An unborn child who dies in the womb has an eternal future of peace, just as does a child who dies at or soon after birth. Of a child who dies within the womb, Job said in his complaint, why was he not: as a hidden untimely birth . . . as infants which never saw light . . . there the weary be at rest. (Job 3:16,17) Rest implies the continuance of life. Of children who die at birth, Job said: why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? . . . for now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest. (Job 3:11-13) And of the eternal future of a child who died a week after birth, David said: I shall go to him. (2 Sam 12:23) When David died, he saw his child in Paradise. (God can cause these children to be born again, or to hear the gospel in Paradise.)
The existence of the spirit, which holds the reigns of the heart, in the womb, is evident from Psalm 139:13 where David says to God: thou hast possessed my reigns: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. When Elizabeth, the cousin of the virgin Mary, was six months pregnant with John the Baptist: it came to pass, that, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth . . . said . . . the babe leaped in my womb for joy. (Luke 1:41-44) John was: filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. (Luke 11:5)
So the baby within the womb is a living human being with a spirit. It is the gift of the spirit that defines the beginning of life. But when is the spirit given? When deciding this, it is better to err on the side of caution than to recklessly take away what might be life by abortion. I believe the mystery is solved in Psalm 139 which describes the beginning of life and the state of the unborn baby at this stage.
Life does not wait for consciousness, to begin. David says: I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:15,16)
The evidence that these Scriptures describe the beginning of life is two fold. Firstly, David says that, at this time he was wrought: in the lowest parts of the earth. But what is made in the lowest parts of the earth at this stage. The baby’s body is made in the womb, so this must be speaking of the spirit of the baby. (After Christ’s death, His Spirit: descended first into the lower parts of the earth. (Eph 4:9) This place, called Sheol in Hebrew, is where the spirits of all the righteous dead waited in Paradise for their resurrection, before the atonement was made.) It seems that the spirit also begins here, and is united with the body at this time. The spirit comes not from the parents, but directly: from God who gave it. (Eccl 12:7)
Secondly, David's destiny was mapped out at this time. He says: in thy book all my members were written. (Some translations say all my days were written.) By by either translation David's destiny was determined then. So we may take it that these two verses describe the beginning of life. So when is this? What is the stage of development at this time?
There are two clues. Firstly, David says that at this stage he was wrought. Regarding the word translated wrought, embroided is the invariable meaning. It is a beautiful expression for the complicated tissue of the human frame (Alexander). It is toward the end of the third week, and soon after, that the major organ systems: the nervous, digestive and circulatory, begin to form. If this must commence to be wrought, the spirit must at this stage be in the depths of the earth. If life does not begin until then, life cannot begin at least three weeks after fertilization.
The second clue to the time of the giving of the spirit is that this is the time of unperfect substance. The Hebrew word for ‘unperfect substance’ is derived from a verb meaning to roll up and is used of unformed matter, the parts of which are not yet unfolden and developed (Gesenius). This is the shape of a baby during its first few weeks, before major development begins. I have seen a diagram of a baby in the womb at four weeks, and it seems to me by this stage, to have too much definition to be called unformed substance. So by simple logic, the gift of the spirit must be before the end of the fourth week, and this is when life begins
So life begins, and the spirit is given between three weeks and four weeks after fertilisation.
There is another logical reason to place the commencement of life, some weeks after fertilization, and this is that more than half of fertilized eggs die before implantation. But of the embryos remaining viable two weeks after fertilization the further loss is only a quarter.
Now if we believe that life begins soon after three weeks, we should err on the side of caution and not allow any termination after three weeks after fertilization. This effectively means no abortion, although devices to stop implantation may be tolerable. The morning after pill, if used on this basis is allowable. Also allowable is most stem cell research which is conducted before this stage of development.
Both Hebrew and Greek do not have a special word, like embryo, or foetus, to describe the unborn child. The same word is used for a baby within the womb from the time of conception, as is used for a newly born child. This is significant because God created both these languages to contain His word. Surely if the unborn child was not a spiritual being with its own life, God would have told us.
Women having abortions often have counselling because of the guilt they feel. This guilt is God’s way of telling them that they have killed. The excuse that the unborn child is only a part of their body, that they have the right to do with as they wish, is not valid, even on a biological basis. The baby is genetically different to the woman as it derives half its DNA from the mother and half from the father.
Abortion, after the spirit is given, is murder, and that the baby is not conscious of what is happening, justifies it no more than killing a man who is asleep. Murder is a crime, not because of the victim’s past or present state, but because it destroys their future potential.