Sanctity of Life Sunday: Every Life Matters

By: Jillian Gellatly | Writer

January 31, 2018

On January 13, 1984, Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation designating January 22 as the first National Sanctity of Life Day.  This year many Americans across the country recognized this day on Sunday, January 21, as “Sanctity of Life Sunday.” 

As I sat in church listening to the pastor share with us the importance and significance of this day and what it means for us as not only Christians, but as members of the human race, I realized how passionate I am about letting my voice be heard when speaking and writing on this topic. This article is not about religious beliefs or teachings; it is strictly about the problems in society when facing the issue of abortion, and where humanity is truly at fault when it comes to the problem.

Dr. Seuss put it best in Horton Hears A Who when he used the line, “A person’s a person no matter how small.”The big problem with today’s society is where we see value.  Of course we value people more than most things if not all things in this world, but what many have a hard time with is what determines or defines a  human. Many make the argument that the unborn is not a person because they are so small, such as an embryo.  However, we can all learn from Dr. Seuss that size does not determine value.  

Even as small as an embryo, there is still a live human being growing and developing that deserves a life, a chance, and an opportunity in this world.  The physical appearance of someone should never determine value.  While a human is growing inside the womb, of course it doesn’t look like you or I do; however, you and I don’t look the same either.  Does that mean that one of us is of greater or lesser value than the other? Of course not.  While it may not always be as true as it should be, America is supposed to enforce equality, so why would we treat the  unborn unequal to the way we treat each other? Size can not be determinant of whether or not it should be kept, valued, or declared as human or non human.

Another common excuse to make abortion seem more acceptable to society is the unborn’s level of development.  Many take the stance that the unborn is not developed enough for abortion to be an issue, or for the unborn to be classified as a person.  However, many don’t consider the fact that development is continuous throughout the human life, and it begins at conception. Do people who make this argument realize that just three weeks after conception the baby has a heartbeat? Is that still too undeveloped to worry about ending that heartbeat? Just four weeks after conception, the baby develops a brain. From the moment of conception, development is occurring and whether you want to believe it or not, the unborn is a live human being just like you and I; therefore, abortion, or the killing of the unborn is a tragic thing that needs to be ended. The human brain isn’t even fully developed until around the age of 25. We are all still developing just as the unborn is. Level of development does not determine value.

Environment is another topic of discussion in this common debate.  The most common statement made is that it’s the woman’s body; therefore, she should be able to do whatever she wants with it.  While I don’t have a problem with this statement, I do have a problem with it when it involves another person.  The unborn is NOT part of the woman, it is separate. It is scientific fact that the unborn is separate from the woman by means of it having its own genetic make-up (DNA), its own organs, and its own body.  So, as people continue to make bold remarks about how women should be able to do whatever they want with their own bodies, let’s remind ourselves that the unborn is not part of the woman’s body.  Just as if a woman was doing something to her own body that was harming others around her. For example, if a woman was not covering parts of her body that should be covered in public, it would not be allowed and authority would in most cases act on it.  Abortion is no different.  Abortion is doing something to a woman’s body that is harming others. In fact, not only does it harm others, it kills others.  Innocent, living, human beings.  The baby that a woman carries is the farthest thing from being part of the woman’s body.

There are other concerns regarding environment when considering the morality of abortion.  When looking at it as a comparison it should become painfully obvious that society has the morals all backwards with the issue.  If a baby is five months old after being born and sees a doctor in a doctor’s office and the doctor ends the child’s life, it is murder, and it is an awful, devastating event.  But, if the same doctor in the same doctor’s office takes the life of an unborn baby, five months into the pregnancy, it is acceptable.  Our thought process as a society is so backwards that we actually have accepted the fact that this occurs everyday. There should really be no difference between a baby whose environment is the outside world and a baby whose environment is the womb for the time being.  Environment does not determine value.

Lastly, degree of dependency does not determine value either.  It would be absurd to see anyone take the life of a one year old child, yet a one year old is just as dependent upon his or her mother for survival and protection as an unborn child.  Americans today have increasingly become more dependent on their parents between the ages of 18-34.  We would not allow anyone to end the lives of these people based on their dependency on their parents even when they have reached an age that seems appropriate to end their dependency.  So, if we are not taking the lives of the 18-34-year-olds that are highly dependent on their mother’s, then why has it become socially acceptable to be taking the lives of the unborn  five months after conception based on his or her reliance on the mother, which may be no more demanding than the 18-year-old?  The degree of a person’s dependency does not determine value. 

I do not want to sit here silently and watch millions of innocent lives be taken anymore.  I understand that women are put in terrible situations when it comes to pregnancies, whether it be from rape, teen pregnancy, or others, but I also understand that the unborn babies that they carry are alive, are beautiful, and are members of the human race that have no voice to fight for their own lives yet are vulnerable to being ended. I am calling on society to make a change in our moral standards, to recognize that these wonderful human beings deserve a life, and to make an effort to offer more support and more options to the women that need it in order to decrease or eliminate abortions and the killing of such precious babies that are defenseless in the womb.  It is true that unborn babies are ALIVE from the moment of conception.  There is never a time from conception to birth that anything is not alive.  It is also true that the unborn is separate from the mother. Most importantly, it is 100% true that the unborn IS human.  The unborn is human from the point of conception to birth as well.  All of these facts are scientifically proven. They should be all a person that has any sense of humanity or morals needs to realize that abortion is a major issue in America, and needs to be solved. Every life matters.