Faced with the issues of abortion and euthanasia, explain the different ways Christians might respond.

     However looking at this situation from a Protestant perspective it would be acceptable for the woman to have an abortion as having the baby would remind her of the trauma of the sexual crime and the child may not be brought into the world into a loving family, as it should deserve. It is in this way that views differ, members of the Christian Churches accept that sometimes abortion may be the lesser of 2 evils like in the result of a sexual crime, if the child was sought to be handicapped, deformed or likely to die soon after birth and if the foetus is likely to endanger the life of the mother. There are also some extreme exceptions for Catholics. The principal of double effect in the Roman Catholic church if in some complex situations like if the mother was likely to die would allow an abortion to take place, and there are also some occasions where an operation needs to be carried out with a purpose to cure a life threatening disease which may kill an unborn child, the Roman Catholic church teaches that this is permissible and necessary.

     When faced with issues of euthanasia different most Christians react in similar ways.

Some Christians think it is acceptable to help someone to die by stopping their medication, turning off a life support machine etc as long as they are not directly taking their life simply putting a stop to methods that are trying to preserve it.

The Roman Catholic belief is that any action intended to cause death as a relief from suffering is," a grave violation of the laws of God" (John Paul II). Catholics believe that no one should try to take someone's life for them, as it is still a form of killing. But they do not believe that life has to be preserved at all costs and find turning off a life support machine acceptable if the person can no way be cured and is otherwise in a vegetative state. Christians also support the use of painkillers such as morphine, which hasten death provided their aim is to ease pain. If a Christian had a friend who was terminally ill and dying and asked them to help them to die quicker as they were suffering a Christian may agree to do so because they think it is more 'loving' than to let their friend experience immense suffering or they may stop their medication which is keeping them alive to help them die faster.