Rockets, Babies, and Archers

I was having a discussion with someone on kiwiblog about abortion and one of the many reasons I think it is wrong, so I thought I would expound here some more.

One of the arguments put forth by those who argue the case for abortion is that if the abortion is done early enough, then the "cells" are so small that they won't feel any pain so they can be stamped out with little effect on the conscience; also, they say, it isn't even a baby yet. It makes abortion proponents feel better if they can convince themselves that there is some arbitrary point in the life of the baby when it is suddenly a 'baby' but before that arbitrary point that it's OK to end it's life.

I just don't follow that reasoning. If there is any 'instance' when the life of a baby begins, surely it is when the egg and the sperm meet — how can it be any place else? To me, it doesn't matter where along the lifeline of a being you kill it: you're still killing it; if you kill the tadpole, you're killing the frog it will become. If you leave those growing "cells" alone – if you don't interfere with them – then they will become a person.

In this way, the word "abortion" is something of a misnomer. When NASA aborts a rocket launch the countdown is stopped, the astronauts get out and the rocket doesn’t leave. If we’re talking about sex, a real “abortion” would be when two people who were going to have sex decide not to do it; once they do have sex and the egg and sperm are joined, the question then becomes whether to kill or not to kill. The ‘rocket’ of that new person’s life has been launched and the only way to stop it now is to shoot it down. It doesn't make any difference whether the rocket is shot down 10 seconds after takeoff or halfway to the moon, you are still destroying it and all the life on board.

Again, the only real "abortion" of a baby in terms of sex is not to have sex.

If we look at the Bible, God has many of these 'rockets' standing by on the launchpad ready to go.

It says in Psalms 139 -

When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother’s womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there -you saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in your book, before any of them ever began

In Isaiah -

Before I was born, the LORD chose me and appointed me to be his servant

In Jeremiah -

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart

The image in this post is by Kahlil Gibran from his book The Prophet in which he depicts an archer (God) with the man and wife as the bow from which new life is brought forth (see image up top). Gibran writes -

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and he bends you with His might, that his arrows might go swift and far.

Only God can create life, and he uses man and woman to bring it forth. No one has the right to end it except for God.