farrell says, “We bake that into our contract, and our protocol, that we follow this, so we deviate from our standard in order to do that.”

Asked specifically if this means Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast can change abortion procedures to supply intact fetal specimens, Farrell affirms, “Some of our doctors in the past have projects and they’re collecting the specimens, so they do it in a way that they get the best specimens, so I know it can happen.”

The investigators ask Farrell how she will frame a contract in which they pay a higher price for higher quality fetal body parts, and she replies, “We can work it out in the context of–obviously, the procedure itself is more complicated,” suggesting that “without having you cover the procedural cost” and paying for the abortion, the higher specimen price could be framed as “additional time, cost, administrative burden.”

Farrell finally summarizes her affiliate’s approach to fetal tissue payments: “If we alter our process, and we are able to obtain intact fetal cadavers, we can make it part of the budget that any dissections are this, and splitting the specimens into different shipments is this. It’s all just a matter of line items.”

The sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $500,000 (42 U.S.C. 289g-2). Federal law also requires that no alteration in the timing or method of abortion be done for the purposes of fetal tissue collection (42 U.S.C. 289g-1).

Farrell also indicates to the investigators over lunch that the specimen sales from her department contribute significantly to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s overall finances: “I think everyone realizes, especially because my department contributes so much to the bottom line of our organization here, you know we’re one of the largest affiliates, our Research Department is the largest in the United States. Larger than any the other affiliates’ combined.” In a Texas Senate hearing on July 29, former Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast clinic director Abby Johnson estimated that the affiliate had previously made up to $120,000 per month off of aborted fetal tissue.

The video is the fifth by The Center for Medical Progress documenting Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted fetal parts. Project Lead David Daleiden notes: “This is now the fifth member of Planned Parenthood leadership discussing payments for aborted baby parts without any connection to actual costs of so-called tissue ‘donation.’ Planned Parenthood’s system-wide conspiracy to evade the law and make money off of aborted fetal tissue is now undeniable.” Daleiden continues, “Anyone who watches these videos knows that Planned Parenthood is engaged in barbaric practices and human rights abuses that must end. There is no reason for an organization that uses illegal abortion methods to sell baby parts and commit such atrocities against humanity to still receive over $500 million each year from taxpayers.”

For help in refuting defenses of Planned Parenthood and critiques of the videos, go here. It addresses the four categories of allegations: (1) it’s a hoax; (2) the videos are edited; (3) the means are dishonest; and (4) pro-lifers are trying to take away the good things Planned Parenthood does.

Yesterday (August 3, 2015), the U.S. Senate failed to invoke cloture on S.1881, a bill to prohibit federal funding of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Joe Carter has a handy FAQ:

What was the legislation being voted on?
What is a cloture motion?
What was the outcome and who voted in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood?
Why did Sen. McConnell vote against the motion?
What happens next for the measure?
Wouldn’t a government shutdown be a worthy price to pay for defunding Planned Parenthood?

Joe concludes:

Historically, the average age of retirement for Supreme Court justices is 78. By 2017, when the next president takes office, four justices (Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg, and Bryer) will be over the age of 78. If there is pro-abortion president in the White House and 60 pro-abortion lawmakers in the Senate, then they will block the appointment of any justices who might vote against pro-abortion laws. The result is that a pro-life loss in the next election may mean the opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade will be lost for another two generations.

You can read the whole thing here.

As Joe noted on Twitter, “No matter what Senate does, Obama will veto any effort to #DefundPP. As long as he’s in office, PP is safe.”

On July 31, David Daleiden—the 26-year-old undercover investigator who started The Center for Medical Progress, appeared on CNN’s New Day show to discuss the findings of the first four videos in the “Human Capital” series.

For more interviews with Daleiden, see this conversation with Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review Online and this exchange with Bob Smietana at Christianity Today Online.

All of the videos released thus far can be watched here.

What Can Christians Do?

A few years ago, Scott Klusendorf—president of Life Training Institute and author of the book The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture (Crossway, 2009)—suggested four ways Christian leaders can help us think clearly about this question—the most pressing moral issue of our day:

1. Clarify the nature of moral reasoning.

As Francis J. Beckwith points out, when pro-life advocates claim that elective abortion unjustly takes the life of a defenseless human being, they are not saying they dislikeabortion. They are saying it’s objectively wrong, regardless of how one feels about it. Consider the popular bumper sticker: “Don’t like abortion? Don’t have one!” Notice what’s going on here. The pro-life advocate makes a moral claim that he believes is objectively true—namely, that elective abortion is unjust killing. The abortion-choice advocate responds by changing that objective truth claim into one about likes and dislikes, as if the pro-lifer were talking about a mere preference. But this misses the point entirely. Pro-life advocates don’t oppose abortion because they find it distasteful; they oppose it because it violates rational moral principles. Imagine if I said, “Don’t like spousal abuse? Don’t beat your wife!”

2. Clarify the one question that really matters.

So what is the real issue, if not likes and dislikes? Pro-life advocates contend that elective abortion unjustly takes the life of a defenseless human being. This simplifies the abortion controversy by focusing public attention on just one question: Is the unborn one of us? If so, killing him or her to benefit others is a serious moral wrong. Conversely, if the unborn are not human, elective abortion requires no more justification than having a tooth pulled. This is not a debate between those who are pro-choice and those who are anti-choice. Every pro-life advocate that I know is vigorously “pro-choice” when it comes to women choosing a number of moral goods. They support a woman’s right to choose her own doctor, her own school, her own husband, and her own career—to name just a few. But some choices are wrong, like killing innocent human beings simply because they are in the way and cannot defend themselves. We shouldn’t be pro-choice about that.

3. Clarify the scientific and philosophic case for life.

The science of embryology establishes that from the earliest stages of development, the unborn are distinct, living, and whole human beings. True, they have yet to grow and mature, but they are whole human beings nonetheless. Leading embryology textbooks affirm this. Meanwhile, pro-life advocates use philosophy to show there is no morally significant difference between the embryo you once were and the adult you are today that would justify killing you at that earlier stage of development. Differences of size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency are not good reasons for saying you had no right to life then but you do now. Stephen Schwarz suggests the acronym SLED as a helpful reminder of these non-essential differences:

Size: You were smaller as an embryo, but since when does your body size determine value? Large humans are not more valuable than small humans.
Level of Development: True, you were less developed as an embryo, but why is that decisive? Six-month olds are less developed than teenagers both physically and mentally, but we don’t think the former have less of a right to life.
Environment: Where you are has no bearing on what you are. How does a journey of eight inches down the birth canal suddenly change the essential nature of the unborn from a being we can kill to one we can’t?
Degree of Dependency: Sure, you depended on your mother for survival, but since when does dependence on another human mean we can kill you? (Consider conjoined twins, for example.)

In short, humans are equal by nature not function. Although they differ immensely in their respective degrees of development, they are nonetheless equal because they share a common human nature made in the image of God.

4. Clarify the path to forgiveness.

Post-abortion young people do not need an excuse. They need an exchange: Christ’s righteousness for their sinfulness. Indeed, the starting point for human healing is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and as D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out, you can never preach it enough. That gospel tells how God made humans to worship and enjoy him, but they willfully rebelled against their creator. Although the rebels deserved God’s righteous wrath, he poured it out on a substitute—Jesus, the sinless one. Like all sinners, post-abortion men and women need this gospel. With it, they live each day assured God accepts them on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, not their own. Without it, they perish.

What Happens Month-by-Month within the Womb?

Francis Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, and Co-Director of the Program in Philosophical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion, at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, is the author of Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2007), the most sophisticated and compelling book on the subject.

In an article he once summarized what happens in the womb throughout a pregnancy:

First Month

Beckwith begins at the beginning:

Pregnancy begins at conception, the time at which the male sperm and the female ovum unite.

What results is called a zygote, a one-celled biological entity, a stage in human development through which each of us has passed (just as we have passed through infancy, childhood, and adolescence).

It is a misnomer to refer to this entity as a “fertilized ovum.” For both ovum and sperm, which are genetically each a part of its owner (mother and father, respectively), cease to exist at the moment of conception.

There is no doubt, he says, that the zygote is biologically alive:

It fulfills the four criteria needed to establish biological life:

metabolism
growth
reaction to stimuli
reproduction.

Beckwith gives two reasons we know that this life is fully human:

First, the human conceptus — that which results from conception and begins as a zygote — is the sexual product of human parents. Hence, insofar as having human causes, the conceptus is human.

Second, not only is the conceptus human insofar as being caused by humans, it is a unique human individual, just as each of us is.

Resulting from the union of the female ovum (which contains 23 chromosomes) and the male sperm (which contains 23 chromosomes), the conceptus is a new — although tiny — individual. It has its own unique genetic code (with forty-six chromosomes), which is neither the mother’s nor the father’s. From this point until death, no new genetic information is needed to make the unborn entity a unique individual human. Her (or his) genetic make-up is established at conception, determining her unique individual physical characteristics — gender, eye color, bone structure, hair color, skin color, susceptibility to certain diseases, etc. That is to say, at conception, the “genotype” — the inherited characteristics of a unique human being — is established and will remain in force for the entire life of this individual.

Although sharing the same nature with all human beings, the unborn individual, like each one of us, is unlike any that has been conceived before and unlike any that will ever be conceived again. The only thing necessary for the growth and development of this human organism (as with the rest of us) is oxygen, food, and water, since this organism — like the newborn, the infant, and the adolescent — needs only to develop in accordance with her already-designed nature that is present at conception.

This is why French geneticist Jermoe L. LeJeune, while testifying before a Senate Subcommittee, asserted: “To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion. The human nature of the human being from conception to old age is not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence.”

Beckwith applies this to each of us:

There is hence no doubt that the development of a unique individual human life begins at conception. It is vital that you — the reader — understand that

you did not come from a zygote, you once were a zygote;
you did not come from an embryo, you once were an embryo;
you did not come from a fetus, you once were a fetus;
you did not come from an adolescent, you once were an adolescent.

Consequently, each one of us has experienced these various developmental stages of life. None of these stages, however, imparted to us our humanity.

Beckwith describes the process from implantation through the first 30 days in the womb:

Within one week after conception, implantation occurs — the time at which the conceptus “nests” or implants in her mother’s uterus.

During this time, and possibly up to fourteen days after conception, a splitting of the conceptus may occur resulting in the creation of identical twins. In some instances the two concepti may recombine and become one conceptus. . . .

At about three weeks, a primitive heart muscle begins to pulsate.

Other organs begin to develop during the first month, such as a liver, primitive kidneys, a digestive tract, and a simple umbilical cord.

This developing body has a head and a developing face with primitive ears, mouth, and eyes, despite the fact that it is no larger than half the size of a pea. Toward the end of the first month (between 26 and 28 days) the arms and legs begin to appear as tiny buds.

A whole embryo is formed by the end of the first month.

From the eighteenth day after conception, substantial development of the brain and nervous system occurs. This is necessary because the nervous system integrates the action of all the other systems.

By the end of the twentieth day the foundation of the child’s brain, spinal cord, and entire nervous system will have been established.

By the sixth week, this system will have developed so well that it is controlling movements of the baby’s muscles, even though the woman may not be aware she is pregnant.

At thirty days the primary brain is seen.

By the thirty-third day the cerebral cortex, the part of the central nervous system which governs motor activity as well as intellect, may be seen.

Second Month

Despite its small size, the unborn child by the beginning of the second month looks distinctly “human” (although — as this article maintains — it is human from conception). At this point it is highly likely that the mother does not even know she is pregnant.

Brain waves can be detected in the unborn at about forty to forty-three days after conception.

During the second month, the eyes, ears, nose, toes, and fingers make their appearance; the skeleton develops; the heart beats; and the blood — with its own type — flows.

The unborn at this time has reflexes and her lips become sensitive to touch.

By the eighth week her own unique fingerprints start to form, along with the lines in her hands.

A vast majority of abortions are performed during this time, despite the scientific facts which clearly show that an individual human life is developing, as it would after birth, from infant to child to adolescent to adult.

Can the fetus feel pain at this stage? Beckwith answers:

In an important article, Professor John T. Noonan argues that it is reasonable to infer that toward the end of the second month of pregnancy the unborn has the ability to feel pain. It is crucial to remember that the end of the second month (7 to 8 1/2 weeks) is in the first trimester, a time at which a great majority of abortions are performed and at which the Supreme Court said a state may not prohibit abortions performed by a licensed practitioner. From the facts of brain and nerve development, the pained expressions on the faces of aborted fetuses, the known ability to experience other sensations at this time, and the current methods by which abortions are performed, Noonan concludes from his research that as soon as a pain mechanism is present in the fetus — possibly as early as day 56 — the methods used will cause pain. The pain is more substantial and lasts longer the later the abortion is. It is most severe and lasts the longest when the method is saline poisoning.

“Whatever the method used, the unborn are experiencing the greatest of bodily evils, the ending of their lives. They are undergoing the death agony. However inarticulate, however slight their cognitive powers, however rudimentary their sensations, they are sentient creatures undergoing the disintegration of their being and the termination of their vital capabilities. That experience is painful in itself.”

Third Month

Movement is what characterizes the third month of pregnancy.

Although she weighs only one ounce and is comparable in size to a goose egg, the unborn begins to swallow, squint, and swim, grasp with her hands, and move her tongue.

She also sucks her thumb.

Her organs undergo further development. The salivary glands, taste buds, and stomach digestive glands develop — as evidenced by her swallowing and utilization of the amniotic fluid.

She also begins to urinate.

Depending on the unborn’s sex, primitive sperm or eggs form.

Parental resemblance may already be seen in the unborn’s facial expressions.

Fourth Month

Growth is characteristic of the fourth month.

The weight of the unborn increases six times — to about one-half her birth weight.

Her height is between eight and ten inches long and she can hear her mother’s voice.

Fifth Month

In the fifth month of pregnancy the unborn becomes viable. That is, she now has the ability, under our current technological knowledge, to live outside her mother’s womb. Some babies have survived as early as twenty weeks.

The fifth month is also the time at which the mother begins to feel the unborn’s movements, although mothers have been known to feel stirrings earlier. This first movement was traditionally called quickening, the time at which some ancient, medieval, and common-law scholars thought the soul entered the body. Not having access to the biological facts we currently possess, they reasoned that prior to quickening it could not be proven that the unborn was “alive.” Current biology, by conclusively demonstrating that a biologically living human individual is present from conception, has decisively refuted this notion of “quickening,” just as current astronomy has refuted the geocentric solar system.

During the fifth month, the unborn’s hair, skin, and nails develop.

She can dream (rapid eye movement [REM] sleep) and cry (if air is present).

It is, however, perfectly legal under Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton to kill this unborn human being by abortion for any reason her mother so chooses.

Sixth through Ninth Months

In the remaining four months of pregnancy the unborn continues to develop.

The child’s chances of survival outside the womb increase as she draws closer to her expected birthday.

During this time she responds to sounds, her mother’s voice, pain, and the taste of substances placed in the amniotic fluid.

Some studies have shown that the child can actually learn before it is born.

The child is born approximately 40 weeks after conception.

Summary

Beckwith summarizes:

In summary, the pro-life advocate believes that full humanness begins at conception for at least four reasons, which were evident in the above presentation of fetal development:

At the moment of conception a separate unique human individual, with its own genetic code, comes into existence — needing only food, water, shelter, and oxygen in order to grow and develop.

Like the infant, the child, and the adolescent, the conceptus is a being who is in the process of becoming. She is not a becoming who is striving toward being. She is not a potential human life but a human life with great potential.

The conceptus is the sexual product of human parents, and whatever is the sexual product of members of a particular mammalian species, is itself a unique individual member of that species.

And the same being that begins as a zygote continues to birth and adulthood. There is no decisive break in the continuous development of the human entity from conception until death that would make this entity a different individual before birth. This is why it makes perfect sense for any one of us to say, “When I was conceived…”

You can read the whole piece, “Answering Arguments for Abortion Rights,” in four parts:

Part I. The Appeal to Pity
Part II. Arguments from Pity, Tolerance, and Ad Hominem
Part III. Is the Unborn Less Than Human?
Part IV. When Does a Human Become a Person?