I do think some Christian circles get really obsessive about the abortion issue, considering that it isn't explicitly mentioned in the Bible. If you look at how often the Bible talks about sexual immorality, greed, killing, stealing and lying, it leaves little room for confusion. It does seem like if abortion were the ultimate sin (and many circles seem to think it is, or at least see it as the single most important topic for legislation), that it would receive similar straight-forward condemnation in the Bible. Perhaps it just wasn’t as realistic of an option, historically, to merit discussion. (I don’t know how complicated the procedure would have been in ancient times. They seemed capable of performing Caesarian sections, after all.) I do know that the argument against contraception is often based on a singular passage that isn’t clear either: Was Onan’s efforts at contraception inherently sinful, or only because God specifically commanded him to reproduce? Again, we can’t be sure because it isn’t explicit nor is it discussed again. Even some commandments which did seem straightforward (like consumption of pork) were apparently given for some specific reason that later did not apply, because the New Testament in most cases condones such things. So… I think it’s quite possible that some commandments, like “be fruitful and multiply,” applied to people in history but not necessarily to cultures today. Thus the lack of scripture about contraception and abortion. What is does say is that we were formed in the womb, which suggests value even before birth, and some passages in the Old Testament call for punishment if an unborn child is harmed by foul play. (Again, this involved compensation for the mother, so it’s unclear what it would mean if it were the mother’s decision.)
While I personally find the Bible’s silence on contraception to mean it is probably okay, I don’t think abortion is. I think we can agree that infanticide is wrong and falls under murder, but your husband may be right that abortion isn’t the same. It’s pretty clear about sexual immorality though, so yes your niece was in the wrong in the first place and yes, you are justified in being upset that your husband enabled the behavior. It may have been wrong of her to circumvent her parents too, but our society kind of has a weird standard for when childhood ends. It’s kind of hard to argue that parents should be making reproductive decisions for their 17-year-old child unless she has some unique disability. And in any case, your husband didn’t forge a court order for her; it was the judge who made that decision. Legally, the boyfriend’s parents have no business in the matter. Not even their son has any legal rights over an unborn child, and anyone who expects grandkids from a teenage girl is messed up anyway.
I’m tempted to side with your husband because it’s convenient and we all know that teens make pitiful parents, but if it were my husband I’d probably be livid. I too just feel like abortion is the wrong decision, but it’s also the product of many other wrong decisions that he didn’t play a part in. He did what he thought to be more right. Even if it’s not.
