"You shall not kill by abortion the fruit of the womb and you shall not murder the infant already born (infanticide)".
Abortion, meaning to miscarry - pregnancy ends too soon and baby dies..
Many Christians believe that abortion is wrong firstly, because god says in the Bible that children are special and unique and that they are gifts from him. Each human is wonderfully made. God has worked out all our lives. Why should any prematurely end life? Psalm chapter 139 has a passage describing how god created us in our mothers’ womb.
Many Christians believe that life begins at conception. If you end you life you are killing a human being. The church rejects all forms of contraception and new reproductive technologies, i.e. IVF.
Baptism ceremonies celebrate the start of a new life and emphasise the dignity of human life. In a dedication ceremony, a child’s life is dedicated to God; this conveys how precious life is.
An early Christian document, The didache, states that abortion is wrong. The Roman Catholic Church believes that abortion is murder. Pope Paul VI wrote in a human Vitae that it was a rule for Roman Catholics that abortion was wrong. He also stated that abortion had always been wrong since the early church and nothing had changed to alter that.
The Church says you can adopt or give your child up for adoption as this is an alternative to abortion. Another alternative to abortion is to put your child in care until you are stable with a home and financial difficulties. Many people when they just find out they are pregnant they don’t know what to do. So many people decided to go to their families for help were they would get a lot of support.
The Anglican Church says you can abort the baby when a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother, where the mother has been raped, where the foetus is at risk of being seriously handicapped. The church shows much compassion in each case so they think it would be a lesser of two evils if the child was born severe handicapped.
Some Christians may be pro- choice and leave it to the mother to decide and others accept abortion up to a certain stage as they don’t believe that life starts until 12-24 weeks etc…
Christians believe that it is their responsibility to look after individuals at the end of their lives as human life is sacred.
St Paul teaches that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and therefore should be treated with respect. So there should be no suicide, euthanasia or capital punishment.
The word 'Euthanasia' is usually taken to mean the bringing about a peaceful death to someone who is dying or has an incurable illness.
Christians believe that they should help the sick and dying but take their life.
If euthanasia is carried out they could be arrested for a murder charge
