Abortion

Abortion

There are several biblical passages that treat the issue of the destruction of unborn children.

Exodus 21:22-25 HCSB "When men get in a fight, and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely, but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman's husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment. 23 If there is an injury, then you must give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.
2 Kings 8:12 HCSB and Hazael asked, "Why is my lord weeping?" He replied, "Because I know the evil you will do to the people of Israel. You will set their fortresses on fire. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will dash their little ones to pieces. You will rip open their pregnant women."
Hosea 13:16 HCSB Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
Amos 1:13 HCSB The LORD says: I will not relent from punishing the Ammonites for three crimes, even four, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory.

The Scriptures teach that life begins at conception. Our gender, our sin nature, all our life’s works, our very personality is all established in that single moment. I say personality and not identity because human free will exists. We can largely recreate our lives based on our decisions regarding life’s circumstances, but our fundamental personality, temperament and spiritual gifting remains.

Ruth 4:13 HCSB Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he was intimate with her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
Psalms 51:5 HCSB Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
Psalms 139:13-16 HCSB For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise You, because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. 15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.

Note: David spoke of himself as a living being separate and apart from his mother while in her womb.

Exodus 21:22-25 HCSB "When men get in a fight, and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely, but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman's husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment. 23 If there is an injury, then you must give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.

Note: The person who causes the death of an unborn child (regardless of its trimester) is subject to the same penalty as if he had murdered an adult. In cases where a man harmed an unborn fetus, the Mosaic Law treated the fetus as a living person. If a man killed an unborn fetus, his punishment was death. If we were living under the Mosaic Law today, abortionists would be punished with death.

Jeremiah 1:4-8 HCSB The word of the LORD came to me: 5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. 6 But I protested, "Oh no, Lord GOD! Look, I don't know how to speak since I am only a youth." 7 Then the LORD said to me: Do not say: I am only a youth, for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you. 8 Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you. This is the LORD's declaration.
Hosea 9:11 HCSB Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird: no birth, no gestation, no conception.

God is at work in a person's life while he is in the womb.

Psalms 139:13-16 HCSB For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb. (14) I will praise You, because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. (15) My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. (16) Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.

Job 31:15 HCSB Did not the One who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same God form us both in the womb?
Isaiah 44:2 HCSB This is the word of the LORD your Maker who shaped you from birth; He will help you: Do not fear; Jacob is My servant; I have chosen Jeshurun.
Isaiah 46:3 HCSB "Listen to Me, house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.

In the Bible, the same Greek word (Strong’s #1025) is used for a fetus, newly born child, and young child.

Luke. 1:41, 44 HCSB When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby (1025) leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.… For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby (1025) leaped for joy inside me!

Note: The child here is yet in the womb.

Luke 2:12, 16 HCSB This will be the sign for you: you will find a baby (1025) wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough."… They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby (1025) who was lying in the feeding trough.

Note: The child here is a newborn.

Acts 7:19 HCSB He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our forefathers by making them leave their infants (1025) outside so they wouldn't survive.
Luke 18:15 HCSB Some people were even bringing infants (1025) to Him so He might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

Note: The children here were able to be out and about.

The phrase “woman with child” affirms that a fetus is a child.

2 Kings 19:3 HCSB They said to him, "This is what Hezekiah says: 'Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
Job 3:13-16 HCSB For then I would have laid down in peace; I would be asleep. Then I would be at rest 14 with the kings and counselors of the earth, who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child, like infants who never see daylight?
Ecclesiastes 11:5 HCSB Just as you don't know the path of the wind, or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you don't know the work of God who makes everything.
Isaiah 66:9 HCSB "Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?" says the LORD; "or will I who deliver, close the womb?" says your God.

Note: Just as God would follow through on the birth of Israel because of His great plans for her, it would be unthinkable to not allow a child to be born.

Exodus 21:22 HCSB "When men get in a fight, and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely, but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman's husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment.

A fetus is called a child before birth. Jesus was Jesus while in the womb.

Matthew 1:23 HCSB See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name Him Immanuel, which is translated "God is with us."

John was filled with the Holy Spirit while in the womb; therefore, John was a living person in the womb.

Luke 1:14-15 HCSB There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb.

The babe leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb; therefore, the fetus was a living person capable of hearing, experiencing joy, and displaying joy

Luke. 1:41, 44 HCSB When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.… For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me!

God really wants each person to be born. He does have a plan for each person. People have worth and identity before they are born.

Isaiah 49:5 HCSB And now, says the LORD, who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him so that Israel might be gathered to Him; for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God is my strength--
Jeremiah 1:5 HCSB I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
Psalms 139:13-16 HCSB For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise You, because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. 15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.
Proverbs 16:9 HCSB A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps.
Matthew 10:29-31 HCSB Aren't two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's consent. 30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. 31 Don't be afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Romans 9:11 HCSB (for though they had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to election might stand,
Galatians 1:15 HCSB But when God, who from my mother's womb set me apart and called me by His grace, was pleased

There is value in the life of an unborn child. Children are a reward from God.

Psalms 127:3-5 HCSB Sons are indeed a heritage from the LORD, children, a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one's youth. 5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. Such men will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.

God is the one who gives life. Will we refuse his gift?

Job 1:21 HCSB saying: Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will leave this life. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Praise the name of the LORD.

Jesus loved children and blessed them.

Luke 18:15-16 HCSB Some people were even bringing infants to Him so He might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 Jesus, however, invited them: "Let the little children come to Me, and don't stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

An infant is created in the image of God.

Genesis 1:26-27 HCSB Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.
Genesis 9:6 HCSB Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image.

When given the choice, God’s people should automatically choose life.

Deuteronomy 30:19 HCSB I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,
1 Corinthians 15:25-26 HCSB For He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy to be abolished is death.

Abortion is absolutely wrong.

Genesis 9:5-7 HCSB I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man's brother for a man's life. 6 Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image. 7 But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it."
Proverbs 24:11-12 HCSB Rescue those being taken off to death, and save those stumbling toward slaughter. 12 If you say, "But we didn't know about this," won't He who weighs hearts consider it? Won't He who protects your life know? Won't He repay a person according to his work?
Exodus 21:22-25 HCSB "When men get in a fight, and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely, but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman's husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment. 23 If there is an injury, then you must give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.

God's commandment forbids the taking of innocent life.

Exodus 20:13 HCSB Do not murder.

Note: I say innocent life because the Scriptures do advocate the taking of life in cases of capital crimes or as part of military service in a just war.

We do NOT have the final say in what happens to our bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:12-13, 19-20 HCSB "Everything is permissible for me," but not everything is helpful. "Everything is permissible for me," but I will not be brought under the control of anything. 13 "Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods," but God will do away with both of them. The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body… Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 HCSB Don't you know that you are God's sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 If anyone ruins God's sanctuary, God will ruin him; for God's sanctuary is holy, and that is what you are.

We are to not just look out for our own interests but to also consider the needs of others.

Philippians 2:4 HCSB Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Romans 15:1 HCSB Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves.

The Bible uses the metaphor of a woman lacking mercy for the child of her womb as a near impossibility. It is shocking to the Adonaic mindset that anyone would even conceive of such a crime.

Isaiah 49:15 HCSB "Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you.

Unfortunately, the rise in the rates of abortions is a sign of our times. Paul predicted that people would be narcissistic, lovers of money, unloving, brutal, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and only holding to a form of religion while not acceding to its requirements. All of these are issues in the decision making process surrounding abortion. Though they are the most cited cases when arguing for abortion, people very rarely abort for medical reasons or because they were raped. They usually abort for “convenience’” sake.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 HCSB But know this: difficult times will come in the last days. (2) For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, (3) unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, (4) traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) holding to the form of religion but denying its power. Avoid these people!

Though having an abortion may seem to be the convenient way to go, though it may seem to solve social or interpersonal problems, let me assure you that it is not a good decision.

Proverbs 16:25 HCSB There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it is the way of death.

Having said all this, abortion is yet a forgivable sin.

Isaiah 1:16-18 HCSB "Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil. (17) Learn to do what is good. Seek justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow's cause. (18) "Come, let us discuss this," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.
Isaiah 55:7 HCSB Let the wicked one abandon his way, and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive.

1 John 1:9 HCSB If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Messiah died as much for the abortioner’s spirit as He did for the innocent baby’s. Our Master loves us even while we are yet in our sins. Because of His love however, He doesn’t want to leave us wallowing in our sins.

Ephesians 3:16-19 HCSB I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, (17) and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, (18) may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God's love, (19) and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Romans 5:6-8 HCSB For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For rarely will someone die for a just person--though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. (8) But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!

In regards to activism, we are to speak out, correcting those who oppress the weak and defending the rights of those who cannot defend themselves. We are to seek justice. We are to rescue those who are being mistreated.

Proverbs 31:8 HCSB Speak up for those who have no voice, for the justice of all who are dispossessed.
Proverbs 24:10-12 HCSB If you do nothing in a difficult time, your strength is limited. 11 Rescue those being taken off to death, and save those stumbling toward slaughter. 12 If you say, "But we didn't know about this," won't He who weighs hearts consider it? Won't He who protects your life know? Won't He repay a person according to his work?
Psalms 82:4 HCSB Rescue the poor and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked."
Isaiah 58:6 HCSB Isn't the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke?
Isaiah 1:17 HCSB Learn to do what is good. Seek justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow's cause.