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[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]I have recently begun to ask questions of and respond to the Christian pro-choicer.  You don’t have to look far to see the deep rooted confusion within the Church on the abortion issue.  It is now quite common to have multiple members of one congregation completely split on the issue, and many churches have even decided to take a formal pro-choice position.  We cannot allow this mayhem to continue.  We need churches to respond to the chaos within their own ranks in an attempt to establish orthodoxy and unity.  The Church’s witness is on the line, along with the lives of millions of unborn babies.  In an attempt to clear the cloud of confusion, I will periodically address arguments from pro-choice Christians and provide what I believe to be a rational, scientific, and when necessary, biblical response to these arguments that are breeding confusion in the body of Christ.

This post will address the “Free Moral Agency” argument:

Some pro-choice Christians argue that since God created human beings as free moral agents, laws restricting abortion must be against his will.  In other words, if God gave humans free will, then laws that restrict that free will must be against His will.

While this argument sounds nice on the surface, it is subject to at least two criticisms:

First, as Francis Beckwith points out in his book Politically Correct Death: Answering Arguments for Abortion Rights, it is plainly untrue that “any public policy that limits free moral agency is against God’s will.  For example, laws against drunk driving, murder, smoking crack, robbery, and child molesting are all intended to limit free moral agency, yet it seems counterintuitive, not to mention unbiblical, to assert that God does not approve of these laws” (141-142).  Society recognizes the importance of these laws to protect the free agency of others who would be harmed by such behavior.  While these laws inhibit the free moral agency of some, they protect the free moral agency of many, and therefore, act as a guard.

Second, the argument from free moral agency only works if the pro-choicer begs the question by assuming that the unborn are not human (Note: This is the most common logical fallacy present in pro-choice rhetoric).  It assumes the unborn are not human by refusing to recognize the unborn’s free moral agency to not be torn apart.  If the unborn are indeed human, laws restricting abortion would be perfectly just since the free agency of another, the unborn child, would be violated by an act of abortion.  Therefore, the question “Are the unborn human?” must be addressed before the question of free moral agency is discussed.

It seems quite clear that the argument from free moral agency:

1) Misunderstands the purpose of laws that restrict one’s free will.

2) Commits a logical fallacy by assuming that the unborn are not human and therefore not qualified to free moral agency.

I will continue to address various arguments from pro-choice Christians as I come across them and I challenge you to verse yourself in pro-life apologetics and encourage your church to address the issue of abortion.  If there are any arguments or issues you would like me to address, you can contact me through my blog.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

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