What Does God Have to Say About Abortion?

Sadly, there seems to be some disagreement among Christians over the issue of abortion. The number one reason for believers holding erroneous views on this issue is probably well-meaning ignorance; that is, they just do not know what the Bible has to say about it. But is the Bible so vague and ambiguous that we cannot be certain as to what God is telling us about abortion? Absolutely not! While Scripture does not address the morality of abortion as directly as we might like, and although the word 'abortion' may not appear in our English Bibles, by looking at several key Scripture verses together we can easily arrive at the conclusion that God makes no distinction between a "fetus" and a baby, and that the purposeful termination of a pregnancy for the sake of convenience is nothing short of infanticide.

Many texts indicate that God is actively involved in the creation and formation of a child within its mother's womb. Consider the following:

Psalm 139:13 For you [God] created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

Isaiah 44:2 This is what the LORD says - he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: "Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen."

Isaiah 44:24 This is what the LORD says- your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: "I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself . . . ."

Isaiah 49:5a And now the LORD says- he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself . . . .

Jeremiah 1:4-5 The word of the LORD came to me [Jeremiah], saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

Job 31:15 Did not he who made me [Job] in the womb make them [Job's servants]? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

Not only does Scripture testify that God is responsible for the development of a child within its mother's womb, but it also speaks of God knowing, interacting with, and "calling" people before they are born. This is crucial, because the fact that God knows someone means that He has a relationship with them, something that is not possible to have with a lifeless clump of cells. Consider these verses:

Psalms 22:9-10 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.

Isaiah 49:1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.

Galatians 1:15-16 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man . . . .

Jeremiah 1:4-5 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

As further proof that God considers unborn children to be just as "alive" as any adult human being, it is important to note that God has specific plans for us long before we enter the world. In the book of Judges, God sends a message to a certain woman and informs her that He is about to give her a child:

"The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, 'You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.'" (Judges 13:3-5)

Here we can see that, before he is even conceived, God singled out a man (who, incidentally, would be named Samson) for a specific service and purpose. Another example of this is found in the Gospel of Luke, where Luke records a conversation between an angel of the Lord and Zechariah, who was about to become the father of John the Baptist:

"But the angel said to him: 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God.'" (Luke 13-16a)

At this point in the Gospel of Luke, John has not even been conceived yet, since we read in Luke 1:24 that "after this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion." Yet prior to Elizabeth's becoming pregnant, God is already making plans for her son John. There is no magical date during Elizabeth's pregnancy at which time God announces, "OK, this thing in your belly has now graduated from fetus to baby. From this point on, you shall consider the baby alive, and the acceptable window for terminating your pregnancy is now over." No, God doesn't say that at all! On the contrary, he speaks of John as existing before the reproductive process even begins. John is alive in the mind of God! God knows him and has plans for him, and can speak of him existing even before he has become a reality for his parents. In a very real sense, pro-life advocates are not telling the truth when they claim that life begins at conception, because it actually begins much earlier than that! Long before a human being is conceived in a mother's womb, that person has already been conceived within the mind of God.

Compare the biblical position expressed above with the one that follows, given by John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy:

"To most biologists, an embryo (unborn child during the first two or three months of development) or a fetus is no more a complete human being than a blueprint is a building. The fetus, given the opportunity to develop properly before birth, and given the essential early socializing experiences and sufficient nourishing food during the crucial early years after birth, will ultimately develop into a human being. Where any of these essential elements is lacking, the resultant individual will be deficient in some respect . . . . From this point of view, a fetus is only a potential human being. Historically, the law has dated most rights and privileges from the moment of birth, and legal scholars generally agree that a fetus is not a 'person' within the meaning of the United States Constitution until it is born and living independent of its mother's body. . . . From the standpoint of the terminated fetus, it makes no difference whether the mother had an induced abortion or a spontaneous abortion."[1]

There are many problems and logical flaws contained within the view as stated above. To begin with, drawing an analogy by comparing a building to a living being is downright irresponsible argumentation. Are we to believe that what is true for a building should also be true for a human being? If so, then just as the demolition of a 30-year-old, obsolete building presents no moral dilemma, so neither should the destruction of the life of a 30-year-old human being! To be sure, such a notion is ridiculous. The same can be said of the comparison between an unborn child and the blueprints of a proposed construction project.

Also, the final quoted sentence is only a valid argument if one assumes that every mother who has an induced abortion would ultimately have a spontaneous abortion apart from the intervention of a human agent. This is simply not the case. That the great majority of abortions are ones of convenience rather than necessity is a fact that scant few would dare dispute. But even this misses the point, because the ends never justify the means. The moral correctness of an act is not determined by the results of that act (à la situational ethics). Rather, the moral correctness of an act is determined by the act itself. What God says is wrong, is wrong, period. Right and wrong continue to be right and wrong in all places, at all times, for every person, now and forever. When the Lord says, "Thou shalt not kill," He means exactly what He says. There are no exceptions. The director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy may believe that "from the standpoint of the terminated fetus, it makes no difference whether the mother had an induced abortion or a spontaneous abortion," but one need not even argue with him on this point, because from the standpoint of the responsible adults involved it does make a difference. And God will hold those responsible adults accountable for their actions here in this life. As a parting thought, consider what these words of Amos the prophet reveal about the One to whom all will have to give an account on the day of judgment:

"This is what the LORD says: 'For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders, I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day.'"

All Scripture verses taken from the New International Version.

[1] Quote taken from page 235 of Holdren's 1973 book, Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions, co-authored with Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, and reproduced in the CNSNews.com article "Obama's Science Czar Said a Born Baby 'Will Ultimately Develop Into a Human Being'", found at http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/51676 .