ETHIX Quotes

“Imagine you are a pregnant young woman with tuberculosis. The father of your unborn child is a short-tempered alcoholic with syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease. You have already had five kids. One is blind, another died young, and a third is deaf and unable to speak. The fourth has tuberculosis—the same disease you have. What would you do in this situation? Should you consider abortion? If you chose to have the abortion, you would have ended a valuable human being—regardless of the possible difficulties it may have brought you. Fortunately, the young woman who was really in this dilemma chose life. Otherwise we would never have heard the Fifth Symphony by Beethoven, for this young woman was his mother.”
― Sean McDowell, ETHIX: Being Bold in a Whatever World

“The main reason Scripture does not directly address the issue of abortion is that abortion was so unimaginable to an Israelite woman it was not even necessary to mention it in the legal code. For one thing, children were considered a blessing from God (Ps. 127:3). Second, God is the sovereign ruler over conception in the womb (Gen. 29:33; 1 Sam. 1:19–20). And third, it was viewed as a curse to remain childless (Deut. 25:6). The Bible is silent about abortion because it was unthinkable in the Hebrew mind.”
― Sean McDowell, ETHIX: Being Bold in a Whatever World

“Here's one reason to believe that sentience isn't what makes us human: this confuses the feeling of harm with the reality of harm. It is simply mistaken to necessarily associate the feeling of pain with the actuality of harm. For example, even if I could not feel pain in my legs from paralysis, I am still harmed if someone cuts off my leg. There are also many people who can't feel pain, but are nonetheless valuable. For example, those under general anesthetic, those in a reversible coma, and people suffering from leprosy often cannot feel pain, yet they are nonetheless valuable human beings. Our ability to feel pain is not what gives us value.”
― Sean McDowell, ETHIX: Being Bold in a Whatever World