Abortion is one of the most challenged and debated moral issues of our time and more so in the U.S. than in any other country around the world. The advancements in biotechnology have exponentially made the issues more complex and more explosive with the introduction of bioethics in the 1960’s by Catholic and Protestant scholars as they contend with these new technologies. Generally, there are four aspects at the heart of abortion. These include the legal background, the biblical and theological contribution, abortion rights and the problems with personhood.
In Western culture, abortion laws have generally followed the U.S. courts’ position on abortion and globally as well with few exceptions. In 1973 the landmark case of Roe v. Wade took place where Texas courts ruled that abortion was prohibited except to save the mothers life. The result was that the court divided the pregnancy into three trimesters in which the state holds a distinct interest. During the first trimester, the woman has the right to an abortion. In the second, the state may regulate in ways that are reasonably related to the mother. The final trimester the state may regulate and prohibit the abortion. However, Roe v. Wade has been significantly broadened by the Doe v. Bolton case which makes abortion on demand available at almost any point in a woman’s pregnancy. Feinberg points out the results of these decisions:
Even more revealing and troubling are statistics on why U.S. women are actually having abortions. The CBER, whose statistics are derived from the AGI and Planned Parenthood’s \textit{Family Planning Perspectives}, reports that only 1 percent of all U.S. abortions occur because of rape or incest. Six percent of abortions are performed because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child. In contrast, “93\% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).”
Feinberg, John S. and Paul D. Feinberg. 2010. Ethics For A Brave New World. Wheaton, Illinois. Crossway.
Scripture takes an opposite stance on abortion by answering the question at the heart of the debate, personhood as it relates to the fetus. Many passages are found that clearly represent a continuity of personal identity from the earliest stages of a pregnancy all the way into adulthood. Jeremiah 1:5 is one of the strongest biblical passages using conception and birth interchangeably; however, it is in Psalms 139:13-16 where the most pertinent statement is made in God’s involvement of the unborn:
Certainly you made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother’s womb. I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. You knew me thoroughly; my bones were not hidden from you, when I was made in secret and sewed together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence.
Scripture, God’s direct revelation to humanity, is the guiding source for taking a right pro-life position. This decision states that elective abortions, sex selection, pills such as RU-486, sexual encounters, rape, incest, fetal tissues and a majority of reproductive technologies are all amoral according to God’s Word. While hard cases do exist, it is above ninety-eight percent of all abortions where the mother always has options available which do not need to result in the termination of human life and where other solutions should be sought for the well-being of both fetus and mother.
In a pro-life position, the status of the unborn is fully human, the basis for this position is sanctity of life, and the mothers rights prioritize life over privacy. Geisler summarizes this position as follows:
The abortion debate focuses the whole issue of the sanctity of human life. Both Scripture and science support the view that an individual human life begins at conception, and both special and general revelation declare that it is wrong to kill an innocent human life. Furthermore, the same arguments used to justify abortion may also be used to justify infanticide and euthanasia. These reasons all violate the sanctity of human life.
Geisler, Norman L. 2010. Christian Ethics, Contemporary Issues & Options. Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Academic.
We must not forget that the decision not to practice sexual abstinence in the first place is a sin which leads to the choice of an abortion, a practice that is almost unheard of in today’s culture.
Justification for this ethical position originated from the Ten Commandments and it is in the sixth commandment where the bible resoundingly defends innocent life:
Thou shall not murder.
The act of murder is defined as the taking of a human life. Therefore, this requires that the fetus be identified with personhood. Perhaps one of the most clearly stated verses where the continuity of personal identify, between conception and birth, is found in Jeremiah 1:5:
Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I chose you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.
God gives the same characteristics to the unborn as to those outside of the womb, and in doing so, demonstrates a constancy of personal identity when describing the unborn. Therefore, the unborn does have personhood, is a person from conception and God protects innocent life by this command.
This position also contends that a persons rights over ones own body are not absolute. The pro-choice position is born out of selfishness. Rae states the recent change of position by pointing out:
Historically in Western society, when life and freedom (choice) have been in conflict, life always has taken precedence. Only if the fetus is not a person does a woman have a right to make a choice that would result in its death.
Rae, Scott B. 2009. Moral Choices, An Introduction to Ethics. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Academic.
The pro-choice position is also a position that is supported logically. Scripture states that humans are made in the image of God and based on this, Feinberg sees the qualifications of personhood as part of an overall argument from logic:
That argument has three steps that lead to a conclusion, and we need to make the case for each step to show that the conclusion not only follows from the premises but is likely true. The argument is as follows:
Feinberg, John S. and Paul D. Feinberg. 2010. Ethics For A Brave New World. Wheaton, Illinois. Crossway.
1. If x is an embryo made from human sperm and a human egg, then x is a human being.
2. If x is a human being, then x is (is made in) the image of God.
3. If x is (is made in) the image of God, x is a human person.
4. If x is a human being, x is a human person (from 1 – 3).
Because of this continuity of personal identity, this shows a rational and sensible thought process exercised by God in which he has deemed right and good for humanity. The position of never taking a human life from conception, through birth and into adulthood also shows coherent support. The consistency of protecting human life only gains support as it is extended beyond the issue of abortion and into all other areas of life.
There is no valid reason to terminate the life of a human. The implications to date have been colossally tragic for our culture, the loss of billions of unborn since the practice began, to the point of being defined as infanticide for many countries to include the US.
Biblical Studies 