“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Luke 1:41)
The next stage, at 24 weeks, is the current legal limit. However, the government wants this limit to be brought down to 18 weeks. Although at first this seems like a victory for the pro-lifers, the bill also includes the fact that from that point onwards only one doctor will need to sign to permit the abortion, which will make having one a lot easier. Abortion has been legal in Britain since 1967, and every year the number carried out has increased.
Christians are divided on the issue of abortion. Is it a modern necessity of life or not? This question is difficult to assess and ultimately lies with the mother and it is whatever she decides, she must live with.
The Anglican teaching on abortion is complex. An early Christian document called the Didache, condemns it:
“You shall not kill by abortion the fruit of the womb”
The Bible appears to say that life begins when the baby is in the mother’s womb:
“For you created my inmost being: you knit me together in my mother’s womb”. (Psalm 139:13)
Also in Psalm 139, it says:
“Before I was born God saw my unformed body”
This extract shows that while the foetus is in the womb its body is its own, ‘my body’, and not for anybody else to make decisions about.
Here it says that God knows a person when they are in the womb:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5)
No denomination of the Christian Church encourages abortion and most say that it should only ever be used in emergencies, however the Roman Catholic Church believes it is never justified.
The Roman Catholic Church have a ban on contraception and they say sexual organs, eggs and sperm are for the production of children, and sexual pleasure should come secondary within a marriage. However, contrary to this religious law within the church, liberal Catholics ignore it, seeming it to be old fashioned and a health risk, which is the view that most in the Anglican Church take. When an Anglican couple gets married, sexual love is stressed in the vows; they believe that sex is firstly unitive. On the other hand, when a catholic person gets married, sexual love is not stressed in the vows; they believe sex is firstly procreative. The Roman Catholic Church says that the use of contraception is against Natural Law (which means not keeping in with human nature).
The only form of contraception that is permitted is the rhythm method where intercourse takes place at a time when the woman is not fertile. Both the Anglican and Methodist Churches see contraception as a responsible way of starting a family. As you can see, overall Christians disagree about whether it is right to use contraception. Some think that artificial contraceptives shouldn’t be used because God might want you to have a baby. Other denominations of the Church, such as Methodists believe that using contraception is part of a responsible sexual relationship.
Fertility treatment is medical help given to people who want to have babies but are unable to conceive naturally. An example of this is In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). This is when the egg and sperm are brought together for fertilisation in a laboratory rather than inside the woman’s body. If embryos form, some, or all of them are implanted back into the woman’s uterus, in the hope that she will become pregnant. Most Roman Catholics believe that fertility treatment is wrong because it interferes with nature and ‘God’s Plan’; on the other hand other Christian denominations consider IVF and other such treatments as a good thing, because they help to bring new life into the world and give happiness to the prospective parents.
As well as having strong views on the beginning of life, Christians also have firm opinions on the end of it as well. In the UK it is against the law to do anything to deliberately hasten someone else’s death, even if they have asked for it. Most denominations of Christianity disagree with it, and it is called Euthanasia. There are two main types of euthanasia, one is legal and the other is not. Active euthanasia is when the person is killed with a lethal injection. Passive euthanasia is when treatment is withheld or withdrawn to allow the person to die, this is the type that is legal because it is allowing nature to take its course without prolonging the process of dying. This has only just recently become legal and many think it is the beginning of a slippery slope to euthanasia becoming fully legal in the UK.
The Roman Catholic Church upholds the belief that life can only be ended by Euthanasia if the dose of painkillers needed to end the pain is also the amount which would kill the patient. The Bible instructs that one person must not take the life of another in any way:
“You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13)
It also teaches that life is sacred, and the majority of Christians take this to mean at all stages of life, including the end:
“Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
Most liberal Christians also believe that it is not necessary to go to extraordinary lengths to keep someone alive if they have no hope of recovery. Most Christians think that there are better ways than euthanasia to help a person die with decorum, such as a Hospice. Hospices are places where people who are terminally ill can go to live permanently, or for short breaks.
Overall, the majority of Christians believe that either abortion is to be avoided or is never justified and Euthanasia should never be made fully legal.
