If life begins after birth, then to abort would not go against teachings about the purity of life. If, however Christians believe that life begins at the fertilisation of the egg then they would not consider abortion on the count that the life has begun and you would be taking it away, which they would believe is murder which is against biblical teachings and the Ten Commandments which state that “though shall not murder.”
Also in the New Testament it states “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God
will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
Which means that the foetus is a life which means it is Gods temple and his spirit lives inside them and if you destroy the foetus he wouldn’t be pleased and he will destroy you.
This quote relates to the old testament in job 1:21 where it says “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. Which means that the lord decides upon your life and if you don’t obide by his rules and understandings then he can do what he wants as a punishment.
Different Christians hold different views on abortion, as they are influenced by society around them as well as their faith. Some Christian denominations today, do not give clear teaching on abortion.
The Church of England states that ' the foetus is to be specially respected and protected' but 'the life of a foetus is not sacred if it endangers the mothers life. This shows, that the Church of England take a middle view on abortion. Evangelical Christians base their views on the bible and so are 'firmly opposed to abortion'. The catholic church says that abortion is wrong and shouldn’t be carried out under any circumstances because they believe it is killing a ‘baby’ as a former pope states:- "What could ever be a sufficient reason for excusing in any way the direct murder of the innocent? This is precisely what we are dealing with here. Whether inflicted upon the mother or upon the child, it is against the precept of God and the law of nature: 'Thou shalt not kill.' " Pope Pius XI commenting on abortion in his encyclical on Christian Marriage. But Other churches within the Christian religion are not all as strict as the Roman Catholic Church.
Whilst recognizing that the main purpose of uniting a man and a woman in marriage, is for them to have and bring up children in accordance to God's will, most Christian Churches do not regard birth control as evil and therefore, allow contraception. However, the Church of England and most Protestant Churches are opposed to abortion unless the circumstances are acceptable. But they still disagree with it if there is good reason as they say here.
“We affirm that every human life, created in the divine image, is unique... and that this holds for each of us, born or yet to be born. We therefore believe that abortion is an evil.”
(General Synod of the Church of England)
Unlike the Catholic Church, however, most other Christian churches, whilst not condoning abortion as a form of contraception, do accept that in certain extreme circumstances, abortion is the 'lesser of two evils' and will consent to an abortion being carried out if
… there is a serious risk to the mother' s life,
… conception occurs as a result of rape,
… there is a real risk of the baby being handicapped.
These are the only conditions which the church of England and other protestant churches will accept.
