Abortion and Atheism

Congratulations everyone thanks to the murder of George Tiller abortion is back in the news again!

I just finished watching a 2000 documentary on pro-life extremists called 'Soldiers in the Army of God' produced by HBO. The movie follows several individuals from a extremist pro-life group of the same name. One of the men, Paul Hill, was on death row for killing an 'abortionist' during the time of the shooting of the film (he was executed in 2003). One part of the movie shows a convention that the SitAoG held which featured small clips from people who had spent time in jail for bombing abortion clinics (or for a similar crime). At one point one of the people the movie focused around, Jonathan O'Toole, even referred to these as 'acts of terrorism' which he said was justifiable for the greater good.

After watching this movie I couldn't help but think: where is the biblical justification for the belief that life begins at conception? After a little research on some pro-life sites I couldn't find any. Not one explicit quote that even implies that life begins at conception. Obviously there are tons of bible quotes that condemn murder (and a couple that sanction it), but none that explicitly state that a fetus is a human being. This shouldn't be surprising; obviously the bible was written long before our modern understanding of biological conception, ergo they had nothing to say about 'when' we become human beings.

This got me thinking what is the impetus behind this movement? It seems as if there is this religiously motivated grassroots movement against abortion with nothing from the Bible that explicitly supports their position. You see there are plenty of biblical quotes that condemn murder of a human being (and a few that sanction them), but the idea that a fetus is a human being is qualified as a human being does not appear anywhere in there.

Arguments against abortion aren't purely Religious; it does not require a religious conviction to believe that a fetus is a human being and should not be aborted; this is something that is left entirely up to the individual. It is entirely justifiable (perhaps it is better to say non-contradictory) to be a pro-choice Christian because the Bible does not specifically state when life begins (be it at conception or birth), and it is entirely justifiable to be a pro-life Christian for the same reasons.

My point is that the abortion issue at heart really isn't a religious issue at all, but up to each individual's idea of when life begins; this is an issue which one cannot seek guidance from the Bible. Yet Christians from both sides quote the bible to support their own prejudices and feel that they are Biblically justified in their position because of these passages. People do not realize that they have chosen when life begins and then used these quotes to support that choice, they want to make it appear the other way around.

Thanks to Jacob Fortin at The Good Atheist who showed me the link to the youtube video (you can find it here).