Biblical View on Abortion
Few topics result in as much debate, controversy, emotion and rhetoric as the question of abortion. A lot of books articles speeches have been written and demonstrations were done on this particular topic. However, many of these don’t seem to have a concrete answer on this one topic. One of these books is the Bible. Whereas the word abortion is not mentioned in the Bible, a lot in the Bibles speaks to the issue.
When analyzing the Biblical view on abortion, the big question raised is, “When does life actually begin?” Another is, “how does life begin?” From the Bible, God is acknowledged as the creator of all things, and He is the source of all life. When God created the first man Adam, he was not alive until God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”, when he “became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). In the same way, it is not a chemical reaction that makes an unborn child live, but the breath that God has breathed into him, and nobody can know when that takes place. Thus in the biblical view a human being’s life begins at birth and God is depicted as the sole giver of life and abortion regarded as a violation of God’s right to give and take life.
The Bible also teaches us that human beings are created in God’s image, and He has created each one according to His divine purpose – it is not up to other people to decide who may live and who must die. God shows not partiality whatsoever, including the weak, the disadvantaged – and the unborn. Here, Bible also goes ahead and disdains the act of abortion,
The scripture repeatedly condemns the killing of the incident. It is written in the commandments, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17 ) and Christ reaffirms it in Matthew 19:18. The killing of children is especially condemned by God tgrough thr prophets . In the land God gave his people to occupy , foreign nations had the custom of sacrificing some of their children in the fire. God told his people that they were not to share in this sin. This sin of child sacrifing is to blame for the destruction of the Kindgom of Israel confirmings Gods stand on the whole issue of killing, which includes abortion.
Whereas most passages in the Bible are seen to go against abortion. There are special instances where exceptions are made and abortion is acceptable. Numbers 5:11-12 describes the test of the adulterous wife. If a man was suspicious of his wife’s fidelity, he would take her to the high priest, who would make a beverage for the woman to drink made from water and “dust from the tabernacle floor”. Supposedly, if she had been unfaithful “her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry,” and if she was innocent the drink had no effect.
Furthermore, Tertullian, a 3rd-century Christian theologian, contended that abortion should be conducted only in situations in which irregular positioning of the fetus in the womb would risk the life of the pregnant woman.
In conclusion, neither the idea that life begins at conception nor the idea that God opposes abortion, are well-supported by scripture. In fact, if supposedly divine and inerrant scripture is taken seriously, precisely the opposite is true. It is hardly surprising then that several Christian denominations and many Christian leaders, take a different view from the Roman Catholic Church on this topic.
https://activechristianity.org
https://activechristianity.org/abortion-a-christian-perspective
Wilson-kastner P, Blair B.
https://www.biblestudytools.com
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/abortion-in-the-bible/