Didache – Old Testament:
“You shalt not kill by abortion the fruit of the womb and you shall not murder the infant already born”
This quote from the Old Testament clearly states that children born or not born have to be protected and not be killed.
Genesis 1:27
“God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them, God blessed and said to them ‘Be fruitful and increase’”
This quote refers to where God tells Man to go forth and increase, so if this was God’s will Christians will argue then who are we to stop it by destroying the foetus while in the womb.
Isaiah 49:15-16
“So the Lord answers,’ Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you. Jerusalem. I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of my hand”
This quotes says that if a woman can forget her baby God never forgets his children, even if they’ve been aborted. Christians will use this quote to say ‘even if society forgets God never does’
The Psalmist addresses God in Psalm 139:13 and 15
“You created every part of me, you put me together in my mother’s womb . . .
When I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there, you saw me before I was born”
This quote from the psalmist talks about how God knows even if the mother doesn’t that a new life has been created inside of her. He tells God how God knew he was there before any one else did.
Luke 12:6
“Jesus added: ‘aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one sparrow is forgotten by God. Even the hairs on your head have been counted.’
This quote talks about how all children and God remembers all people and he knows everything about them.
How Do Christians respond to the question of abortion?
Christianity traditionally places the highest value upon the life of a person and so thus condemns abortion. This is shown in the quotes above. However upon asking friends who are Christians and also having a talk by Jerry Bendal this is not a unanimous view for Christians around the world. There are six main views used by Christians.
- There is the view that people support “abortion on demand”. Feminists because of the fact they feel the foetus is part of the woman’s body so she should have control over it usually take this view.
- Another strong view is that of those who believe that abortion is ok as long as it is done before the point of where the baby can live outside of the mother.
- A strong view in America is that an unwanted baby is like some one attempting to break into your home. In America the law allows homicide in defence of your property. This is known as a justifiable homicide.
- This next view was the most common amongst the Christians I spoke to. They believe that abortion is only justifiable in sever circumstances. These include when the baby may be born with severe abnormalities or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
- The next view is known as the realist view. This view is that of those that think abortion should be legal. Not because they don’t think the foetus is a person or because they don’t believe you have the right to kill it but because of another reason. This being that abortions will always take place whether legal or not and it is better to make it legal so to have safe conditions for it to be carried out in. Otherwise if illegal then back street abortionists would open and many women would try to abort the baby themselves, both of these are very unsafe.
- There is also the hard line attitude of those that believe life begins at the conception and so this life deserves protection as any other person does.
You may be thinking to yourself how can a true Christian allow abortion well there are reasons why these Christians think the way they do. Christians are influenced by the society around them as well as their faith, feminism has increased a lot in the western world and also some churches communities do not give clear guidelines on the issue of abortion.
The Church teachings on abortion
The Church of England: (from a report in 1984) ‘the foetus is to be specially respected and protected’. It carried onto say ‘nonetheless the life of the foetus is not absolutely sacrosanct if it endangers the life of the mother.
The Church of Scotland: In 1987 the church community came to this conclusion ‘abortion has no moral justification and represents the unwarranted destruction of human life that is made in the image of God.’ It did however say that this was only in the majority of cases thus meaning that sometimes abortion is ok.
Roman Catholic: The Roman Catholic teaching believes that life starts from the moment of conception. So it believe that abortion is wrong unless in extreme circumstances such as the mothers life was at risk. In a statement made by the Roman Catholic Church in 1974 it stated the women’s right movement was a good thing but it is no excuse for abortions. This is the Roman Catholic teaching, “From the time that the a life is begun which is nether that of the father nor of the mother. It is rather the life of a new human being with its own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already”. From this you can see that they believe in life at conception
Is Abortion Ever Justified?
There are two schools of thought upon the statement above. There are those hardliners that believe whatever the situation abortion is never justified. Then there are those that believe abortion is justified either all the time or only in certain circumstances.
Those that believe that abortion is wrong at all times when debating this point call upon the fundamental laws of Christianity which is to protect life. They will use the quotes I have already used in this piece of coursework to show the importance of life. Societies are setup made of people who feel this way to try and stop abortions. These include Life and the SPUC (The society for the protection of unborn children). Both societies have the same goals but go about it in different ways. LIFE gives counseling to pregnant women thinking about having an abortion. They do most of their work through church parishes. The SPUC on the other hand campaigns hard for the law to be changed by lobbying petitions and other actions.
Then there are those who believe that in certain circumstances abortion is ok. This includes the three church groups already mentioned in this coursework. This is the great majority of people as if it wasn’t the law would not exist. They believe that in circumstances such as if the baby was going to be severely handicapped, or if the pregnancy were due to rape or incest then abortion would be the lesser of the two evils as the baby being born would cause more harm.
I personally am in the latter group. This is simply because if you ban abortions you are denying people a choice they should be able to make in a safe way. Also I also agree that sometimes it is the lesser evil and it should be taken as the option to go for
ABORTION
By Mandar. N 11DB 11X1
ABORTION FACTS
