This act meant that all abortions had to be performed by NHS medical practitioner or in a department of health approved location. This also made abortions legal if: 1) Risk to life of mother if pregnancy continued, more so than the abortion
2) The termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
3) The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
4) The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of any existing children of the family of the pregnant woman.
5) There is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped, or in emergency, certified by the operating practitioners as immediately necessary-
6) To save the life of the pregnant woman;
7) To prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (HFEA).
This meant that after 24 weeks an abortion is only allowed to take place if there is ‘a greater risk to the physical or mental health of the mother than if the pregnancy was terminated or if there is a greater risk of injury to the physical or mental health of any existing children in the family than if the pregnancy is terminated.’ And between 24 and 40 weeks, an abortion is only legitimate if the ‘mother’s life is in danger, if grave permanent injury to the physical of mental life of the mother might occur or if there is a substantial risk to the child being born with physical or mental abnormalities so that it would be seriously handicapped.’
Requires Christian teachings:
There is no direct biblical reference to abortion in OT or NT
There are no direct biblical references to abortion even though abortions did happen in biblical times. The few references there are, are all open to interpretation, this means that the case for/against abortion is equal, and some Christians are divided from their church because of their beliefs. This is wrong because Christian churches are supposed to be a gathering of people alike to each other.
The only passage from the bible slightly concerning abortion is in the old testament: 'If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.' This passage shows that in God’s eyes the life of a foetus is completely equal to the life of an adult and if the life of the foetus is taken, so must the life of the murderer. Pro-lifers can use this passage and say the punishment for abortion is death to the mother, however, pro-choice Christians can overturn the argument and say that the passage actually says that if the mother dies then the attacker must die, etc. This quote could say that if the foetus dies then the killer must be fined! Pro-choice Christians could say that this shows the bible deems the life of a foetus less than the life of the mother and so ensoulment isn’t at conception after all.
Pro-choice references
Pro-choice is the debate for the life and right of the mother to do what she feels best to do to her body. Someone forcing the mother to continue with an unwanted pregnancy is denying her own human rights.
Some pro-choice Christians often say that the foetus doesn’t have a soul therefore it doesn’t have the same rights as children do. Other Pro-choice Christians say that the mother has been wrongly inhabited by the foetus insider her. This can counterattack any evidence about the foetus being alive from conception, it is originally from Judith Jarvis Thomson’s Defence of abortion: ‘a famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist’s circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own…To unplug you would be to kill him…Is it morally incumbent on you to accede to this situation?…All persons have a right to life, and violinists are persons. Granted you have a right to decide what happens in and to your body. So you cannot ever be unplugged from him.’
Protestants believe in the situation ethics when it comes to abortion for example if a woman is raped and becomes pregnant that would make an abortion acceptable.
Pro-choice Christians often claim that verses used for pro-life arguments are actually to do with a particular situation and a particular person not a general case of pregnancy.
Pro-life references
Pro-life is the debate stressing the right to the foetus’ life.
In an argument concerning abortion, Pro-life Christians almost always use the quote: 'You shall not murder' (Exodus 20:13). They argue that abortion goes against this law because it is murdering the innocent child.
Another view is that of Natural law, this says the consequence of pregnancy is birth so the woman must go through with it. Within the bible it states that life begins before the embryo is created: 'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you that I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be' (Psalm 139:13-16)
The sanctity of life is also often used in argument. This is about how man was created in the image of God and so all human life (including foetal) is sacred and must never be taken by other individuals because it is God’s concession to give life and take it away, for a human to do this it is sin. In addition, the 10 commandments state that ‘You shall not utter the Lord’s name in vain’. Abortion is the exploitation of God’s creation and since each of us are made in his image it is an offence against his name. Abortion is destroying God’s giving and taking of life, which is his right only.
The creed is yet another moral case, this states that God is the father of all humanity including unborn, and there’s the matter of the incarnation and resurrection of the body:
‘I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.’
All Christians believe that Jesus meant for us to follow in his example, and he respected people and was sympathetic to their needs. Especially those in need of compassion, for example the unloved, lepers and women caught in adultery. Pro-life Christians believe that this shows that the unwanted ones in the womb (handicapped) should be treated with the same respect Jesus proclaimed for the unwanted in his time.
Another reason is love, throughout his life, and especially at the last supper, Jesus told his disciples to love. Love involves wishing good of the other and desiring the other to continue in being, it is to prefer the other to yourself. Pro-life Christians claim abortion is completely disobeying this reference.
Despite all of these rules, supposedly tarnished by abortion, some pro-life Christians accept that the taking of life can be justified as long as the person isn’t an innocent person. I think that this is warped because all of humanity is tainted in some way, except young children and the unborn, so this is saying that Christians can murder pretty much anyone and claim that those people were not innocent and so be admitted into heaven.
Modern Church teachings
In all churches there is never a complete agreement when it comes to abortion or when it comes to the beginning of human life.
The Baptist Union of Great Britain believe that sometimes abortion can be the least of two evils. For example, when the life of the mother is at stake and she has made relationships with others that would be grievously disturbed if she died, whereas the foetus has not. The protagonists defend either the ‘rights’ of the foetus or the ‘rights’ of the mother to do what she likes with her body. Most Baptist favour restriction to abortion even though it is legal in the UK and they believe that the age of the foetus at which it is aborted should be brought down.
The Roman Catholic Church believes ensoulment occurs at the time of conception. However Thomas Aquinas said that boys got their soul at 40 days and girls at 90 days. The Roman Catholic Church also doesn’t believe that abortion can be justified, they believe that the natural law states that once a woman becomes pregnant she should continue with it.
The Protestant church thinks that there are certain situations where abortion is unavoidable – the choice between two evils e.g. a younger woman might not be able to love her child as the child should be, because the child brings limits to her own life – education, love, friendships.
Nonetheless, all Christian churches accept abortion when the mother’s life is at stake.
Roman Catholics recommend adoption in hard-choice cases and they believe that God gives life so it is sacred ‘created in the image of God’
The Methodist Church believes that life doesn’t begin until the baby has a chance to survive on its own without the mother. Think abortion is wrong but can be justified.
Explain how Christians might put beliefs into action
Obedience to teachings of denomination or revolt from teachings in actual practice.
- The tendency of the Roman Catholic church is mainly conservative.
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Some Christians believe that the foetus once aborted, will go straight to heaven and miss all the pain and suffering on earth. For example, from a forum on a Christian website (address available in the bibliography), ‘don’t all aborted foetuses automatically go to heaven? So what's the problem here? Heaven is paradise and the earth is the "devil's playground" (as I’ve heard more than one christian say) so isn't it then like going from point A to point C without the suffering and pain that B entails? Seems to me that from this perspective abortion would be merciful and even a good thing to do. One would know FOR SURE that their "child" was in heaven instead of hell... isn't that preferable? If living on earth is nothing but carnal sin and is considered going down the slide on the "devils playground" why not just circumvent this all together?’ The reply to this message was an obedient reply contradicting this revolt from the Christian teachings: ‘Abortion is evil. Everything happens for a reason. Butchering and ripping up an innocent unborn child and then suctioning out his or her body parts in bloody pieces is not something that the Everlasting and Almighty God of Heaven would condone.’
- However, in many Christian denominations such as the Methodist church, there cannot be a revolt from their teachings concerning abortion because the biblical teachings say nothing directly to do with abortion. Some Christians oppose this by saying there is nothing directly to do with Murderers and Rapists either.
Figures and statistics of Christian opinion confirming above revolt/obedience.
These figures show the number of votes from Christian Mps in this country. This pie chart clearly shows that almost three-quarters of the population are pro-choice, this could be because these Christians have been in a situation where an abortion is an option or the Christian may have known a person to be in that position. These Christians would know how hard the situation is to cope with, exclusive of the fact that abortion could be illegal. The pro-life Christians are very conservative and take their biblical teachings incredibly literally.
Actions
Christians express their beliefs and offer help in many ways, here are a few examples:
Setting up websites with helpful advice and stories of others in the same position so they don’t feel alone. They also often have forums where Christians can talk together and discuss their problems with others. An example of this is , and
Christians both pro-life and pro-choice have set up websites campaigning against each other, and telling the world why they’re pro-life/choicers and the reasons for that. Websites like this enable Christians with the same beliefs to make friends and begin something even better than an information website. An example of a website is
There are many different prayers and sermons for women in need of support published all over the world on the internet, designed specifically for women in trouble. An example of one is: ‘Prayer for Those Who Choose Adoption
Written by Jackie Heil of Kansas, a foster mother who has cared for more than 100 babies waiting to be adopted.
God of the Universe:
We pray for birth mothers. We ask for informed maturity, compassionate ears and shoulders, and tough love to help them make good choices for themselves and their children. Comfort those who grieve and give them faith and confidence in the future.
We pray for foster mothers. We give thanks for the willing hands and hearts of those who choose to care for babies and children in foster care. Give them patience and understanding and wisdom for the role they have chosen as temporary and long-term caretakers of little people.
We pray for the families who find joy and fulfilment in choosing to adopt. Be with those who come to terms with the pain of infertility, and inspire all of us who have room in our hearts and homes to include children with special needs in our families.
Bless all our children and families, and grant that we may find and reflect your love as we care for each other.
Amen.’
- There are also many Christian groups campaigning against abortion such as, ‘SPUC’ (Society for the protection of the unborn children). This group works for protective legalisation for the unborn. Another group is ‘Life’ This group offers advice and help to those considering abortion; they also campaign and disseminate anti-abortion literature.
Individual cases
Cases of abortion are posted all over the Internet, this is so a pregnant woman or a boyfriend of a pregnant woman, Christian or not can see that she/he is not alone. An example of a hard choice case is posted on . Dara was fifteen when she became pregnant, Dara’s boyfriend wanted her to get an abortion and pressed her into it but Dara didn’t want to: ‘There was no way I would ever kill the baby by having an abortion. Plus I didn't think it was the baby's fault that I got pregnant.’ Dara’s mum pushed her in the opposite direction and refused to let her have an abortion. ‘She also told me if I even thought of having an abortion she would kill me.’
Dara discovered she was going to have boy twins and the news brought her much excitement. She told her boyfriend who then stopped seeing her. Dara felt a slight remorse for her boyfriend but she remained strong and couldn’t wait for the birth. ‘They would make me feel special when they would move and I would see my stomach moving like waves. I got huge but I didn't care. I wanted my boys to come out healthy. I loved them already.’
Dara ended up having the twins and completely refused to put them up for abortion. She was fifteen.
A news report by Tim Reid in ‘The Times’ headlined ‘Anti-abortion killer inflames US with call to arms’ talks about an anti-abortion extremist, Paul Hill. Paul Hill was forty-nine when he was executed for killing an abortionist, John Britton and his security escort, James Barrett. Throughout his interview with US television on the 3rd of September, Paul Hill remained proud and calm of what he’d done, despite the fact that he was about to be executed. ‘”I don’t feel remorse, I look forward to glory…more people should act as I have acted”.’ Clearly, Paul Hill believed his murder was justifiable. His supporters thought he was a martyr while those who loathed him believed him a murderer, those reading this news report are entitled to their opinion and I think those opinions are widely spread. In the new testament of the bible, it says that Jesus became angry with a group of gamblers. This was because they were betting in the temple so he threw them out. However the gamblers having done the worse wrong justified this anger, could Paul Hill’s murder be justified because he killed someone who kills the unborn, in the same way Jesus’ wrath was acceptable? Or is murder completely separate from wrath, murder being against the Ten Commandments and wrath being one of the deadly sins. These are the colliding views of Christians reading this story; views that I feel are both slightly disconcerting.
A story of a pro-choice Christian is posted on prochoice.org, this story is of a woman who became pregnant at twenty-one. From the beginning all she considered was abortion, ‘The first thought and each thought after that was abortion’ she was about to lose her job and she couldn’t figure out how she would look after a baby with no money. To herself and her parents she was a failure, when she looked at her baby for the first time in the sonogram at the clinic, she cried. ‘I cried because I was not following my plan. Finish college, start career, marry husband, five years after have kids, live happily ever after. I cried because this was the child I wanted to have in eight years with my husband. This was the child I would not have because I chose not to bring it into chaos. This was the child I did not want - not now…If I had the chance to take it all back would I still have an abortion? Yes. If abortion were illegal would I still try to have an abortion? Yes.’ This quotation shows just how huge these motives are to a pregnant or non-pregnant lady of 21, it also shows how pressured young women are today. This girl felt as though she was a failure because she became pregnant, her parents made her feel like a failure because of her simple status. This demonstrates the majority of the Christian community today, and it shows the many angles pro-choice Christians come from.
Another story is a really extreme example of a pro-life Christian, denied her human right to choose. It was posted on www.abortionfacts.com; Doris Kalasky was raped by her father and became pregnant. She didn’t tell her parents but when she became very ill one night, they took her to hospital where she was diagnosed with a bad case of the flu and she was 19 weeks pregnant. Her father became incredibly angry and accused her of masses of things even though he knew the truth.
Doris Kalasky had seen a film in her religious studies class called ‘the silent scream’ it had shown what an abortion was and what happened. She refused to have the abortion knowing too well who the father was, she felt guilty but she wouldn’t murder her baby.
Her father went into an uncontrollable rage and tried to force the doctor to give Doris the abortion, he refused because of Doris’ wishes. But Doris’ father found an abortionist willing to do it for a lot of money: ‘Within one hour, this man arrived at the hospital, talked with my parents and decided to do the abortion, without speaking to me. I refused and tried to get off the examining table. He then asked three nurses to hold me while he strapped me to the bed and injected me with a muscle relaxant to keep me from struggling while he prepared to kill my baby. I continued to scream that I didn't want an abortion. He told me, "Shut up and quit that yelling!" Eventually, I was placed under general anaesthesia and my child was brutally killed…I was violated and betrayed over and over by my father, who God created to love and protect me. I was humiliated, hurt, and yes, violated again by the abortionist.’
‘Abortion is never justified’
I do agree with this quotation however I do think that mothers should be able to choose whether to have an abortion or not, depending on their own circumstances but they’ll have to deal with their own grief and guilt after the abortion. Personally I would never have an abortion whatever the situation, if I did I know that the remorse and struggle would be ten times worse than if I had kept the child. Hard-choice cases are extremely hard for the mother, in fact whatever decision the mother makes is going to be hard for her to bear, but there’s only one path for the baby to take. If the mother has an abortion then it’s an impossible situation for the baby, whereas if the mother doesn’t have an abortion then it’s still hard for her but the baby is alive and has a chance at life.
I believe that it is incredibly selfish of mothers to have an abortion for trivial reasons such as they’re underage, too old or the child is handicapped or anything like that. A few of the only abortions I deem as unselfish are if the mother was raped or if there’s an enormous chance of the baby’s death shortly after birth. If I was raped and became pregnant I wouldn’t want a constant reminder of what happened, but that’s what I don’t want, and there are alternatives to abortion such as adoption, at least the baby would have receive opportunities of his/her own and obtain human rights just like any person. In the case of the child dying soon after death, I think she/he should be aborted as soon as possible after conception, it is obviously in God’s plan for them to die before they live any way and I think that this may well be the most compassionate, least painful way of the child dying for both the mother and the child.
Reasons for wanting an abortion are:
Underage pregnancy
Handicap – Down’s syndrome/Encephalic
Elderly motherhood
Mother’s life is at risk – Entopic pregnancy
Limiting size of family
Gender abnormality of foetus
Pregnant due to rape
Unplanned pregnancy
Pro-life Christians believe that the taking of an innocent life can never be justified. They believe that Christians have the responsibility to make the kingdom of God on earth; evidence of this is in the Lord’s Prayer. Pro-lifers state that Christians must defend everyone’s rights particularly those who are innocent.
Pro-choice and pro-abortion advocates say that the foetus cannot have human rights because it is not developed into a human yet, however Rabbi Balfour Brickner, National Director of the Commission on Interfaith Activities, says: "Jewish law is quite clear in its statement that an embryo is not reckoned a viable living thing (in Hebrew, bar kayama) until thirty days after its birth. One is not allowed to observe the Laws of Mourning for an expelled foetus. As a matter of fact, these Laws are not applicable for a child who does not survive until his thirtieth day."
This passage renders many Christians’ believes about abortion useless, the favourite quote ‘Thou shalt not kill’ in the pro-life arguments, becomes completely unrelated as the foetus is proved to be insignificant. The bible’s old testament is all made out of Jewish scriptures so this is relevant to this argument.
Nonetheless, the Jewish argument is rather extraneous when you contemplate the foetus’ right to life, but then you could consider that the mother also has a right to life and if there was such a drastic choice as either her life or the child’s life I believe that the child’s life should be saved over the mothers, this is because the mother has had more of a life than the child. My point of view of when a foetus gains human rights is at conception and will continue to develop and grow for at least twenty years, not nine months.
When it comes to abortion, more often than not, the mother sustains a blind hatred for the foetus growing inside her, this is because the mother knows of the mental consequences of abortion for her and tries to distance herself from herself effectively. The mother cannot blame the foetus for using the resources from her body and being in her body because that was a choice she made before having sexual intercourse. This is of course unless she was raped, but this in itself is just like an abortion. The rape is the harming of an innocent woman whereas the abortion is the harming of an innocent child. Both of these are violent acts done in response to obscure and difficult situations and both harshly victimise the innocent. As terrible as it is for the raped mother, isn’t it even worse for the act to be taken out on the child? Instead of the mother seeing the child as the outcome, a simple product, from the incident, she should see the child as a reminder of how she managed to get through the ordeal. Of course this is extremely hard but at the end of the day a child is a child, whatever the situation at the scene of his/her conception.
Bibliography
THE TIMES – Thursday September 4th 2003
Abortion handout given by Mr. Thom
Judith Jarvis Thomson: A defence of abortion, ‘Philosophy and public affairs.’ Reprinted in ‘Moral Problems’.
Bible
