I recently listened to an abortion debate, hosted by a major Toronto radio station some years ago. The pro-choicer was the one talking religion and saying that abortion is nowhere mentioned in the Bible. (I just think it’s worth mentioning that while many pro-lifers are religious, we aren’t the ones citing chapter and verse in public debates.)
This pro-choicer seems to revel in the fact that abortion isn’t mentioned, therefore, it is licit or good.
I found myself thinking a couple of things.
One is this: Abortion may not be mentioned by name in the Bible. That would not surprise me. But there is a commandment that says not to kill. You can only circumvent that commandment if you don’t actually think there’s anything to kill in abortion, but most women know why they are getting an abortion and it’s because someone is growing that will become, in due course, a born child. So there’s that.
But the second thing I thought was this: There is no such thing as an unwanted person in the Bible. No concept of unwanted child. No concept of unwanted pregnancy. The central point, written throughout the Bible is of God using little, even unimportant people in big ways. Plenty of examples.
Now were I the debater I’m sure I would have had the presence of mind to say precisely none of this. But that’s what blogs are for. And I have one of those. So I thought I’d type this little thought up, and here we are.
God uses “unwanted” people for big things and has a purpose and a plan for each one of us. If mothers considering abortion knew this about themselves, I think it would help in avoiding abortion.
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I find it worthwhile to look at Exodus 21:22 -23 which is about injuring a pregnant woman and the harm done to ‘her child’. I find it helpful in working with this story to use an accurate translation of the original Hebrew and that’s why I use the word ‘child’. The word in the Exodus 21:22 is ‘yedel’, meaning child, youth, boy or son and it is not a good translation to render ‘fruit’ as in KJV or ‘gives birth prematurely’ as in NIV (see Strong’s Concordance Hebrew 3206). Thus, we are reading about a child and the passage goes on to say; ‘if harm is done to her child’ … then ‘you shall give/put/ set life for life’. Regardless of one’s reaction to ‘life for life’ and justice issues this passage seems to be saying harming the in utero child is the same as harming anyone else.