“Follow the science.” Easy enough, right? This phrase has always served to point people to the truth of a matter. We have used it for years to help explain situations or phenomena that may not have been so clear-cut. However, in recent years, it has become less of a means to point people to truth and more of a way to further a personal or even political agenda.
The phrase is becoming increasingly popular. Some days you can find it trending on Twitter, and we’ve seen it crop up this past year as we’ve dealt with the coronavirus outbreak.
But although our government may want to follow the science when it comes to COVID-19, it seems that this phrase is only applied when it is convenient. When it comes to matters like abortion, gender identification and the created order, suddenly science is nowhere to be found.
But science leans heavily in favor of God’s revealed truth on these issues. For example, those who advocate for abortion often refer to preborn children simply as a fetus, an embryo or a “glob of tissue.” However, if we follow the science, we see that when a human sperm fertilizes an egg, the result is the development of another human. This starts with a one-cell organism that grows and develops for approximately 40 weeks to become a full-term infant inside the womb. The psalmist recognized this when he said, “You knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). What started as one cell becomes trillions, and once fully grown, that fetus is delivered and brought into the world—revealing a living, breathing child. While several stages and factors occur during the 40 weeks of gestation, it is safe to say that the beginning of this process is the beginning of life itself. Abortion stops that process. For years our culture has ignored or dismissed science by performing abortions.
Yet, to cite a high-profile example, inmate Scott Peterson is on death row for murdering his pregnant wife and the baby in her womb. This is a prime example of the “abortion distortion”—double-minded, hypocritical thinking that wants to have things both ways. The value of the preborn human is only recognized when it is convenient for a particular situation. But the fact remains: If we believe killing a human being is wrong, then abortion is wrong.
The Hippocratic Oath, written by the Greek physician almost 2,500 years ago, includes a long-held corollary in the phrase primum non nocere, which means, “first, do no harm.”
Abortion always causes harm. It kills the baby, and the mother can suffer from a host of complications, physically and psychologically: injury to the uterus, hemorrhage, infertility, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, suicide and possibly death, to name a few. Women never forget their abortion. It’s a horrific assault. Abortion violates simple precepts of human biology. It’s not natural or normal for a woman to want to harm her child. It’s as simple as that.
The chaos, rebellion, anarchy, and moral and ethical decline we’re experiencing are associated symptoms of our death culture. What we are witnessing is not political or social, it’s spiritual. Satan is simply doing his routine acts of stealing, killing and destroying. And let me add a note about the disparity of abortion among black women. Our spiritual enemy, with the abortion industry at his disposal, is especially destructive in minority communities. African Americans make up only 13% of the U.S. population, but 39% of abortions involve black women.
Abortion advocates would have us believe that abortion is sometimes medically necessary. We hear this repeated so often it’s treated as irrefutable. There are clinical situations when a mother has a disease that may threaten her life; for example, toxemia/preeclampsia. The only cure for this problem is delivery of the baby. However, the goal is to wait long enough for the baby to mature to a gestational age at which he or she has a reasonable chance for survival. This is about 24 weeks. If a baby is less than viable age, and the mother’s disease cannot be controlled and her life is threatened, an early delivery is performed to save the mother’s life and hopefully the child’s life also. The child’s life may be lost in a premature or early delivery like this, but there is no intent to kill. The key word is intent—which should always be to preserve life.
Unfortunately, I performed abortions before Jesus saved me. Not only did I kill babies and harm mothers, I desensitized and dehumanized them. And I, too, became desensitized and dehumanized.
As an abortionist, my entire psyche and rationale became corrupted. When I was first exposed to abortion, there was a certain “cerebral queasiness” or hesitation, but that was quickly eroded. It’s easy to become engulfed and assimilated into the death culture. What was once unthinkable and detestable becomes normal and commonplace.
Abortion is a tangled web of spiritual, scientific, medical and political nuances, but the bottom line is spiritual.
We, the church, hold the ultimate key. The Bible says, “Judgment begins in the house of God” (Cf. 1 Peter 4:17). Second Chronicles 7:14 outlines our solution. It would be in humanity’s best interest that we “turn from our wicked ways,” and that we, and not He, stop this holocaust.
Yes, life begins at conception. Our DNA is set at conception; and that DNA, along with instructions for every part of who we are, also assigns us a given sex—male or female. Genesis 1:27 says, “In the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
The cultural aberration of transgenderism is covered in the article on page 24, but as a medical doctor, let me say that one’s given sex cannot be changed, no matter how much one gender tries to adhere to the other’s looks and norms. This should be medical malpractice; it does not “follow the science.”
There are other significant life-threatening and psychological factors of note. Transgender individuals experience about three times the incidence of anxiety and depression when compared to their nontransgender counterparts. In addition, a large number of them later reassign to their birth gender.
We can’t change who we are. This is a betrayal of the public’s trust in the medical profession. We didn’t “follow the science.” We endorsed the thinking that a person can change their gender by simply looking and dressing like the desired gender.
It is also a slap in the face to the Father, who created us in His image. We honor God when we believe in Him and the science He so painstakingly provided for us in order to understand this life, and when we use what He has given us to further His Kingdom. ©2021 Dr. Haywood Robinson
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version.
Dr. Haywood Robinson is a former abortionist who is now a pro-life advocate. He is the director of medical affairs and education for “40 Days for Life.”