Mandalore wrote:Again, another question out of curiosity, but where is the support for the concept that life begins at conception in Scripture?
I doubt you are genuinely curious in a scriptural reason. If you are then great, but if you're simply wanting to mock religious beliefs I won't bother responding after this.
However to satisfy your curiosity:
This shows how serious causing the death of an unborn child is to God -Exodus 21:22,23
22 “If men should struggle with each other and they hurt a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely*+ but no fatality* results, the offender must pay the damages imposed on him by the husband of the woman; and he must pay it through the judges.+ 23 But if a fatality does occur, then you must give life for life.
Notice that the unborn child is refered to as a life the same as the offender is a life.
If as you say, an unborn child was not viewed as a life why would the law demand life for life.
This shows how God views the life of a child as precious even during the very early stages of development after conception - Ps. 139:13-16
13 For you produced my kidneys;
You kept me screened off* in my mother’s womb.+
14 I praise you because in an awe-inspiring way I am wonderfully made.+
Your works are wonderful,+
I know* this very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
When I was made in secret,
When I was woven in the depths of the earth.+
16 Your eyes even saw me as an embryo;
All its parts were written in your book
Regarding the days when they were formed,
Before any of them existed.
Also of note:
At Hosea 13:16 it talks about the people of Samaria suffering because they turned away from God. By turning away from him and his protection they suffered at the hands of the Assyrians who were so cruel that they killed the children and the pregnant women.
Amos 1:13 the Am'monites were condemned for "ripping open the pregnant women of Gil'ead to widen out their own territory"