Pregnancy and a Consistent Ethic of Life

SEBTS Ph.D. student, Nathan Finn, wrote an interesting article on Christian parents having a consistent ethic of life. He notes that when a Christian couple learns of their pregnancy, they have a decision to make: (a) tell everyone they know about the pregnancy immediately, or (b) wait until the 'risky' first trimester is over so that if the child does die in the first 12 weeks of being in utero, the couple will not have to tell everyone they have previously told about the death of their unborn child.

Finn advocates, "If life begins at conception, then we are parents as soon as a child is present in the womb. Birth obviously changes many things, but it does not increase the “aliveness” of the child. If life begins at conception, then miscarriage is death, and like all other human death, it should be mourned over and recognized as evidence of the fall. Should miscarriage happen, we would want the body of Christ to grieve with us just as if we had lost a toddler or a teenager.

If life begins at conception, then when we pray for our baby, we are not praying for our future child. We may be praying for the future birth of our now-living child, but the baby is just as much alive and a part of our lives as if he or she were currently in Leah’s arms.

If life begins at conception, then the process of raising our child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord has already begun, even if just in the form of praying for the baby and maintaining godly personal and family disciplines that the baby will one day be included in and taught to apply personally.

If we as Christians truly believe that all of human life is sacred, then we need to quit acting like the world when we talk about pregnancy. That fetus is a baby is a child is a person who is created in the image of God. While being sensitive to the innumerable people who have suffered tragedy during pregnancy, we need to encourage each other to publicly rejoice in new life as soon as we are aware of it. We need to jettison all future tense language when referring to our status as parents, because if there is life in the womb, then we are parents in the present."

I think Finn makes a good point when he mentions that it is beneficial to have people praying for the health of the baby. My wife and I found out a month before the Finns of her pregnancy and we told family and close friends because we wanted them praying for us and the baby. Therefore, if something happens to the baby in utero, then our Christian brothers and sisters can be there for us and help us mourn and "weep with those that weep" (Rom. 12)