'Abortion is never justified' Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Alex Warham R.E

Christian Perspectives on personal,

Social and World Issues

C) ‘Abortion is never justified’ Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view.

Christians believe totally in the sanctity of life, however some denominations also consider the quality of life concept, which is the secular view. There are two main teachings on the subject of abortion in Christianity, sanctity of life and quality of life. Sanctity of life is the belief that all life is sacred and is created by God; therefore it is not ours to abort. To support this theory Christians refer to the oldest surviving Christian document, The Didache. This states, “You shall not kill by abortion the fruit of the womb and you shall not murder the infant already born”. This teaching agrees with the statement, ’Abortion is never justified’. Quality of life is the belief that abortion is justifiable in the cases of homelessness, large families, poverty, bad housing, handicap and if there is any risk to the mother’s health. Some Christians believe that in these cases abortion would be the lesser of the two evils.

Other religions have different views towards abortion, for example all the eastern religions have an absolute morality and condemn abortion completely. The Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches take the firmest line against abortion. The present Pope has called abortion one of the ‘abominable crimes’ and a Russian Orthodox priest has said that abortions are never allowable just as murder is never allowable. However in nineteen ninety-three the Church of England seemed to accept the need for abortion in some cases. The Methodist Church in nineteen seventy-six said that abortion is morally justifiable in the cases of handicap, large families, ...

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An example of someone who believes in the Sanctity of life is ‘Carol’s Story’. Carol was a student that was raped on holiday, she found herself pregnant and decided that an abortion was not an option for her. Carol decided to have her baby adopted and after discussing it with her mother, they looked around some adoption agencies for a suitable couple. After selecting a couple Carol and her mother went to meet them, they decided that the couple would take good care of the child. After the birth Carol gave her baby all the love she could in the eight days before she had to give it away. Ten years later Carol is still sure that she made the right decision.

Another example of this is the story of a father fighting to keep his baby alive. A college student found that his ex-girlfriend was pregnant and that she was planning to have the baby aborted. She was determined to have the abortion and so the father took the case to court. SPUC (The society for the Protection of the Unborn Child) raised forty thousand pounds for the father’s legal fees. The case was presented to the House of Lords but all the fathers legal attempts failed and his ex-girlfriend was given permission to have the abortion on health grounds. However, the girl was so impressed by the father’s attempts to save the baby that she decided not to go ahead with the abortion and instead hand the baby over to the father after the birth. The father left Oxford University, raised the baby boy and later went back to complete his studies.

I believe that abortion is never justified but is sometimes acceptable in the cases of homelessness, large families, poverty, bad housing, handicap and if there is any risk to the mother’s health. As long as the abortion is carried out before the point at which the baby is able to feel pain, interact with its environment or its heart starts beating. To me at this point the foetus is not yet a human being. Therefore contraceptives such as the pill and the coil and hormone injections are acceptable.

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