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Author: Prof Johnson Odesola
Posted to the web: 10/15/2010 4:01:11 PM


WHAT IS CHRISTIAN VIEW ABOUT ABORTION

 

Let us first be clear what is meant by abortion and what it involves. Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before its 28th week; it is only beyond this stage of development that a child born alive is considered capable of a separate successful existence. A modern medicine however has enable babies born even four weeks early to survive. In future years further advances mighty be made and the child of such an early birth may well be able to continue to adult life. So there is no fixed stage of development beyond which a child born alive will be able to survive, and inevitable fail to do so if born earlier.

 

The child in the womb

‘Legal’ abortion is usually done in the 13th to 18th week of pregnancy, or even a little later. The legally aborted child, had it been born alive spontaneously instead of being deliberately destroyed, could under appropriate conditions have survived for a little time. With improved paediatric techniques the child at the stage of development may, in years to come, also be able to survive even to manhood.

    At the time when most legal abortions are carried out the child in the womb has all obvious essentials for continuing existence. It moves, react to painful stimuli, it heart beats, it urinates, and in appearance is a complete miniature human child. Though lying in the womb, it is no part of the mother, and has its own independent blood system. Since conception it has been a separate individual, genetically deferent from either parent, and in fact it is entirely parasitic on its mother, absolving its requirements from her blood simply through placenta.

    Thus abortion, the killing of a small live separate individual human being, whether done within the law or in the secret, is murder before birth, just as much as it would be murder if the child were destroyed after birth.

 

The Christian view

Human life for Christians is the on-going process of our creation by God. It is sinful to take human life, so for a Christian human abortion is also as sinful. The respect for human life shown by a Christian should include removal of anything endangering life; it is as culpable passively to let human life be destroyed, as it is actively to destroy it.

When a pregnancy imperils the motherâ's life, there is the dilemma of balancing the life of the mother against that of her unborn child. To remove the child at a stage when it could not survive-that is by abortion-inevitably means killing the child. Some Christian would leave the solution to God; but many other Christians would consider that, being endowed with intelligence and free will, it would be reasonable for them to protect the motherâ's life, if she wishes, by aborting the pregnancy.

Another problem arises when it is known that the child will be born abnormal. Some Christians would consider this justification for abortion, there by compassionately sparing the mother the burden of bearing and bringing up such a child. But an abnormal child in a family need not be a tragedy; there are many examples of such children uniting members of their family in Christian compassion, to give them happy lives. It should also be remembered that serious, permanent, handicapping abnormality can strike any member of a family, child or otherwise, as the results of illness or accident, and there can be no questions of murder them. Many Christians would not consider abnormality of the unborn child as justification for abortion. But there can be gross abnormality in an unborn child that would rob it of individual existence, for example the anencephalic without brain. Most Christians would accept abortion in such a case.

Thus many Christians would justify abortion in those instances where the motherâ's life seems to be imperilled by the pregnancy, or her health, physical and mental, appears in danger of serous permanent damage, or the unborn child is likely to be born very seriously abnormal. But such abortion is nevertheless sinful. To same Christians it seems justifiable; but not so to others.

 

Other thoughts

Arguments have been advanced for abortion in a verity of other circumstances which aggregate to a plea for abortion on demand. First, the unwanted. It can happen that the unwanted pregnancy does not lead to an unwanted child, when it arrives. On the contrary, such a baby is often well loved. But this is not always so and we must aware of the hardships which sometimes face such a child.

In the case of the lone mother certain social and economic considerations arises. Illegitimacy is no longer a social stigma. Many women whether married or not bring up their children alone, but not nearly enough is done to help these women with their practical difficulties. Society has a duty to help solve their problems, but not to liquidate them. Single women with children can and do marry happily, as do the widows and the divorced.

Whether a child is made to feel unwanted depends on the personality of the mother, married or single. It is her responsibility. Unwanted pregnancy in itself is no justification for abortion.

 

In the name of womanâ's rights

Next are the abortions labelled as womenâ's rights? It is claimed sensibly that every woman has the right to control her fertility; but such a failures is one of the risks which has to accepted in sexual relations, and leads on to the unwanted pregnancy-a social matter, not a case for abortion. It is also said that every woman has a right to decide what she will do with her body. It is also said that every woman has the right to decide what she will do with her body. If is true for any person, it still does not give a woman the right to destroy the living body of another individual, the child she helped to put into her womb.

Another version is that if it is permissible to remove an offending part of the body, such as a troublesome appendix, tooth or tonsil; the same should apply to a pregnancy. But this is not valid comparison, as the unborn child is no part of the motherâ's body, but is the separate body. One strange theory is that a doctor who does not agree to abort a pregnancy is forcing the mother to carry the child to full term against her will. Every doctor must be free to act according to his conscience. It is the patient who has put herself in the position of having to carry the pregnancy.

 

When abortion is considered, there is often reference to the rights of the individual and to Christian compassion. The unborn child has the right to go on living, and is worthy of Christian compassion.

One should not try to judge people. Those directly concerned in an abortion, if they are Christians, are making their decision before God; he is the only judge. Those who have no faith cannot be measured by Christian standards. Likewise those who are not directly concerned in an abortion decision should not judge those who are. They cannot know the full and real circumstances. Should they be directly involved one day, they may find that their preconceived ideals slip under stress.

It is said by some that it is unfair that it is the woman who is left holding the baby. Motherhood is to the vast majority of women a privilege they would not give up, even if they did not give up, even if they did not come to it readily in the first place.

 

A gynaecologistâ's view about abortion

 

In modern life, circumstances and problems arise about which the Bible does not seem to give specific guidance: but general principles are given, which can be applied prayerfully to every situation. Abortion is such one problem, involving theological, moral, legal and physical issues, and causing much distress to individual and families.  Whenever emotive factors influence decisions, the Christian can only hope to make right decisions by adhering to biblical principles.

 

The worth of human life

What value does God place in the human life? High enough to create a world of beauty of men to live in, and to give his son, Jesus Christ, to save him! Psalms 139 shows that God is concerned about the development of the foetus (vers13-16; ‘Thou didst knit together in my motherâ's womb…my frames was not hidden from thee when I was made from secret.. Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance…’) and the sixth commandment states that ‘Thou shall not kill’ (Exodus 20-13) Therefore, should deliberate termination of foetal life ever be performed? The Romans Catholic Church says’ no,’ not ever in the rare circumstances when the motherâ's life is endangered.

 

The chronological backdrop

Historically, the aim of the Medicine has always been to preserve life, and we know that in Greco-Romans times, ie pr-Christians, abortion was sometimes practiced, but the physical taking a Hippocratic Oath (c.400BC) swore not to do so. In England this standard applied throughout the Middle Ages and in 1861, the Office against the Person Act stated that it was a felony to procure, or attempt to procure, an unlawful abortion, and a convicted person was liable to be sentenced to penal servitude for life, with or without hard labour. In 1929, the Infant Life Preservation Act stated that ‘child destruction’ of a foetus after 28 weeks was a felony equivalent to murder or manslaughter, unless done in good faith for the purpose only of preserving the life of the mother.

 

Does the timing of when the foetus receives its soul (or rather, spirit) help one to decide whether abortion in the very early stages can be acceptable or not? The Bible is silent on this point, but I have found it helpful as the consultant said practise to think of the value of the individual to God and likewise of the potential individual, whether he receives his soul at conception or latter. If one says at conception, there is the problem of the many thousands of spontaneous, extremely early abortions when the foetus is still incompletely formed, but if one says later there is difficulty in fixing the exact time: is it the moment of viability (which varies with advances of medical science and their availability) or not until birth, when the foetus becomes an independent individual? I feel that this dilemma does not detract from the main principle of respect for life and potential life and abortion  is rarely justified except in the presence of grave maternal illness, either physical or mental and should not be done for trivial reasons or used as a form of contraception.   

Abortion is but one aspect of life in a permissive society and the Christian should make every effort to be an influence for good in society. With regard to the individual needing help, Christâ's principle of compassion should be paramount, but tempered with his command ‘Go and do not sin again’ (John 8:11) Where applicable.

 

Further reading

What about Abortion? Rex Gardner (Paternoster Press)

Abortion the Personal Dilemma Rex Gardner Smyth (Paternoster Press)

Biblical Allusion to Life before Birth Harley Smyth (Christian Medical Fellowship)

The Christian and the Unborn Child Oliver O’ Donovan (Grove Booklets on Ethics, includes Text of abortion Act, 1967)

Whatâ's Wrong with Abortion J.J. Scarisbrick (Life?)

Johnson Odesola (PhD) is a Regional Coordinator in the Redeemed Christian Church of God and a Professor of Divinity with Trinity International  Institute of Advance Studies UK/US. He is presently a missionary in Southern Africa based in Zambia