ABORTION AND INFANTICIDE

The term “abortion” rouses powerful emotions. Pro-abortionists appeal to compassion, emphasize the rights of the mother and argue that abortion is little more than retroactive contraception. Antiabortionists have compassion for the unborn child and its rights, and regard abortion as little less then pre-natal infanticide. Clearly there are major ethical issues involved, and Christians need to learn to think about them biblically.

Before looking at what the Bible teaches, it may be helpful to define our terms. “Abortion” can be used by doctors to refer to the natural expulsion of the foetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently, in other words, a miscarriage. However, it is more commonly used to refer to foeticide, that is, the deliberate termination of a pregnancy by poisoning or injuring the foetus while it is still in the womb. This type of abortion has become more common since ultrasound technology has made it possible to identify the sex and health of the unborn child. Many girls are aborted because of the South Asian prejudice in favour of sons, despite attempts by governments to ban sex-selective abortion. Mothers may be forced to have an abortion against their will.

Babies may be victims of infanticide. The practice of killing unwanted children soon after birth is rooted in poverty, with families feeling that they cannot provide for another child, particularly another girl child. This practice early attracted the attention of missionaries, who urged the passing of laws to eradicate it.

It is striking that the Bible itself says nothing explicitly about abortion, for abortion was known in biblical times. It seems that all that was necessary to prohibit it was the command, “You shall not murder” (Exod 20:13). If the deliberate taking of human life is forbidden, so are abortion and infanticide. Any deliberate destruction of a human being at any point after conception is, in God’s eyes, a wrongful killing. (The biblical exceptions allowing justified killings are strictly limited.)

The reason that murder is prohibited is that all humans beings are made in the image of God and are therefore precious (Gen 1:26) Personhood is not measured by age, stage of development, mental, physical or social skills. God endows it at the moment of creation, which is the moment of conception.

But is an unborn child really a person in the full sense of the word? To answer that question, we can turn to Exodus 21:22-25, which deals with an injury affecting an unborn child. Although there is dispute about whether the injury is an accidental miscarriage or a premature birth, what cannot be disputed is that the same penalties are given when a child is injured as when an adult is injured. This suggests that pre-natal human life is as precious to God as any adult life. Moreover, if causing an accidental miscarriage results in punishment, how much more serious would be the penalty for intentionally killing an unborn child?

A strong case can be made that the cumulative weight of biblical teaching as a whole prohibits abortion and infanticide. The Bible sees human life as a sacred continuous process from conception, through pregnancy, birth, growth to adulthood, and on to natural (or accidental) death. This position is supported by verses that seem to teach that God knows and plans each person’s life before they are born (Ps 103:14, Jer 29:11). Moreover, God not only gives life (Ps 104), he also sustains it: “In him all things hold together” (Col 1:17) and if he chose to “let go”, creation would fall apart.

But what about deformed children? Is God the author of such lives? Deformities can arise for many reasons, including pollution, health problems and malnutrition. Many parents are tempted to abort or kill such children because they lack the resources to care for them.

Some fear the social stigma of having such a child as this may be considered a result of their actions in a previous life. Once again, we need to think through this situation biblically. The reason children are born less than perfect is sin – not the sin of the parents, but the fall of the entire human race, which has disrupted the perfect world God created. But imperfections do not reduce the value of a human life. If we believe that God is the creator of every human being, we must accept the idea that he allows deformities for some purpose, even if we have trouble understanding it. To abort or kill babies in an attempt to avoid suffering is to try to avoid God’s purpose. There is no such thing as a life not worthy of being lived.

Thus we can insist that it is unacceptable to discard spare embryos; terminate a pregnancy by dismembering, poisoning or prematurely inducing delivery of a foetus; starve a deformed newborn; or give a lethal dose to an elderly person or someone suffering from an incurable disease. All such acts are forbidden by the sixth commandment.