The main objection to any sort of salvation of infants is found in the doctrines of original sin and total depravity.  Most agree that the unborn commit no personal sins, thus many find room to send them to heaven on this basis.  However, Paul is very clear in Romans 5:18 that all men receive condemnation because of Adam’s sin.  Also, Jesus said, “He who believes in Him [the Son] is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).  Some are bothered by the concepts of total depravity and original sin and simply try to eradicate them.  Augustine, for his part, held that at baptism infants die to original sin.  My problem with infant baptism is that there is no scriptural basis for it.  If infant baptism accomplishes the task as Augustine sets forth, then it does so secretly.  Wesley developed a view of prevenient grace that, in effect, reverses the effects of original sin, thus allowing man to freely choose God.  These options are very attractive, but must be firmly rejected by the whole of the Word of God.  I would like to develop a post on this issue later (if no one else beats me to it), so for now I’m going to leave it at this.

Thus original sin remains, and even the unborn are totally depraved.  This would seem to comdemn the unborn as being without any hope.  Those who reject a Wesleyan prevenient grace do not always see infants as condemned to hell.  The Westminster Confession of Faith says, “Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit, who works when, and where, and how He pleases.”   Erickson chimes in with an old stand-by:

The current form of my understanding is as follows: We all were involved in Adam’s sin, and thus receive both the corrupted nature that was his after the fall, and the guilt and condemnation that attach to his sin.  With this matter of guilt, however, just as with the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, there must be some conscious and voluntary decision on our part.  Until this is the case, there is only a conditional imputation of guilt.  Thus there is no condemnation until one reaches the age of responsibility.  If a child dies before becoming capable of making genuine moral decisions, the contingent imputation of Adamic sin does not become actual, and the child will experience the same type of future existence with the Lord as will those who have reached the age of moral responsibility and had their sins forgiven as a result of accepting the offer of salvation based upon Christ’s atoning death (656). 

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