Life Begins At Fertilization And Scripture Says Why

Abortion is not just a political headline, it is a discipleship test for parents. If you have ever wondered when to bring it up with your kids, what to say without panicking, or how to respond when the culture sounds more confident than the church, this conversation gives you a path forward.

We start with the why: the cultural reality that younger generations are being catechized fast, and families need a true reference point for moral direction. Then we build that foundation from Scripture, focusing on the image of God, God’s heart for the vulnerable, and our call to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. David is joined by his daughter Autumn, a biology student and former Creation Museum speaker, to connect biblical conviction with real-world clarity.

From there we get practical and specific. We define abortion plainly, explain why “pro-life” is bigger than one issue, and walk through embryology and the claim that life begins at fertilization. Autumn also shares a simple framework you can remember, SLED (Size, Level of development, Environment, Degree of dependency), to show why the differences between born and unborn humans do not erase a person’s right to life. Finally, we address common pro-choice objections with compassion and logic, including “potential life,” financial pressure, “safe and legal,” “my body, my choice,” and the heartbreak of rape or incest, while pointing to the church’s role in tangible care and the hope of the gospel.

If you want biblical counsel you can actually use in Christian parenting and family conversations about the sanctity of human life, listen now, subscribe for more, share this with another parent, and leave a review with the hardest question you want answered next.

Transcript

Why This Topic Matters Now

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Vows to Keep Radio with David and Tracy Sellers. The mission of Vows to Keep is to help couples develop a biblically healthy marriage through the application of God's Word and a deeper relationship with Him. They desire to help you and your spouse grow closer to each other and closer to the heart of God's design for your marriage. Now, here's David and Tracy with today's broadcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

As fathers were called to spiritually lead our family, especially our kids, and culturally, that's hard to do. 77% of the 18 to 29-year-olds voted November of 2023 to amend the Ohio Constitution to support abortion. The only age bracket that the majority voted pro-life was those in the 65 and above category. So let's jump into the topic of abortion today on Vows to Keep Radio, the show where you get sound biblical counsel that you can apply immediately to your marriage. We're your hosts, David and Tracy Sellers of Vows to Keep. We're biblical marriage counselors, authors, teachers, podcast hosts, radio hosts, and conference speakers. If you want to know how to spiritually lead your family through the tough topics like abortion, you're definitely in the right place. Today I'm honored to have my daughter Autumn in the studio with me.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Hi guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

And uh and unfortunately, Tracy isn't able to be a part of today's broadcast, but Autumn, the summer of 2023, took a job working at the Creation Museum, and she was one of their speakers, speaking specifically on the topic of abortion, a very important topic in our culture today. She's in the class of 2024 at the Cedarville University with a bachelor's degree in biology, with minors in Bible, and another minor degree in chemistry. Now it's been said that we have made sexual liberty such an idol we're willing to sacrifice our children to get it. It is crazy, but killing unborn babies seems wrong to so many people, and yet for so many of us, it's not that obvious. In fact, I find myself getting asked by dads biblically, how do I unpack this? How do I prepare my kids for the generation they're about to step into? And when do I actually have this conversation with them? Because I feel like when they're little, we don't want to talk about tough topics like this, but by the time they're in their teenage years, honestly, the culture has stacked so much against them. So, Autumn, how do we biblically unpack this conversation about abortion?

SPEAKER_02 2:38

I want you guys to imagine you're in a room that is full of people, and the speaker on the stage says, I want everybody to close your eyes, and you close your eyes, and the speaker says, I want you to point to where you think is north, and you point in where direction where you think is north, and everybody opens their eyes. Everybody's pointing in a million different directions. I've been in a room where they've done this. If we have no reference point, we're gonna have a different opinion what the right direction on a given topic may be. If someone was raised in a home where uh God was not mentioned, they were raised with different ideals and different standards, and so they're gonna view any issue, including abortion, a certain way. If we understand that God's word is our lens of how we see the world, then we're gonna view this issue and with the Bible's guidance and authority. I want to teach you guys how to know and to teach others, including your kids, how to view the world with God's point of view, with God's word as the foundation. Now, when I think about being pro-life and why we are pro-life, the first verse that comes to my mind is in Proverbs. Proverbs 31, 8 through 9 says this open your mouth for the mute and for the rights of those who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defending the rights of the poor and needy. Why does the Bible ask us to defend the rights of the poor and needy? It's actually because all human beings are made in the image of God. Genesis 127 tells us so God made man in his own image, in the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. Abortion isn't wrong because we don't like it or because we think it should be wrong. No, it's be it's wrong because it kills an image bearer of God, an unborn child. No matter who you are and what stage of life you're in, God has made all of us in his image, and this includes the unborn. When we talk about caring for the vulnerable, there's a few other verses we should talk about to lay that foundation. One of them is in James. James 1 27 says this religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Isaiah 1.17 says this learn to do good, to seek justice, correct oppression, and bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Now, in the time that these words were written, the orphans and widows were the ones who were the most vulnerable in society. They were taken advantage of the most by the wicked. And so the righteous were called to be the voice for the voiceless, because they were the only ones who would. A wicked person wasn't going to speak up for those who were being taken advantage of. In today's world, we should ask ourselves: who falls into this orphan and widow category? I believe it is the unborn, the orphan and abandoned kids around the world, kids in the foster care system, the disabled, the homeless, victims of slavery and trafficking, uh, struggling moms and families, etc. All these who need us, the Christians, to speak up for them, we are called to be their voice and to speak for justice for them.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

It makes sense what you're saying. Um, but honestly, it's very intimidating not to stop the conversation right there. I mean, this is not easy stuff to speak about in this world. I think when we find someone who differs with our point of view, usually what we do as Christians is shut down. And what you're saying is that's not a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Exactly. Yeah. It's really important that we know how to defend this and to speak life to other people. Some of you guys are mothers and fathers of teenagers or even of young children. You want to be able to know what is the culture telling my kids, and how can I speak the truth and life to my kids from God's word? I want you guys to know how to empower your kids and your grandkids to know what they believe and to defend God's word correctly.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

So today, Autumn, as I understand it, we're gonna really unpack what does the scripture say and how does that actually align with science? How is that supported by science? Then we're gonna talk about things that that you're gonna hear from someone who believes that abortion is okay, maybe they're considering an abortion, and and how do we address those objections?

Defining Abortion And Pro-Life

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Let's talk about the groundwork. First of all, I'm gonna define some terms, just so we're all on the same page. Abortion is the killing of an innocent human being in the womb, the moment of fertilization all the way until birth. That's by any means surgical abortion or a chemical abortion or the abortion pill at any stage of development, from a single cell all the way till birth. So that means abortion is not simply just terminating a pregnancy or removing the uterus tissue. Abortion is not health care because healthcare should save people, not kill them. Now, when I say life, I mean all human beings, regardless of age, status, or anything, from the womb to the tomb. Which means when we say that we're pro-life, not only are we anti-death and anti-abortion, but we also are supportive of all stages of life. This is really important because we don't just care about the baby until the baby is born. Prolifers can be accused of only caring about fetuses or not caring about the mom, but this really isn't true. Christians should love all humans. Now, when I say pro-choice, I mean pro-abortion. Prolifers are pro-choice, if you will, about a lot of things. A woman should be able to choose where she lives, who she marries, where she works, but she should never be allowed to choose to kill anyone, especially her own child. When someone says they are pro-choice, they mean they are pro-abortion. We know from the science of embryology that life begins the moment the egg from mom is fertilized by the sperm from dad. At that moment, a new individual exists. And at fertilization, that zygote has everything it needs to be fully human, including all of the genetic information he or she will ever have. An adult human being is about 40 trillion cells, but they all came from this one cell at that moment of fertilization. Which means when we ask ourselves what is actually in the womb, we can say with certainty it is a human being, a new individual total totally separate from the mom. The baby's not a tumor, not an invader, and not a parasite, even though you will hear those words used. In fact, the mom's body is designed in a way so she can carry that baby all the way to term. Her body recognizes that it's not her tissue, but it does not reject that tissue like it would an implanted organ, for example. What we know from embryology actually supports what we already knew to be true from the Bible. The Bible tells us about the beginning of life. For example, in Psalm 139.13, David is speaking to God. He says, You knitted me together in my mother's womb. In Jeremiah 1, 5, God says to Jeremiah, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. In Luke 1, Elizabeth says to Mary, For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb let for joy. Notice in these verses, the people that are still being formed in their mom's womb, they are still themselves. They're not a part of their mom, they're not a blob of tissue, they're not who they will become later. They are who they are. There's two ways to look at value. There's the functional view and there's the substance view, depending on your world view. Don't be scared by the terminology, just know the concept. The functional view says you have value as long as you are functional. If I have a pen or a phone, as long as I can write with that pen, if I can call someone on my phone, it works, so it's useful. As soon as my pen runs out of ink, I'm gonna throw it away. Its value is only based on its function. But a human being is different. A human being's value is based not on what they do, but what they are, their substance. Humans are made in the image of God, which means they are valuable no matter what else. Being human is enough. Let's say there is a woman who is paralyzed, she's in a wheelchair, she can never walk again, she has to have other people help her to do everything, versus her grandson, who is a big, strong young man. Society might tell us that this man has more value than this woman because he's younger, he's stronger. But we know that they both have the same value because their value is not based on what they can do, but who they are, and they're both human beings that are loved by God.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

So that begs a question: what's the difference between the born and the unborn? Using your example, if it's if it's not just their value to society, what's that difference that people use to justify the killing of the unborn?

SLED And The Unborn’s Rights

SPEAKER_02 11:30

There's actually a fancy acronym we can use to remember the main difference is between the born and the unborn, and it is the acronym SLED. I'll tell you what those mean. S in SLED stands for size, L is level of development, E is environment, and D is degree of dependency.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

So we're talking about the kid's toy you used to get on when you were small. A sled. A sled. All right, perfect.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Those four differences in sled size, level development, environment, and degree of dependency, those are the only differences between the born and the unborn. As we're gonna see, none of these differences actually justify killing an innocent human being. Let's talk about each one. The first one in sled is size, and it is true. The baby is developing, and so the baby is smaller than most born people. However, what does size have to do with someone's value or rights? Think about it this way. Even if a pro-choicer tells you, like, yeah, zygote is really small or an embryo is a couple only a few cells, how can that be a human being? Think about it. That's exactly what a human being should look like at that stage of life. Our size has nothing to do with our humanity. Men are generally larger than women, and a child is generally smaller than an adult. But do we ever say that men have more value or that adults have more value? Of course not. They have the same value, their size has nothing to do with it. The next part of SLED is L, level development. And it is true the baby is at a different stage of development than a born person. They're still developing in the mom's womb. But think about it this way: development continues from fertilization all the way until death. So why should any one stage of development be better or give someone more value than another? If we have a toddler, a toddler is learning to walk, learning to talk, learning to feed themselves without making a mess, they're still developing. If we have a teenager or a young adult like myself, their brain is still developing, they're still learning how to think, how to learn, all of that. And all of us will eventually develop into a senior or an adult. The question remains does being in a certain stage of life invalidate your right to life? I can't I can't justify that biblically. There's no place in the Bible that talks about that.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

The next part of Sled is E environment. And it is true, the baby is inside of another person, his or her mother. It's a unique environment. However, does one's environment determine their value? Let's say I am gonna go explore the world. I go fly to India for vacation. Adios, see you guys. If I go halfway across the world, am I still myself?

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Yeah, I'm still me. I just went somewhere else. So the question is asked then, if I can fly halfway across the world and still be who I am, then why does the trip down the birth canal, which is only a couple of inches, change a baby from not having life to having life? That doesn't logically follow. The last part of Sled is D, degree of dependency, and it is true a baby is dependent on his or her mother in a very symbiotic way. But does one's degree of dependency have any bearing on their right to life? Any of you who are parents know that when the baby is born, their dependency on their mom does not decrease that much. The baby is still very much needing a parent's love and support and care until they move out of their house. This dependency on their parents doesn't mean that their right to life is or should be any less. I have a cousin whose name is Dawson, and Dawson was born at a pretty early stage. He was about 24 weeks. He weighed around a pound when he was born, and his chance of survival was pretty low. He did survive, thanks the Lord for modern tech modern technology. He is now 25 years old. He's quite dependent on modern medicine, on his family, and other people to keep him alive. But does this mean that he has less value because of his dependency? Well, of course not. He still has value because he's still made in the image of God. His disabilities don't change the fact that he is loved by God. A lot of people are dependent on medicine in a less extreme way. Um, some people have diabetes and need insulin, some people have heart medication or whatever it may be. We never look at those people, we never say to them, you have less value than I do because you depend on fill in the blank. So one more time to recap. In Sled, S stands for size, L is level development, E is environment, D is degree of dependency. Again, these four differences have no bearing on one's right to life. Even though the unborn is different from the born, they still have the same rights because they're both made in the image of God.

Answering Common Pro-Choice Objections

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Well, that makes a lot of sense, Autumn. So there's a lot of common objections that people have, and I feel like it would be um helpful to those listening for us to kind of talk about some of those. The first one that I've heard more than one time from someone who who is asking, I think, really good, fair questions is this one. Hey, that that baby, it's like a potential life. Where is the mom? That's actual life. That is here and now and guaranteed.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah, it's an interesting thought, but we have to ask ourselves what first of all the Bible says. And the Bible tells us that you are a human being with rights from the very start. And actually, science supports what Bible what what the Bible tells us. Well, what we know from from embryology is that that's not a potential life, that is an actual life in the womb. Remember, Sled? Sled tells us that there's no true difference between the mom and the baby. Even though the baby is a little bit smaller in a different environment and is less developed, that does not mean that is potential life. The baby is actually alive. Now you're gonna hear this question and you're gonna hear the word fetus. They'll say if it's a fetus, it's just a potential life. But you have to remember that the word fetus is a terminology that actually is Latin for baby or for child. All of us used to be a fetus when we were in the womb. So when you hear the word fetus, don't let it make you think pre-human.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Well, another common objection that again makes a lot of sense if I'm just looking at this purely from a worldly view, is that hey, what if this mom doesn't have the financial wherewithal to actually raise this child? Or what if that mom wants to pursue a career that she has other priorities that a child would inhibit?

SPEAKER_02 18:07

That's a good question, but there's a very simple answer to this question that might be more simple than you would imagine. I want you to ask yourself, would this argument work if we wanted to kill a born child instead of an unborn child? Give them the following scenario. Say, imagine there is a family with 10 kids, and they're really struggling financially to feed their whole family. Their dad has lost his job. Things are tight. And so the mom is like, hey, I have an idea. We're struggling financially, so what if we just killed off our youngest three kids? Because they're very hungry, they're very time-consuming, and it would be much easier if we didn't have our youngest three children.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Clearly, this wouldn't work.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Oh no, you can't kill your kids, right? And so if you're talking to a pro-choicer about this, they might they will absolutely agree with you. They'll say, Yeah, you can never kill your children. And then you can say to them, hey, wait a minute. The only difference between these little kids and the unborn is they're a little bit bigger and they're more developed. That those aspects of sled, there's truly no difference.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Yeah, uh that thank you. That's a great response. Another common objection that I hear is listen, if we don't make abortion legal, what will happen is the illegal side of this is much more risky and will become more common.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Yeah, it's not uncommon for people to hold up a coat hanger and say, hey, there's gonna be back alley abortions that are gonna hurt women, but it ignores the fact that the baby's gonna be harmed in every abortion. This argument is assuming that the baby is not human and that the that the mom's life is the only one that matters. Now, this argument is also very much an appeal to emotion. It makes us say, oh no, women are gonna be harmed. We should just make abortion safe and legal for everyone. And it makes us forget, hey, wait a minute, the baby is also involved and the baby will die always. The solution to this is actually not abortion, the solution is actually the spread of the gospel. That's where the church comes in.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, and a very valid point, honestly. I think too often us in the church, we don't see some of the cultural issues as issues that we play an immediate role in, but you're absolutely right. If we as a church body were as engaged as we should be in the lives of women and children, just like the scripture compels us to, God's word talks about that concept of adoption. And I love the fact that there are people in the body of Christ who see the value of adopting children, of foster caring for children. That's exactly how we complete what God has called us to do.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Well, the fourth objection that I think I hear often is hey, as a woman, why do I have to be forced to basically keep this child alive when I don't want to?

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Yeah, we hear this my body, my choice objection. It's pretty common, but there's something that we should keep in mind right away. Whose body are we talking about? We already talked about the science a little bit of embryology, and we found out that the baby is a unique individual. He's not part of the mom's body. So when we say my body, my choice, we really mean baby's body, my choice. And that should take us a step back right away. But remember also, E in Sled, one's environment does not determine their right to life, and D in Sled, one's degree of dependency has no bearing on their right to life. A relatively short time of inconvenience for the mom should not be worth the entire life of another human being. So we need to keep in mind the perspective, who are we actually talking about, the mom or the baby?

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Probably the most powerful objection that we hear used in the media today what if this baby was born from incest or from rape? What if there was some sort of traumatic situation in which this mother didn't sign up for? She didn't this it wasn't her fault in any way, shape, or form.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Yeah, it is a um a hard objection to talk about and it makes our heart kind of ache and it should. And so when we approach this, we need to have the greatest compassion for the mom and we need to feel for her and be there for her because truly that is a tragic situation. But we have to keep in mind the baby is still an image bearer of God. No matter where that where where the baby came from or what situation arose for that baby to be conceived, no matter where he or she came from, that baby has value and we shouldn't punish that baby for the the crime of the father. Think about it this way the mom who has been through that situation that has an abortion is going to have added trauma, not trauma taken away. Women who have had abortions often regret.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

So what you're saying is it's it's about a short-term Yes. Yes, it's like short-term versus long-term.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Short-term, it might feel better and it might take away the consequence of the evil person's actions, but you're also killing an innocent human being, and that weighs heavy on anyone's heart.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

It makes sense. It's sin in reaction to sin. Such an important topic. Parents, we need to be raising our kids as people who are pro-life because biblically they understand it. We need this generation to reach the next generation, to reach the generation after that. As we have discussions as parents about the sanctity of life, it leads to discussions about the Bible, about why we believe what we believe about life, about morality, about value, about truth. As we talk to our kids, our coworkers, whomever we have a chance to talk about this topic with, just know this is the perfect segue into the gospel, into the reason why Jesus should matter.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

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