Could a Christian ever approve of Abortion?

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Hatice Giritli

Hwk Monday 15th November 2004

Could a Christian ever approve of Abortion?

An Abortion is the medical procedure of inducing expulsion of a human foetus to terminate a pregnancy. Doctors use the term “abortion” to mean any death of a baby in the womb of its mother and the expulsion from the body. This sometimes happens at its own accord: this is usually called a miscarriage. However, what most of us mean by “abortion” is really a procured abortion. This is when the foetus or growing child is deliberately killed and removed from the womb.

Abortion used to be a crime. In Ireland and a lot of other places, but in most western countries the laws have changed and today it is possible to get a legal abortion. Since 1973 the law in the USA has said that a woman has the right to have her pregnancy ended in this way if she wants to. She does not have to give any reason for this except that she wants it done. Following a Supreme Court review of the law in1989, some states have passed laws making abortion more difficult to obtain, in particular by restricting the number of abortions that can be performed on State property.

The law in the UK states that an abortion can be performed up to the end of the 24th week of pregnancy if two doctors agree that:

To continue the pregnancy would involve a risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant women greater than the risks involved in having an abortion;
That to continue the pregnancy would involve risk of injury to the physical or mental health of any existing children of the pregnant women greater than the risks involved in her having an abortion.

However, the law would allow an abortion at any stage during the pregnancy if

The doctors agree that continuing the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the mother;
They agree that an abortion is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant women;
There is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from “such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped”

The abortion act also states that in most cases abortions in Britain have to be performed before the end ...

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However, the law would allow an abortion at any stage during the pregnancy if

The doctors agree that continuing the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the mother;
They agree that an abortion is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant women;
There is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from “such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped”

The abortion act also states that in most cases abortions in Britain have to be performed before the end of the 24th week of pregnancy. That is because babies can be born alive and survive after then, they are viable. The 1967 act originally took the limit of viability to be 28 weeks, but in recent years our medical skills have developed, so our skill at keeping premature babies alive has increased. For this reason the limit was changed to 24 weeks in 1990.

The father of the foetus to be aborted has no right to be consulted or to object to the abortion, even if he is married to the mother.

The types of abortion there are, are; miscarriage – when the baby or foetus in a womb is expulsed from the mothers body of its own accord and procured abortion – when the foetus or growing child is deliberately killed and removed from the womb (terminations).

Some common views for abortion include feminist ideas:

Many feminists believe that people should have the right to ask for or get an abortion up to the moment of birth without being questioned. This position is usually called “abortion on demand”. Women have the right to control their own bodies, they say, and the foetus is part of a woman’s body. Too often in the past men have made the rules in order to keep women in their control, and this is what has happened with abortion. Women have the right to choose what to do for themselves.
Others accept that the foetus is a human being, but argue that if the baby is unwanted it is like somebody who breaks into your house.
Some people believe that abortion should be allowed, but only up to the point at which the baby is capable of being born alive and surviving outside the womb; before they hold that it is really part of the woman’s body and she should have control over it.

A few of the views against abortion are:

Abortion is always wrong – Abortion is always wrong in the eyes of a lot of people because to them it seems that the mother I killing a part of her, a miracle, murdering her own child, her own blood.
A lot of people think that abortion is necessary evil – This would be people that understand the need of the mother to abort yet still think it is wrong and is just a work of evil, “the work of the devil”.
People say that if all human beings are equal then why do others give mothers the chance of abortion? Why do people allow it?
Some argue that it is a crime to take another persons life because life is a special thing that is only lived once. You are committing a crime because you are taking another persons chance of living away from them.

The topic of abortion is an extremely important one. There are quite a few different views on this subject. Some people believe that abortion is a good thing and should be supported, while others think that abortion should be illegal and is unorthodox.

Traditional Christian teaching places the highest value on human life, and therefore condemns abortion. One of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament – the Didache – says “You shall not kill by abortion the fruit of the womb and you shall not murder the infant already born”.

The Church if England said in a report in 1984 that “the foetus is to be specially respected and protected”. However, it went on to say that “nonetheless the life of the foetus is not absolutely sacrosanct if it endangers the life of the mother”. In other words, the Church of England’s view on abortion is that the life of the foetus has to be protected. If the foetus endangers the life of the mother action can then be taken.

The Church of Scotland’s board of social Responsibility in 1987 came to the conclusion that “abortion has no moral justification and represents the unwarranted destruction of human life that is made in the image of God”, but it was careful to say that this was only in “the great majority of cases”. The Church is against abortion on demand. It believes that abortion is right at the following times:

If there is a threat to the mother’s health
If there is proof that the mother was raped
If it is certain that the baby will be seriously handicapped.

The view of the protestant churches is that abortion is generally unwanted, but that it may be acceptable in some circumstances. It is not always clear what these circumstances are, and perhaps for this reason a minority protestant group campaigns for greater emphasis on what they see as a woman’s right to make the decision to have an abortion.

The Roman Catholic Church says “We have been made like God. God plans the birth of all babies and makes them with the parents. In every foetus God has made a completely new human being. Human life is given by God, so all people mist realise, only God can end life that was given by him”.

In conclusion I believe that yes, a Christian could approve of abortion. One of the ways in which a Christian could approve an abortion would be if the mothers’ life is at risk and the baby has to be aborted because to a lot of people abortion is wrong and is “the devils work”. I believe that the only way that a Christian could approve of abortion would be through the “most loving course of action” or if the mothers’ life was at risk. Another way a Christian could approve of abortion, I believe would be if the child was at a point of viability (the baby was old enough, 24 weeks, to survive on its own after being taken out of the womb).

By Hatice Giritli

10CU