---
title: "“The unborn is not a baby or a person until birth (or until viability); personhood is conferred at birth.”"
description: "The unborn is not a baby or a person until birth (or until viability); personhood is conferred at birth."
type: "argument"
id: "def-not-a-person-until-birth"
category: "Scriptural"
mode: "Defensive"
source_url: "https://www.abhortion.org/arguments/def-not-a-person-until-birth.html"
---

# “The unborn is not a baby or a person until birth (or until viability); personhood is conferred at birth.”

**Category:** Scriptural · **Mode:** Defensive · responds to an objection

## The objection

**The claim:**

> "The unborn is not a baby or a person until birth (or until viability); personhood is conferred at birth."

_A pro-choice argument._

### The strongest version of this argument

Birth is a clear, observable, historically recognized bright line; before it, the fetus is physically dependent on and inside the mother's body, and does not have the independent social and legal existence that persons have. A bright line at birth avoids the difficulty of drawing lines during a continuous developmental process.

## The response

Scripture draws no line at birth. It calls the unborn a 'baby' (Greek brephos) — the same word used of the newborn Jesus and of infants (Luke 1:41-44; 2:12; 18:15) — and describes continuous personal identity in the womb ('You wove me,' Ps. 139:13-16; 'I knew you,' Jer. 1:5) and from conception (Ps. 51:5). Its civil law protects the child in the womb with full 'life for life' justice (Ex. 21:22-25). Biology agrees that a distinct, living human organism exists from fertilization; birth changes the child's location and mode of dependence, not its nature or humanity. A line at birth is a change of place, not a change of kind.

## Discussion questions

1. What morally relevant thing changes at birth that turns a non-person into a person — location, size, dependence?
2. The Bible uses the same word 'brephos' for the unborn and the newborn. Where does it draw the line you're drawing?

## Source transcript

Drawn from The Sin of Pro-Life Incrementalism (T. Russell Hunter) — The transcript's 'protect me, I'm 15 weeks' vs. 'created in the image of God' contrast..

## References

- [The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology ('a zygote is the beginning of a new human being; human development begins at fertilization')](https://www.princeton.edu/~prolife/articles/embryoquotes.html) _(embryology textbook)_
  Keith L. Moore & T.V.N. Persaud (compiled) · Saunders/Elsevier
  **Supports:** distinct human organism exists from fertilization, before birth
- [When Human Life Begins — 'a whole, genetically distinct, individuated zygotic living human organism'](https://acpeds.org/when-human-life-begins/) _(medical position statement)_
  American College of Pediatricians · ACPeds
  **Supports:** genetically distinct living human organism from fertilization
- [Equality Emerges as a Ground for Abortion Rights (pro-choice equal-protection / bodily-autonomy counter)](https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/faculty/papers/franklin-siegel-equality-emerges-chapter-2-endnotes.pdf) _(opposing view)_
  Franklin & Siegel · Yale Law
  **Supports:** fullest scholarly statement of the opposing (women's-equality) framing

## Related

**Related scriptures:**

- [Luke 1:41-44](../scripture/luke-1-41-44.md)
- [Psalm 139:13-16](../scripture/psalm-139-13-16.md)
- [Jeremiah 1:5](../scripture/jeremiah-1-5.md)
- [Psalm 51:5](../scripture/psalm-51-5.md)
- [Exodus 21:22-25](../scripture/exodus-21-22-25.md)
- [Genesis 9:6](../scripture/genesis-9-6.md)

**Related arguments:**

- [The unborn bear the image of God, so abortion is murder — a different category than 'a hard choice'](arg-image-of-God.md)
- [The science of embryology says a new human being exists from fertilization](arg-embryology-conception.md)
- [“The early embryo is merely a clump of cells or a 'potential' human, not an actual human…”](def-clump-of-cells.md)