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What
Does the Bible Say About Abortion?
This article reprinted here for your convenience here. Original was created
by the Freedom from Religion
Foundation, and can be found here.
Out of more than 600 laws of Moses, none comments on abortion. One Mosaic
law about miscarriage specifically contradicts the claim that the bible
is antiabortion, clearly stating that miscarriage does not involve the
death of a human being. If a woman has a miscarriage as the result of
a fight, the man who caused it should be fined. If the woman dies, however,
the culprit must be killed:
"If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart
from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished according
as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the
judges determine.
"And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth . . ."–Ex. 21:22-25
The bible orders the death penalty for murder of a human being, but not
for the expulsion of a fetus. When Does Life Begin?
According to the bible, life begins at birth–when a baby draws its
first breath. The bible defines life as "breath" in several
significant passages, including the story of Adam’s creation in Genesis
2:7, when God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living soul." Jewish law traditionally considers that
personhood begins at birth.
Desperate for a biblical basis for their beliefs, some antiabortionists
cite obscure passages, usually metaphors or poetic phrasing, such as:
"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive
me." Psalm 51:5 This is sexist, but does nothing other than to invoke
original sin. It says nothing about abortion.
The Commandments, Moses, Jesus and Paul ignored every chance to condemn
abortion. If abortion was an important concern, why didn’t the bible
say so?
Thou Shalt Not Kill?
Many antiabortionists quote the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not
kill" (Ex. 20:13) as evidence that the bible is antiabortion. They
fail to investigate the bible’s definition of life (breath) or its
deafening silence on abortion. Moreover, the Mosaic law in Exodus 21:22-25,
directly following the Ten Commandments, makes it clear that an embryo
or fetus is not a human being.
An honest reader must admit that the bible contradicts itself. "Thou
shalt not kill" did not apply to many living, breathing human beings,
including children, who are routinely massacred in the bible. The Mosaic
law orders "Thou shalt kill" people for committing such "crimes"
as cursing one’s father or mother (Ex. 21:17), for being a "stubborn
son" (Deut. 21:18-21), for being a homosexual (Lev. 20:13), or even
for picking up sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-35)! Far from protecting
the sanctity of life, the bible promotes capital punishment for conduct
which no civilized person or nation would regard as criminal.
Mass killings were routinely ordered, committed or approved by the God
of the bible. One typical example is Numbers 25:4-9, when the Lord casually
orders Moses to massacre 24,000 Israelites: "Take all the heads of
the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun." Clearly,
the bible is not pro-life!
Most scholars and translators agree that the injunction against killing
forbade only the murder of (already born) Hebrews. It was open season
on everyone else, including children, pregnant women and newborn babies.
Does God Kill Babies?
"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against
the stones."–Psalm 137:9
The bible is not pro-child. Why did God set a bear upon 42 children just
for teasing a prophet (2 Kings 2:23-24)? Far from demonstrating a "pro-life"
attitude, the bible decimates innocent babies and pregnant women in passage
after gory passage, starting with the flood and the wanton destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah, progressing to the murder of the firstborn child
of every household in Egypt (Ex. 12:29), and the New Testament threats
of annihilation.
Space permits only a small sampling of biblical commandments or threats
to kill children:
- Numbers 31:17 Now therefore kill every male
among the little ones.
- Deuteronomy 2:34 utterly destroyed the men and
the women and the little ones.
- Deuteronomy 28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit
of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters.
- I Samuel 15:3 slay both man and woman, infant
and suckling.
- 2 Kings 8:12 dash their children, and rip up
their women with child.
- 2 Kings 15:16 all the women therein that were
with child he ripped up.
- Isaiah 13:16 Their children also shall be dashed
to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their
wives ravished.
- Isaiah 13:18 They shall have no pity on the
fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.
- Lamentations 2:20 Shall the women eat their
fruit, and children.
- Ezekiel 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both
maids and little children.
- Hosea 9:14 give them a miscarrying womb and
dry breasts.
- Hosea 13:16 their infants shall be dashed in
pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
Then there are the dire warnings of Jesus in the
New Testament:
"For, behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed
are the barren, and the womb that never bare, and the paps which never
gave suck."–Luke 23:29
The teachings and contradictions of the bible show that antiabortionists
do not have a "scriptural base" for their claim that their deity
is "pro-life." Spontaneous abortions occur far more often than
medical abortions. Gynecology textbooks conservatively cite a 15% miscarriage
rate, with one medical study finding a spontaneous abortion rate of almost
90% in very early pregnancy. That would make a deity in charge of nature
the greatest abortionist in history!
Are Bible Teachings Kind to Women?
The bible is neither antiabortion nor pro-life, but does provide a biblical
basis for the real motivation behind the antiabortion religious crusade:
hatred of women. The bible is anti-woman, blaming women for sin, demanding
subservience, mandating a slave/master relationship to men, and demonstrating
contempt and lack of compassion:
"I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow
thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee."–Genesis 3:16
What self-respecting woman today would submit willingly to such tyranny?
The antiabortion position does not demonstrate love for humanity, or compassion
for real human beings. Worldwatch Institute statistics show that 50% of
abortions worldwide are illegal, and that at least 200,000 women die every
year–and thousands more are hurt and maimed–from illegal or
self-induced abortions. Unwanted pregnancies and complications from multiple
pregnancies are a leading killer of women. Why do antiabortionists want
North American women to join these ghastly mortality statistics? Every
day around the world more than 40,000 people, mostly children, die from
starvation or malnutrition. We must protect and cherish the right to life
of the already-born.
Do Churches Support Abortion Rights?
Numerous Christian denominations and religious groups agree that the bible
does not condemn abortion and that abortion should continue to be legal.
These include:
- American Baptist Churches-USA
- American Ethical Union
- American Friends (Quaker) Service Committee
- American Jewish Congress
- Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
- Episcopal Church
- Lutheran Women’s Caucus
- Moravian Church in America-Northern Province
- Presbyterian Church (USA)
- Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints
- Union of American Hebrew Congregations
- Unitarian Universalist Association
- United Church of Christ
- United Methodist Church
- United Synagogue of America
- Women’s Caucus Church of the Brethren
- YWCA
- Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
- Catholics for Free Choice
- Evangelicals for Choice
Belief that "a human being exists at conception"
is a matter of faith, not fact. Legislating antiabortion faith would be
as immoral and unAmerican as passing a law that all citizens must attend
Catholic mass!
The bible does not condemn abortion; but even if it did, we live under
a secular constitution, not in a theocracy. The separation of church and
state, the right to privacy, and women’s rights all demand freedom
of choice.
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