The Canadian Reformed Church of Aldergrove

Fetus or Baby?

In one sense this question is trivial for the answer can be: it’s both! The unborn human offspring in a mother’s womb can rightly be referred to as a “fetus” (which is simply old Latin for, “offspring”). But it can also rightly be called a “baby,” for it is at the same time an unborn child.

The question becomes a real issue with serious consequences, however, when the term “fetus” is deliberately substituted for “baby.” For some, the group of cells formed from the fertilization of a female egg by a male sperm is not yet fully human and cannot be called “baby.” To keep it impersonal, distant, and clinical they prefer to describe this bunch of cells as a “fetus.” For them it is not human life but merely an unfeeling, unknowing collection of tissue. Thinking this way makes it much easier on the conscience in case one wishes to terminate the pregnancy. One is not killing a “baby” (this is inhuman!) but one is cleansing the womb of a pre-human, unliving group of cells – a “fetus.”

How we use terms and vocabulary makes a difference in how we understand what is taking place in the womb. Someone will describe the ending of a pregnancy as “abortion” while others speak of it as “murder.” People can speak openly about aborting a fetus but the same people recoil at the suggestion of murdering a baby. Abortion itself makes few headlines anymore. But when Michael Jackson dangles a baby over a balcony, then papers the world-round seize upon it and paint him as sadistic and crazy. What does the Bible say about such things?

The Bible consistently refers to unborn offspring as “children,” regardless of the stage of pregnancy. David is able to speak of himself as a distinct human being beginning already at the time of conception, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”¹ Before John the Baptist was born he is described as a baby with feelings, “When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”² Even the Lord Jesus is called a “child” inside of Mary, “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.”³

Even more significantly, the mysterious work of forming life in a mother’s womb is credited fully to God. David again describes the formation not of an impersonal fetus but of himself, a human being, as God’s special handiwork, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”⁴ The LORD Himself says the same of Jeremiah the prophet, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”⁵

The clear teaching of Scripture is that what is conceived in the womb of a mother is fully a human child, a baby, created by God. Dismissing it as a fetus is only a hollow deception. Does it not make sense even logically? If a newborn baby is considered fully human, what was he the day before? And the day before that, all the way back to conception? If this group of cells at the end of pregnancy is a baby, how can it not be considered a baby at the beginning?

When this is clearly understood, then it becomes easy to see how abortion is in fact murder in God’s eyes. Dangling a baby over a balcony is foolhardy and wrong for it endangers human life. Yet abortion is worse, for it brings a baby’s life to a rapid and merciless end. The sixth commandment, “You shall not murder”⁶ ensures that abortion is a grievous sin before the Lord. We are called to love our fellow man, to protect his life and most surely this begins with our own offspring.

Let me hasten to add for those who have committed this sin: there is also forgiveness for murder, even the murder of babies. The good news of Jesus Christ is that for those who confess their sin to God in true repentance and seek forgiveness, they will be forgiven. That’s what Christ died for. And that’s what we’re all about in the Canadian Reformed Church – forgiven sinners worshiping God in thankfulness for His saving grace in Christ – won’t you join us?

Biblical quotations on this page are from: 1) Psalm 51:5; 2) Luke 1:41; 3) Matthew 1:18; 4) Psalm 139:13,14; 5) Jeremiah 1:5; 6) Exodus 20:13
All Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version (NIV)

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Questions and Answers:

1. How shall we liive?
2. Rebel or Respect?
3. Dare to Discipline?
4. Fetus or Baby?
5. Death Penalty?
6. Should Sex be Free ?
7. Same-Sex Marriage?
8. Christian Divorce?
9. Roll the Dice?
10. White Lies?
11. What is Truth?
12. How is Your Heart?

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