Often, when those who consider themselves pro-life speak of the atrocities of abortion, their focus can be on late-term abortions. We speak of the age of viability (around 24 weeks), and it moves people’s hearts to realize a preborn baby’s life is taken at a stage they can survive outside of the womb.
It is interesting to note that Americans are about twice as likely to say abortion should be illegal at 24 weeks. (1) This belief comes from those on both sides of the issue.
Here is the slippery slope … culture creates what they believe is acceptable as to when in the pregnancy abortion is justifiable. This line in the sand is relative to most people. The question that needs to be asked is, “When is the preborn baby a human life?”
Biologists overwhelmingly agree that life begins at conception. The Bible, of course, has revealed this before we even heard from the biologists. The problem when the pro-life community focuses on the horrors of second and third trimester abortions, the first trimester abortions may be forgotten or pushed aside.
In reality, the value of the preborn life is the same whether it’s day one or at delivery. Statistics reveal that 93% of all abortions occur in the first trimester (at or before 13 weeks), and another 6% are between weeks 14 and 20. In culmination, 99% of all abortions happen before the age of viability. (2)
This reveals the importance of advocating for life at every stage of development. An abortion during the earlier weeks of pregnancy is just as tragic as later-term abortions.
I’ll never forget the woman who fell in my arms and sobbed uncontrollably with regret the day after her 6-week abortion. She realized what she had done and desperately wanted to go back and keep her baby. Abortion harms women at every stage of the baby’s development. The preborn baby’s life has value at every stage and is worthy of protection.
Our focus should be to offer support, both tangibly and emotionally, to women who are struggling with their pregnancy and to express the value and worth of humanity from conception to natural death.
(1) https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/05/06/americas-abortion-quandary/
(2) https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/03/25/what-the-data-says-about-abortion-in-the-us/#when-during-pregnancy-do-most-abortions-occur
