Editor,
Monday’s article “Not all religious sects are anti-abortion” was a gross misrepresentation of the Christian faith. I am saddened that Frank Yates calls himself a Protestant minister when he clearly doesn’t understand the term. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a Protestant as “a member of any of several church denominations denying the universal authority of the pope and affirming the reformation principles of justification by faith alone, the priesthood of all believers and the primacy of the Bible as the only source of revealed truth.”
The Bible is very clear on abortion. It is not a “choice.” It is the termination of a human life. The choice comes prior to conception. SEX = BABY. If you want to have control over your own body, maintain abstinence or use birth control.
I’d also like to dispel the myth that abortion provides a woman with convenience, the absence of distress or her so-called happiness. Abortion is a major surgical procedure which can result in serious complications — it is not “safe” as we are led to believe. After a legal abortion, a woman faces increased possibility of future miscarriages, tubal pregnancies, premature births, sterility and severe and long-lasting emotional disturbances.
Yates also stated that “life begins when a fetus is able to live outside the womb.” From a biblical perspective this is totally false. Life begins at conception: Jeremiah 1:5 states, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.”
Melody Green and Last Day Ministries have a fantastic article called “Children … Things we Throw Away?” One paragraph of this document addresses the question, “When does life begin?” “Science tells us that when the 23 chromosomes of the sperm unite with the ovum’s 23 chromosomes, a new 46 chromosome cell is formed. When this process (fertilization) is complete, a new human being exists. This cell is a complete genetic package programmed for development into a mature adult. Nothing will be added except time and nutrition. It’s been medically proven that the baby’s heart starts beating from 14-28 days after conception (usually before the mother even knows she’s pregnant), and by the 30th day almost every organ has started to form! He moves his arms and legs by six weeks and by 43 days his brain waves can be read. By eight weeks the baby has his very own fingerprints, he can urinate, make a strong fist, and he can feel pain. Each stage of development from fertilization to old age is merely a maturing of what is entirely there at the start.”
Bottom line: Protestants acknowledge what the Bible and science teach. A “fetus” is a human being and abortion is the termination of that perfectly developing little life. Frank Yates, you have done Protestants a huge disfavor in so poorly representing the Bible. Please don’t call it an “unwanted pregnancy” either because there is an extreme shortage of newborn babies available for adoption. Whether or not you want your baby, that child is a wanted child.
Rebecca Miller
UNM student
