I’ve been reading through the minor prophets of late and was struck by the numerous, abortion-related implications found in the book of Hosea. I’ll go through them in order, but before I do, a quick recap: Hosea is the prophet whom God commanded to marry a prostitute, as a visual picture of God’s relationship with the nation Israel. The entire chapter is rife with sexual language as it describes Israel’s unfaithfulness (whoring after other gods). God’s anger is severe, but just as Hosea continues to pursue and redeem his wayward wife, so God does for Israel. With that as a backdrop, here are the verses which struck me as being remarkably applicable to abortion:1:3 - So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Strange that I never noticed this before, but why does the Bible so often precede a record of birth with some variant of the term “she conceived”? Why not just say, “he married Gomer and she bore him a son”? Does Hosea imagine his audience to be unfamiliar with the concept of pregnancy? The same progression is used in verses six and eight (“Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter... she conceived and bore a son”). Read through Genesis and you find similar descriptions over and over, starting in Genesis 4:1 (“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain”). While these are not explicit scriptural declarations that personhood begins at conception, it is still a significant pairing. There has and continues to be great debate over the question of ensoulment. At what point in human development does the soul enter the body? The Bible doesn’t answer that question directly, but isn’t it interesting that scripture gives such frequent and prominent mention to the term “she conceived”. I’m not saying the authors were necessarily using the word conceive in its technical, biological sense, but even if they only meant “she became pregnant”, when does a woman become pregnant? She becomes pregnant at conception. By giving pregnancy (and by implication conception) such a prominent place in so many narratives, it is reasonable to infer that those who authored such narratives viewed conception as a decisive moment in a person’s individual history.
4:9,10 - And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the
Two months into 2008, finances are very tight. A quick look at the numbers below reveals that we’ve received only one third of our budgeted need. Last year, we averaged more than $8,000 a month in donations. This year, for reasons beyond our understanding, that number has fallen in half. If our financial situation doesn’t improve quickly, we’ll have nothing left in reserve. Sixty-seven people donated to Abort73 in February. With more than 7,000 subscribers to our email list, that means that less than 1 in 100 are actually supporting Abort73 financially. We’d really like that number to increase and it needn’t bankrupt you in the process. If our 7,000 subscribers made a $10 contribution, that would give us half of our budget for the entire year! If just 1,200 subscribers gave $10 a month, we’d meet our budget every month. Ten dollars a month (less than $3 a week) is an amount that virtually every one of our subscribers could manage. If you believe in the work we’re doing, we could really use your financial support. Visit 
