The Christian View of Abortion

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Steven Balcombe 10A

What is Abortion?

Abortion is the ‘premature removal from the womb of a foetus during pregnancy’, according to Beliefs, Values and Traditions by Ann Lovelace and Jay White. Abortion can be seen in two ways: the first, which is more commonly known as a miscarriage, is if it happens naturally and spontaneously due to complications with the pregnancy. The second kind, which is more commonly known as abortion, is when the pregnancy is terminated by inducing birth while the foetus is too undeveloped to survive. This is done by a simple surgical procedure.

The History of Abortion

Abortion in Britain used to be a crime due to the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861. This changed in 1967 when MP David Steel introduced a bill into the House of Commons, which became The Abortion Act of 1967.

Before the 1967 Abortion Act, however, unqualified people that had little or no medical training at all carried out many ‘backstreet’ abortions out every year. These abortions were performed in the most horrific conditions, which sometimes resulted in the death of the mother or she would be left permanently harmed with infertility a frequent result.

The Abortion Act

The Abortion Act of 1967 made abortions legal in the following circumstances:

1. “Two registered practitioners (doctors) had examined the women and agreed than an abortion can be carried out.

2. The abortion had been carried out before ‘the time of viability’ i.e.: the time when the baby could exist on its own outside the mothers womb. Medical opinion at the time put this ‘time of viability’ at 28 weeks of pregnancy but the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990 lowered it to 24 weeks.

The continuation of the pregnancy would involve risk greater to the physical or mental health of the mother or any child within her family than if the pregnancy was terminated.
A termination was necessary to prevent permanent injury or mind of the mother.
There was a real risk that the baby would be born mentally or physically handicapped.”

However, the law allows an abortion at any stage of the pregnancy if:

“If the doctors agree that continuing the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the mother.
If they agree that an abortion is necessary to prevent grave or permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant women.
If there were a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from ‘such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.’

The father of the foetus has no right to be consulted or to ...

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However, the law allows an abortion at any stage of the pregnancy if:

“If the doctors agree that continuing the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the mother.
If they agree that an abortion is necessary to prevent grave or permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant women.
If there were a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from ‘such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.’

The father of the foetus has no right to be consulted or to object to abortion even if he is married to the mother of the child. In 1987 an Oxford student lost the right to prevent his girlfriend having an abortion concerning the child they had conceived together.

What Does an Abortion Involve?

In most cases of abortion the mother is given a general anaesthetic and the neck of the womb is opened. A special set of suction apparatus is used to remove the contents of the uterus; larger pieces of tissue are usually crushed and then removed with forceps. These larger pieces would be the head or torso. Special care is taken to ensure every piece of tissue is removed or this can cause serious harm. This was a major problem with the ‘backstreet’ clinics, before the Abortion Act, which resulted in the death of so many women.

In very late abortions, more common to America, the foetus’ life is ended with an injection of drugs and then labour is induced due to the mother receiving a hormone injection. The dead foetus is given birth to as if it were being born.

Since the early 1990’s a pill has been available that will induce an abortion if it is taken within in the first ten weeks of pregnancy. This is administered in hospitals under specialist care and monitored by the Abortion Law Reform Act.

Christians and Abortion

The traditional Christian teachings place the highest value on human life, which leads to them condemning the idea of abortion. One of the earliest teachings of Christianity not in 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”

If you were to ask the practising Christians in all the denominations what they thought of abortion you would probably find six arguments in their answers.

These six arguments are:

Women should have the right to have an abortion at any time up to the moment of birth no questions asked as it is their bodies and the foetus is part of the woman’s body. This is known as ‘abortion on demand’.
The foetus is a human being but if it is unwanted then it should not have to be cared for and the mother should not have to accept an unwanted burden. As the foetus is in your body, which is your property you are justified in killing it.
The baby can be aborted but only up to a certain point of which it can survive outside the mother’s womb. Before then it is part of the woman’s body and she has the right to decide what happens to it.
The baby is a potential human being with rights and so should normally be protected. Although in some circumstances they agree that abortion should be allowed as a loving course of action such as when the baby is severely handicapped or the pregnancy follows rape or incest. People argue that although it is unpleasant in these circumstances it is the lesser of the two evils.
Abortion is totally wrong and should be once again made illegal in every circumstance. The foetus from the point of conception deserves the same amount of protection and rights as any other member of the family or human race.
Abortion is totally wrong but it should not be made illegal, as it would result in ‘backstreet’ clinics opening up and the death of more women. Abortions will happen even if it is illegal and although it is wrong should be made legal for the protection and safety of the women so that they can be administered in a controlled environment.

The reasons for the different views even if by two members of the same denomination are:

The life and society around them influence Christians as well as their faith.
There has been an increasing feminist influence in American and Western European countries since the sixties with women having a bigger than ever say in the societies around them.
Some denominations teachings on abortion is very unclear and so followers consult other sources for guidance on the subject

Most Christians however would have a very reserved view on abortion, which would reflect their traditional Christian views.

The Different Denominations Views’

In a report published in 1984 the Church of England said that ‘the foetus is to be specially respected and protected’. It went on, however, to say that ‘none the less the life of the foetus is not absolutely sancrosact if it endangers the life of the mother’.

The position of the Church of England is different to that of the Roman Catholic position in some ways but also very similar. It differs in that it does allow in certain circumstances the procedure of abortion. In the General Synod of 1993 the report says:

“That in certain situations where the continuance of a pregnancy threatens the life of a mother a termination of the pregnancy may be justified and that there must be adequate and safe provision in our society for such occasions"

It also goes on to say:

“In efforts to ensure that when abortion has to be undertaken, it is carried out as early as in the pregnancy as possible. On the rare occasions when abortion is carried out after 24 weeks, ‘serious foetal handicap’ should be interpreted strictly as applying to those circumstances where survival is possible only for a very short period”

The Church of England do agree with the Catholic Church in that abortions should not be available on demand and stated in the General Synod of 1993:

“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognised as having the rights of a person- among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that deliberate induced abortion is a serious sin in all circumstances. The Catholic view is that human life begins at the moment of conception. From that moment it is sacred and everybody should try to protect it.

“Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes”

(Vatican П, Gaudium et Spes 51)

The Church’s teaching is explained more fully in the Declaration on Procured Abortion (1974). This helped do three things:

It re stated the traditional beliefs of the church as well as stating that every human not just Christians should have the same respect for life that Catholic belief has.
That women’s rights are a good thing but they do not give a woman the right to deny another person the right to life.
To make an appeal to women that although conception can be due to an evil another evil would not help matters. The best way to deal with it would be moral support. This means that if a woman falls pregnant after rape the woman should not have an abortion but give birth and her family and friends should give her moral and emotional support.