There has been a language shift among abortion advocates. What they used to call a “heartbeat” is now being called “cardiac activity.” The shift in language serves two purposes:

1. “Heartbeat” is historically understood as the evidence of life. When there is no heartbeat, there is no life. Calling it “cardiac activity” suggests it is something less than a real heartbeat. Is it a quivering of a muscle or the enlarging of some tissue? It is a vague term.
2. “Cardiac activity” reflects the contemporary trend of treating life and death not so much as events but as processes. In other words, the implication is that you gradually become a life, or you gradually are dead. The vagueness suggests authority over life that we do not have.

Recognize this attempt at misdirection.

The rallying cry for abortion rights is “choice.” Pollsters have discovered that being pro-abortion helps you win an election if you characterize it as a matter of rights and freedom for women.

The gnawing issue, however, is the life of an unborn child. I still see the bumper stickers reminding me that “Abortion Stops a Beating Heart.” Abortion advocacy must contend with this persistent argument. To do so, they want to detract us from objective realities and make things less clear.

What is a Christian to make of this?

First, remember that life is God’s domain (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6; Psalm 31:15; Acts 17:25; 1 Timothy 6:13). Our natural inclination towards evil (Genesis 8:21) fights this truth by suggesting we are the authors of life and we can decide when it begins when it is valuable, and when it ends. Moving biological markers and changing terminology is merely a strategy to challenge life’s intrinsic value from its Creator.

Second, remember this is an old tactic. We saw it in Eden when the serpent asked,

“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)

It was a statement designed to rob certainty of its clarity.

When God is not central to life, then something replaces it. That “something” is usually “me” and “my will,” “my definitions,” and “my choice.”

Don’t be fooled. It is wrong to stop a beating heart or cardiac activity. Regardless of how it’s said, we are God’s creation, life is our blessing, and we are its stewards.