Abortion remains at the heart of the culture wars in America because it pits two absolutely opposed world and life views against each other. Abortion forces us to confront our most deeply held beliefs about God, man, and the definition of what it means to be a human being, protected by the laws of the land. The heart of the abortion issue is the struggle between what is often referred to as the sanctity of life worldview and the quality of life worldview. At the core of the sanctity of life view is the belief that all human life — unborn, handicapped, or elderly — is sacred because it is created in the image of God. Dr. Paul Ramsey states it clearly.
The notion that an individual human life is absolutely unique, inviolable, irreplaceable, non-interchangeable, not substitutable, and not meldable with other lives is a notion that exists in our civilization because it is Christian, and that idea is so fundamental in the edifice of Western law and morals that it cannot be removed without bringing the whole house down.[7]
Abortion is morally wrong because it tears the fabric of the absolute sanctity of all human life, separating unborn human life from the human community of those who are viewed as fully human and deserving of the law's protection. The Supreme Court's abortion decisions in 1973 affirmed this quality of life view that draws a line of separation between biological human life and legally protected human beings. Justice Blackmun, speaking for the majority in the Roe decision, described unborn human life as "less than persons in the whole sense."[8] As John Noonan commented, "Biological evidence that they were human he ignored... The law created persons and any human conduct might be given valid legal form."[9]
Excerpt from: Pregnancy Centers: A Practical Response to the Abortion Dilemma
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