The S.L.E.D. Argument and Abortion

I heard about a professor who was talking with her ethics class and she posed a problem to her students: “How would you advise a mother, pregnant with her fifth child, based upon the following family medical history. The husband had syphilis, she has tuberculosis, the first child was born blind, second child died, the third child was born deaf and the fourth child had tuberculosis. The mother is now considering an abortion, would you advise her to have one?” Almost everybody in the class would answer, “Yes,” they said, “Based upon her medical history, absolutely.” The teacher took in their data, and then announced, “Congratulations, you have just killed one of the greatest composers ever, Ludwig von Beethoven.”

I wonder how many potential prodigies, doctors, scientists, pastors, artists, and teachers have been aborted since 1973? Only God knows. According to estimates over 60 million babies have been aborted since Roe v. Wade was passed in the United States.[i] It difficult to grasp such a huge number, but historians tell us that during the Holocaust, Hitler wiped out about 6 million Jews and “undesirables.” The Unites States has out done Hitler by ten times, yet we’d never put ourselves on the same moral platitude as Nazi Germany.

At its core, abortion is battle of worldviews—a battle of ideas. Of course, ideas have consequences. Belief effects behavior. You either believe that life is sacred, or life is secondary; that life is precious or disposable. Much of this worldview is tied to a belief in a Creator who is also the source of absolute morality. Moreover, a person’s view of God determines how they view the unborn.

If Christians are going to transform hearts and minds over the issue of abortion, then we must attack the worldview. Like Paul said in 2 Cor. 10, “3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

One of the most popular arguments that we hear in favor of abortion is that a fetus is just “a clump of cells.” That somehow the unborn are less than human, even though they are the product of two humans. The pro-choicer would have us believe that the fetus’ short journey down the birth canal suddenly makes them human when they emerge.

One way that we can show the intellectual bankruptcy of this thinking is by a simple acronym argument—S.L.E.D. The argument unfolds as follows:  The “S” stands for “Size.” True, embryos are smaller than newborns and adults, but why is that relevant? Do we really want to say that large people are more valuable than small ones? Men are generally larger than women, but that doesn’t mean they deserve more rights. Size doesn’t equal value. The “L” stands for “Level of development.” Are twenty-year-olds more human than ten-year-olds, since they are smarter and stronger? “E” is “Environment.” Does being inside a house make you more or less of a person than being outside? Does being located in his mother’s body rather than outside make a child less human? And “D” represents “Degree of dependency.” Does dependence upon another determine who you are? Is someone with Alzheimer’s or on kidney dialysis less of a person?  

The SLED tactic exposes the argument for abortion for what it really is—murder for the sake convenience and not because the unborn fail to qualify as human. Let us speak the truth in love as we become the voice for the ones who can’t argue for their own value. -DM

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[i]  STEVEN ERTELT, “60,069,971 Abortions in America Since Roe v. Wade in 1973” Life News, 18 January 2018 <https://www.lifenews.com/2018/01/18/60069971-abortions-in-america-since-roe-v-wade-in-1973/>