Christians understand that the bible teaches that people are reflections of God and that everyone has a soul which continues to thrive after the body has died and joins God in heaven. Some passages of the Bible also teach that God has planned each being and planted them in the womb:
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together
In my mother’s womb.”
This backs up the Christians point of view giving a strong argument for abortion and reasons using references from the Bible and what God seemingly wanted.
Some churches would believe abortion to be allowed because there are some situations where the most loving thing to do would be to abort the pregnancy. One situation would be where the mother is endangered by the pregnancy and a possible effect of this would be the death of both the mother and the child. The most loving thing to do in the situation would be to save the mother by aborting the foetus. The United Reformed church believes that there is a difference between an undeveloped embryo and a foetus about to be born. They would not think of a few-week-old embryo as a child. They believe that sometimes abortion is necessary but that it should be taken seriously. Another possible scenario would be mother pregnant with the child of a rapist. This is a tough question, but would you keep the baby or not? The Church of England would allow an abortion because of the trauma involved with raising the child and the “father”. Two reasons for allowing abortion are if the child is so handicapped that it would have very little chance of survival and no quality of life. The most loving thing would be to “put the child down”. These Christians support this by saying that we put wounded animals out of their misery, yet we cannot do the same with a child who would be close to death all through their life. Another reason for having an abortion would be if the mother was too young to even think about raising children yet. They might still be at school and unable to cope with a child independently. Christians could argue against the Roman Catholic belief that we are playing God by saying that if God planned every life, than he must have planned for the man or woman who invented abortion, to invent abortion.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you
were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet
To the nations.”
This suggests that God did indeed plan the life of the inventor of abortion.
These Christians who would allow abortion base their view on the principle in the Bible that women should be allowed to make their own choices with their own body. Women have the right to decide. It would be a traumatic decision and would not be made lightly.
The Bible itself is not a textbook with specific rules for a Christian to follow. It has guidance and advice although sometimes it is hard to understand and often conflicts with itself. Different people take the principles different ways. The bible does not have a lot of references to abortion because in the days when it was written, abortion was not an issue. It had not been invented. However it does give some guidance, like having planned every new person being born. The bible stresses the sanctity of life, where humanity is made in the image of God and people are commanded not to murder:
“Thou shall not murder”
Some Christians believe that God plans every birth so therefore it is wrong to spoil this plan by preventing the baby from being born either using contraception or an abortion. The bible also suggests that causing the death of an unborn child is not as serious as other forms of murder:
“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, foot for foot, burn for burn,
Wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”
This suggests that the foetus is considered to have the protection of the law, but that causing the death of an unborn child is not as serious as other forms of killing. The punishment suggested is a fine, and severe penalties are only recommended if there is no further harm.
Some examples of Christians unsure of the possibilities would try some different options of counselling or guidance. They might go and see two different churches and hear their points of view. Roman Catholics would be strongly against abortion and The Church of England would consider the reasons for aborting the pregnancy and then decide on the most rational action to take. One example of this kind of situation was the story of a girl named Sammi who realised she was pregnant and was unsure on what to do. She was unsettled about talking to the father and was not really ready to have a child being only very young. She talked to her parents and they gave her their opinion. Yet she was still unsure. Her two options could have been to hear different religious beliefs and to decide then.
Moral decisions take time to make and can be quite traumatic. One way that most Christians use is to follow a simple set of guidelines. Firstly they would enquire into the teachings of the bible. They might ask the question: “Does it give clear guidance?” If the answer is yes then they can make the decision without further research. If the answer is no, they might ask the Church Leadership. They might move on to ask themselves: “What would Jesus have done in this situation?” Next they might try conscience-guided prayer and all this should lead them to making the decision and taking action.
I agree with the Church of England because I believe that they have the most rational and sensible approach to the problem. The take time to consider the problem and what action should be taken and the reasons, whereas the Catholic Church just say “No.” Whatever the situation, they seem to say no. I think that this can be inconsiderate especially in a rape circumstance. I could not have the heart to have a rapist’s child and then tell it that the only reason it was born was that I had been raped. If I had the child and did not tell it, its whole life would be a lie, and I could not cope with that. I understand that it is not the child’s fault and that it is ruthless to kill it, but I could not see it grow up without thinking for a moment about that rapist. I believe that life begins when the foetus begins to show human features and can begin to survive by itself, because when it is an embryo, it could be any other animal, be it a whale or a cheetah. I do believe that people have souls but I also believe that every other animal has a soul too. I believe that it develops the souls when its heart begins to beat. So I don’t enjoy abortion, but I do think it should be taken seriously and for all the right reasons.
