Why is abortion wrong, and why are Christians Pro-Life?

Question

Bible sources?

Answer 1

The Bible never specifically addresses the issue of abortion. However, there are numerous teachings in Scripture that make it abundantly clear what God’s view of abortion is. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that God knows us before He knits us in the womb. Psalm 139:13-16 speaks of God’s active role in our creation and formation in the womb. Exodus 21:22-25 prescribes the same penalty for someone who causes the death of a baby in the womb as the penalty for someone who commits murder. This clearly indicates that God considers a baby in the womb as just as much of a human being as a full-grown adult. For the Christian, abortion is not a matter of a woman’s right to choose. It is a matter of the life or death of a human being made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27; 9:6).

Answer 2

Christians believe that life is a gift from God. Therefore, it is wrong to take innocent life -- although there are exceptions such as war where life sometimes needs to be sacrificed. (Note: not every killing in war is justified nor is every war justified, but that is not your question so I won't elaborate.)

A fetus (as it is popularly called) is a living human being. We know this because the fetus is the product of human reproduction. The law of biogenesis says that a being can only produce more of its own kind -- for example, cows can only bring forth more cows, not horses or ducks. Thus, the fetus, which is the product of human reproduction, is a human being. It can't be anything else.

Moreover, the fetus is alive. If left to follow its normal course, it would grow to be a full grown human being. It is not somehow dead before it is born.

Since the fetus is a living human being from the moment of conception, it is wrong to kill it. Abortion kills an innocent human being.

Is there a good justification for the killing? Ask yourself this: if the same justification were offered for the killing of a two year old that is offered for the killing of a fetus through abortion, would that be justified? "I can't handle having a child right now," is not justification for killing a two year old. "The child is going to have a birth defect," is not justification for killing a two year old. If they aren't justification for killing a two year old, they aren't justification for killing a fetus.

That, in a nutshell, is the basic Christian argument against abortion.

Answer 3

Think the abortion debate is a recent problem? Think again! It literally has been an issue since the conception of Christendom. Christianity had for many centuries held that the distruction of an unborn child was murder. As christianity grew and alternative viewpoints crept into the mainstream, many christians compromised the earlier teachings.

In fact, St. Augustine (354-430 CE) reversed centuries of Christian teaching in Western Europe, and returned to the Aristotelian concept of "delayed ensoulment." He wrote [St. Augustine, "On Exodus", (21, 80)] that a human soul cannot live in an unformed body. Thus, early in pregnancy, an abortion is not murder because no soul is destroyed (or, more accurately, only a vegetable or animal soul is terminated). He wrote extensively on sexual matters, teaching that the original sin of Adam and Eve are passed to each successive generation through the pleasure generated during sexual intercourse. This passed into the church's canon law. Only abortion of a more fully developed "fetus animatus" (animated fetus) was punished as murder.

Augustine had little influence over the beliefs of Eastern Christianity. They retained their original anti-abortion stance.

St. Jerome wrote in a letter to Aglasia: "The seed gradually takes shape in the uterus, and it [abortion] does not count as killing until the individual elements have acquired their external appearance and their limbs" (St Jerome, "Epistle" (121, 4))

Starting in the 7th century CE, a series of penitentials were written in the West. These listed an array of sins, with the penance that a person must observe as punishment for the sin. Certain "sins" which prevented conception had particularly heavy penalties. These included:

practicing a particularly ineffective form of birth control, coitus interruptus (withdrawal of the penis prior to ejaculation)
engaging in oral sex or anal sex
becoming sterile by artificial means, such as by consuming sterilizing poisons.

Abortion, on the other hand, required a less serious penance. Theodore, who organized the English church, assembled a penitential about 700 CE. Oral intercourse required from 7 years to a lifetime of penance; abortion required only 120 days.

Pope Stephen V (served 885-891) wrote in 887 CE: "If he who destroys what is conceived in the womb by abortion is a murderer, how much more is he unable to excuse himself of murder who kills a child even one day old." "Epistle to Archbishop of Mainz."

Pope Innocent III (?-1216) wrote a letter which ruled on a case of a Carthusian monk who had arranged for his female lover to obtain an abortion. The Pope decided that the monk was not guilty of homicide if the fetus was not "animated."

Early in the 13th century, Pope Innocent III stated that the soul enters the body of the fetus at the time of "quickening" - when the woman first feels movement of the fetus. After ensoulment, abortion was equated with murder; before that time, it was a less serious sin, because it terminated only potential human life, not human life.

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) also considered only the abortion of an "animated" fetus as murder.

Pope Sixtus V issued a Papal bull "Effraenatam" in 1588 which threatened those who carried out abortions at any stage of gestation with excommunication and the death penalty. Pope Gregory XIV revoked the Papal bull shortly after taking office in 1591. He reinstated the "quickening" test, which he said happened 116 days into pregnancy (16½ weeks).

So, this is by no means a new question. The scriptures are clear how God feels about life. His instituted laws protecting the fetus, the poetry of David concerning his development, giving Jah the glory for such a wonderful way that he was made, is a testament to the love He has towards ALL mankind, even the unborn.

Answer 4

conflict is incorrect, yet there does come a time whilst it rather is needed. The Iraq conflict grow to be no longer needed. yet wars like the yank Revolution have been needed. attempting to locate game is incorrect. I purely trust looking in case you will rather consume what you kill. Abortion is incorrect. it rather is homicide. the pro-selection people will cry concerning to the female's rights. What concerning to the rights of the unborn toddler? So egocentric. i do no longer agree that "cells" are people. they have the aptitude to create human existence. it fairly is a grey area, and that i'm not sure on that. i'm specific that females miscarry "cells" better than you could actually think of. The introduction of a toddler is via no ability an hassle-free technique, even from a organic and organic viewpoint.

Answer 5

First of all I keep seeing rape as an excuse for abortion. I believe that the penality for rape should be so drastic that people will think twice before considering rape.Like cutting the man's member off if convicted in a court of law for rape.
Abortion is always wrong because it is murder(The shedding of innocent blood).
And as far as people presnting scriptures to say otherwise, those scriptures were taken out of context. God does not approve of abortion,nor shall He ever approve of it.

Answer 6

Deuteronomy 30:19
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live/

Why would you think that abortion is wrong- it takes the life of one of God's most precious creations- a baby. That child's heart is beating only 3 weeks after conception, which is before the majority of women even know that they are pregnant. God gives life= and we have no right to take it, no matter what stage of life we are in.

Answer 7

Many Christians believe the baby has a soul from conception and is thus a human being.

In the case of rape, it does seem strange that some pro-lifers want to kill the baby for what the father did.

Answer 8

Im not sure, but i think christians don't like abortion because they think that even a not born yet baby already has a spirit, and they think it is like killing a normal person. I know this chinese girl who's parents were thinking of abortion , but they didn't and sent her to an orphanage. she was adopted by a couple in my city, and she grew up to be a real genius. You never know who the baby could turn out to be. it could be an albert einstein.

Answer 9

I believe that life begins at conception and because of that belief, an abortion would be morally wrong for me.

However, I have no right to impose my beliefs on others. Women have the right to make their own choices when it comes to their bodies.

Answer 10

They believe there is an invisible type of energy called a soul that makes a person alive. They think that this energy goes into the cells the moment the sperm cell fertilizes the egg cell. So if you were to dispose of these cells, it is the same as killing an actual person, because they both are inhabited by the same life energy.

There is no proof of any of this and the soul cannot be observed or measured. It is regarded as a primitive superstition by many.