Does a Fetus Possess the Status of a Living Human Being?
No one in his proper mind would agree that a person can wound someone else in order to save his/her own life. Then, why in a “civilized” society like ours can a pregnant woman wound her baby for the sake of “improving” her own health? Because abortion is a matter of “healthcare”, and a baby is a mere part of the mother’s body through the umbilical cord? The liberal culture claims that a fetus is not a conscious being and can therefore be aborted, that is, terminated, at the will of the mother, because the unborn fetus is considered to be a part of the woman’s body and not a separate person until the actual birth.
Yet, science testifies that the unborn is a different person on account of the different DNA the mother and the baby have. Indeed, their genetic codes are closely related, but association is not causation, for the cause of life is the Maker. The mother and the baby can be as different as their rhesus factors can be. In such a case the Rh incompatibility severely endangers the blood and, therefore, the life of the mother or the fetus, which is scientific proof that the fetus is not a part of the woman’s body, since a human body cannot wound itself.
There are questions to be asked here: When does life begin? Does the definition of life depend on how old the fetus is? Does a fetus possess the status of a full human being in order to be considered alive? The reader’s mind will settle when he/she reads what we intend to say in the following.
A human comes in this world as a result of the work in the conception, formation, and birth. The seed of the woman is fertilized in an instant, but it goes through many further phases of development until man is born. The unborn has a special status in the Torah, for while in the womb the baby has a unique relationship with the mother being dependent on her through the umbilical cord. Such was the birth of the third patriarch of the nation that would bear his name.
The fraternal twins, Esav and Ya’akov, were born from the fertilization of two separate eggs with two different sperm cells. As a result, the twins did not have the same DNA code and were genetically distinct sharing half their genomes, just like any other siblings who were born at separate times.
Ya’akov was the most short-lived of the three Patriarchs (compare: Avraham lived 175 years, Yitschak 180 years, and Ya’akov 147 years). Of his birth and of the birth of his twin brother it is said,
And the children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is right, why am I thus?” And she went to ask the Eternal. (Gen 25:22)
When Rivkah conceived, the children struggled together in her womb. In this she saw a bad sign that the pregnancy would bring misfortune and might not continue the promise to Avraham, and she cried out. Where and how she asked YHVH, is not recorded in the Torah, and therefore cannot be determined with certainty. Some Rabbis interpreted to mean that she prayed to YHVH, as the plain reading of the text implies. Others suppose that she went to Avraham or Shem, who were still alive at that time, to inquire why that was happening to her. So, the troubled mother went to ask the Eternal.
And the Eternal said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your belly. And one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.” (Gen 25:23)
Note: It is not clear in the Hebrew text of “and the older shall serve the younger” who will serve whom. Who is the older? The only clue we have to determine who is meant as the servant, is the fact that normally the active subject is written first; in our text, it is “the older” brother. In other words, this is a hint that the older brother (Esav came out first) will eventually be subservient to the younger one (Ya’akov). There are many cases like this one in the Scripture. We now return to the text.
If we accept the latter interpretation, the phrase “And the Eternal said to her”, means that He answered through either Shem or Avraham concerning the ongoing struggle in her womb. Many years of childlessness were followed by the birth of two sons: Esav and Ya’akov. This struggle in Rivkah’s womb between the twins was not at all influenced by their personal inclination of doing good or evil, as this choice could not have been developed before birth, because a person has freedom of choice when his consciousness is fully developed later in life.
After nine months of difficult pregnancy, Rivkah gave birth to twins. The first child that came out of her womb was ruddy and hairy. For this reason, he was called Esav, meaning “rough”. Ya’akov came out of the womb shortly after gripping his older brother’s ankle in an attempt to protect his head from his kick. And for this reason, he was called יַעֲקֹב Ya’akov, meaning “he takes by the heel” [in protection of himself], because of the peculiar way they came out of the womb; the younger was called Ya’akov, because he was holding the heel עָקֵב akeiv of his brother, Esav.
Most children born by the same father and mother will grow up as part of the same family. Esav and Ya’akov were twins, born and raised in the same righteous family of Yitschak. As soon as they came out of the womb, they each developed in a different way. They would also hate one another as they were already fighting in the mother’s womb. But in the mother’s womb, they were innocent as innocent an unborn can be. If Esav had turned bad later in life, as he indeed did, we might attribute this to the fact that every man is given absolute freedom of choice to be righteous or wicked. The Maker does not create anyone righteous or wicked, for everyone has a free choice to do good or bad. In the case of Esav and Ya’akov, the Eternal did not create or make Esav wicked, nor did He create or make Ya’akov righteous, thus having predetermined their life courses. So, where has this notion that the children were predestined to such life course come from?
Years had passed since the first return of Israel from Babylon under Zerubbavel. The moral and religious condition of Israel was at decline. Between the final prophecy in the Book of Mal’achi and the first Gospel of Matthew four hundred years were destined to pass. And the message of the Eternal went forth to Israel by His prophet Mal’achi (Hebrew for “my messenger”). This is how the final message to Israel began,
“I have loved you,” said the Eternal. “But you asked, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ “Was not Esav Ya’akov’s brother?” declares the Eternal. “And I love Ya’akov, but hated Esav …” (Mal 1:2-3)
These words of the Eternal have been used over the years to “prove” that the children were born or had done any good or bad, they were pre-destined to be good (Ya’akov) and evil (Esav). Such an incorrect reading of the words of the Eternal is enforced by the author of Rom 9:11-16 who is writing to attribute evil predestination to Esav and righteousness to Ya’akov before they were even born, while admitting that they had done no evil or good (see verse 11) to deserve such a fate spoken of in Genesis that would inevitably happen in the future. But there is no indication in the text in Genesis that Esav was wicked and hated by the Eternal from birth; none. There is no indication in the text that Yitschak did not love Ya’akov, nor that Rivkah did not love Esav. We have no difficulty understanding why Rivkah loved [more] Ya’akov. She had received a prophecy from the Eternal, and in him the mother saw the next in line patriarch of the future nation. There was no need for the Torah to mention that Yitschak loved Ya’akov. Ya’akov was growing before him in righteousness, as the Torah constantly points to this fact. But Yitschak loved {more] Esav perhaps because he loved the venison Esav brought from his hunting. The question is, were Esav and Ya’akov loved or hated before their birth? Or, the statement in Genesis 25 related to what would become known later in their descendants’ time? That this is the case is obvious in the continuation of verse 3 and further in Mal’achi, as we read,
… but I have hated Esav and have laid waste his mountains and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness” … (Mal 1:3)
Here, it is evident that the descendants of Esav were hated and more particularly their deeds, not Esav himself. It should not occur to us that a father should bear the sins of his children.
So, how does all this lengthy exposition of the birth of Rivkah’s sons help us find the answer to our main subject? We will have more to say upon this point presently, as we will go back to verse 22, wherein the narrator of the story has been very specific in his words. We read it again,
And the children struggled together within her, … (Gen 25:22)
What exactly is being described here, and to what question we are answering? Understand this according to what it literally says, and the explanation of the verse according to its plain reading. The Torah made its task to define what “fetus” is. In this verse, the Torah refers to the fetuses in Rivkah’s womb as “children”. The focus word in the phrase “the children struggled together within her (in her womb)” is the Hebrew word בָּנִים banim, “children” (literally “sons”, from בֵּן ben, “son”). How does this help us?
According to gynecology, the conception of non-identical (hetero-ovular) may differ from several minutes to seven days and it is impossible to define in our story who was conceived first: Esav or Ya’akov. At the same time, between the emergence of non-identical twins from the womb there is always an interval, from fifteen minutes to one hour, as opposed to the identical twins. The fact that Esav and Ya’akov came out of the womb one after the other, according to the birth description in the Torah, is evidence of what was told about them, namely, they struggled in the womb. This verse address and resolve the questions raised in the beginning of this survey.
As the Hebrew word בָּנִים banim, always refers to born children, the choice of word by the Torah teaches that the “fetuses” in the womb are “children”. Thus, Torah also teaches us that the unborn child in the mother’s womb is not some impersonal “embryo” or “fetus” but a living human being with a soul.
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