Why are Christians generally opposed to abortion?

[Noxot]

i'm generally opposed to it because as far as I can tell the people that get them tend to be selfish and not want to go through the whole process of what it means to be a human. or they cave into fear and sacrifice their baby instead of themselves.

since having an abortion can almost always be avoided I can't see a general reason as to why people should have them other than they convince themselves that their baby is not as important as they are. if a person acts like life is for the most part meaningless and humans don't really matter that much, especially ones that have not existed for very long, then I can't support them or their decisions and it would be foolish to try to support them.

nowadays people have less responsibility and suffer less from natural consequences of making poor decisions or they fail at trying to make things work as much as they could have or failed to even care about selecting a good partner or fail to use the proper methods of not having a baby and instead resort to crude or easy acts such as abortion.

they have to believe that a baby inside of them is not a person to help them justify having an abortion as an appropriate thing to do. and I can't agree with that, I think there are better answers than abortion.

I believe all people are equal no matter if some happen to be in their mothers womb and not very old. since i'm a male all I can do is not be a scumbag like some males are and remind myself that many people are insane and think abortions are fine and acceptable and that it's not a big deal to some.

it would be easy to accept that babies are not people. it would relieve me of such a burden knowing that people are not killing people that can't even defend themselves and that they are merely removing unwanted biological mass. I know that God gives those souls a proper place and people to be around in heaven but I don't use that as an excuse to justify actions such as abortions.

 

[Fantine]

It's always easiest to strongly oppose the sins OTHERS are tempted to commit and feel good about oneself by comparison.

And in walks Pope Francis, who suggests we westerners simplify our lives, even drastically, and share our bounty with the poor. Take the bus. Live without air conditioning. Become vegetarian. Take in foster children. Things like that.

And the empty nest couple can say they pray at an abortion clinic twice a year so they don't have to do the real challenging stuff. And yes, I'm stereotyping. And yes, I love creature comforts.

But a morality that's based on wanting others to change their behavior isn't as pleasing to God as flat out kindness all the time.

And I'm not perfect. Every time I go to the Dollar Tree I spend two bucks for a needy student's school supplies...but we also spent $150 on concert tix this week. Pope Francis would say listen on the radio--buy crayons for 150 kids.

So often we pat ourselves on the back for doing the easy thing. When a 15 year old doesn't have an abortion---that's a hard thing . Donating diapers here and there--no big deal.

 

[Dave RP]

It's always easiest to strongly oppose the sins OTHERS are tempted to commit and feel good about oneself by comparison.

And in walks Pope Francis, who suggests we westerners simplify our lives, even drastically, and share our bounty with the poor. Take the bus. Live without air conditioning. Become vegetarian. Take in foster children. Things like that.

And the empty nest couple can say they pray at an abortion clinic twice a year so they don't have to do the real challenging stuff. And yes, I'm stereotyping. And yes, I love creature comforts.

But a morality that's based on wanting others to change their behavior isn't as pleasing to God as flat out kindness all the time.

And I'm not perfect. Every time I go to the Dollar Tree I spend two bucks for a needy student's school supplies...but we also spent $150 on concert tix this week. Pope Francis would say listen on the radio--buy crayons for 150 kids.

So often we pat ourselves on the back for doing the easy thing. When a 15 year old doesn't have an abortion---that's a hard thing . Donating diapers here and there--no big deal.

I'm certain the Pope means well, but isn't the Catholic church sitting on assets worth in excess of $9.5 BILLION......... he could do a fair bit of good with that. Plus, isn't one of the main causes of poverty world wide population growth, might it help if the Catholic church encouraged birth control that actually works? Not being controversial, just asking.

 

[DogmaHunter]

As for circumstances where Christians might support abortion, since abortion for the sake of the mother's convenience amounts to more than 99% of all abortions worldwide, and abortion in cases of incest, rape and/or risk to the mother's health or life amounts to less than 1% of all abortions, there is no reason to discuss it.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that you likely just pulled those percentages out of your hat. Didn't you?

 

[Fantine]

It depends on what you call "convenience."

A distant relative had a baby with a genetic disorder who is still non-verbal and non-ambulatory as a pre-teen. It broke up her marriage. Her chikd's medical care over the years has cost many, many millions.

To blithely label an abortion in a situation like this "convenience" (and a real pro-lifer would) indicates the compassion and empathy of a rock.

Did I mention the child is also autistic...a head banger....

Convenience is a word indicating minor sacrifice, not unimaginable suffering for a family and the child herself.

I respect the mother's choice, but I would never demean or trivialize the pain of a mother making a different choice.

The people who call abortion 99% convenience probably gripe and whine if they get stuck in traffic.


This is not debating the rightness or wrongness of abortion--just a call for people to show a little humanity when discussing other people's life crises.

 

[rjs330]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that you likely just pulled those percentages out of your hat. Didn't you?

Well he's close. About 90-95% of abortions are for convenience. Less than 1% are for rape.

Abortions In America

Abortions kill babies. That's the bottom line.

 

[rjs330]

It depends on what you call "convenience."

A distant relative had a baby with a genetic disorder who is still non-verbal and non-ambulatory as a pre-teen. It broke up her marriage. Her chikd's medical care over the years has cost many, many millions.

To blithely label an abortion in a situation like this "convenience" (and a real pro-lifer would) indicates the compassion and empathy of a rock.

Did I mention the child is also autistic...a head banger....

Convenience is a word indicating minor sacrifice, not unimaginable suffering for a family and the child herself.

I respect the mother's choice, but I would never demean or trivialize the pain of a mother making a different choice.

The people who call abortion 99% convenience probably gripe and whine if they get stuck in traffic.


This is not debating the rightness or wrongness of abortion--just a call for people to show a little humanity when discussing other people's life crises.

May God bless that woman for she took the cross and carried it for the sake of a living soul. She would be a saint in my book.

 

[DogmaHunter]

Well he's close. About 90-95% of abortions are for convenience. Less than 1% are for rape.
Abortions In America

That doesn't really look like an unbiased source.
The stats that I have seen from independent surveys, come up with figures of
- 1 to 2% result of rape/incest/abuse in general
- 14% result of health issues for either child, mother or both
- around 30% cites reasons making them incapable of caring for a child, like financial troubles etc.

I also expect (although I've never seen any stats on that) that the vast majority of abortions also concerns unwanted/unplanned pregnancies. Most of these could be avoided with some basic sex education. Which, in the US at least, usually is extremely lacking or even simply opposed. It's not surprising to me that the most amount of teenage pregnancies occur in the so-called "Bible belt" in the US.

Some simple sex education and info on contraceptives, in other words, would easily reduce the amount of abortions severely.

Abortions kill babies. That's the bottom line.

If you say so.

I don't consider it a baby until it can survive outside of the whomb on its own (or with a bit of help from medical science, such a premature births at 7 months or so).
The stats also show that the vast majority (around 86%) of abortions take place in the first 12 weeks. Seems fine with me.

 

[rjs330]

That doesn't really look like an unbiased source.
The stats that I have seen from independent surveys, come up with figures of
- 1 to 2% result of rape/incest/abuse in general
- 14% result of health issues for either child, mother or both
- around 30% cites reasons making them incapable of caring for a child, like financial troubles etc.

I also expect (although I've never seen any stats on that) that the vast majority of abortions also concerns unwanted/unplanned pregnancies. Most of these could be avoided with some basic sex education. Which, in the US at least, usually is extremely lacking or even simply opposed. It's not surprising to me that the most amount of teenage pregnancies occur in the so-called "Bible belt" in the US.

Some simple sex education and info on contraceptives, in other words, would easily reduce the amount of abortions severely.



If you say so.

I don't consider it a baby until it can survive outside of the whomb on its own (or with a bit of help from medical science, such a premature births at 7 months or so).
The stats also show that the vast majority (around 86%) of abortions take place in the first 12 weeks. Seems fine with me.

Perhaps you would prefer this one.

U.S. Abortion Statistics

This also.states that about 90% of abortions are for convenience not health or rape reasons. People are killing babies because they don't want one.

And of course it's fine with you. You don't think it's a life.

 

[Fantine]

May God bless that woman for she took the cross and carried it for the sake of a living soul. She would be a saint in my book.

Yes, she is a saint---and the reason she is a saint is that her entire life was turned upside down, sideways, and inside out, and that's not what I would call a matter of "convenience."

And when pro-lifers trivialize and demean the amount of self-sacrifice the decision to choose to carry a baby to term sometimes is, they are exhibiting a callousness that is almost inhuman.

We also need to think of how we, as a society, support this choice. Are we supportive of the education and medical care this child needs, even though it runs into the millions? Are we supportive of a reasonable amount of respite services for the parent (whose husband left because of the stress)?

It's extremely "inconvenient" for us, too--for our taxes, for our governmental budgets. And when we vote "no" are we supporting her courage and witness, when we show we aren't even able to be "inconvenienced" enough to pay a few more bucks in taxes?

 

[Noxot]

in humanities past the life expectancy was so low because they who calculated such things averaged in the factor of infanticides.

in some areas of the world certain groups of people knew of methods that would cause a woman to abort her baby.

maybe in some ways Christians have less excuses than atheist do. you would not dare to ever think mary the mother of jesus ought to have had an abortion even though she might have been as young as 13 when she became pregnant.

one of the largest burdens does seem to be highly disabled babies. if it's okay to kill them then we should hurry up and accept that anyone that wants to die ought not to be considered to be doing something wrong. if they don't wanna be in this world any longer then let them kill themselves. depressed? kill yourself. blind? kill yourself. those should be valid solutions to problems if death is really a valid solution to a problem.

a possible easy solution to abortions is for males to get vasectomies if they don't want children. it's cheap and safer than a female getting her tubes tied. but people tend to be trapped in their own self-love.

 

[Dave RP]

Perhaps you would prefer this one.

U.S. Abortion Statistics

This also.states that about 90% of abortions are for convenience not health or rape reasons. People are killing babies because they don't want one.

And of course it's fine with you. You don't think it's a life.

No One should bring a child into the world unless they have the wherewithal to pay for it. It's not right or fair to to bring children into an overcrowded planet with mass starvation on the cards.

 

[St_Worm2]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that you likely just pulled those percentages out of your hat. Didn't you?

No, you can find them at various websites however. I would have no way of coming up with stats like that on my own.

Sadly, knowing such information hasn't seem to put a dent in the number of abortions that are performed each year, so the only people those numbers seem to matter to are the ones who wouldn't choose to get an abortion anyway.

Here's the address to a site I was just looking at concerning USA and worldwide abortion numbers that might interest you: Number of Abortions in US & Worldwide - Number of abortions since 1973 Of course, if you are in favor of abortion, I doubt these numbers will make any difference to you either. As a Pro-Life person, I always find the stats concerning the number of reported abortions disturbing (to say the least).

Yours and His,
David

 

[Dave RP]

No, you can find them at various websites however. I would have no way of coming up with stats like that on my own.

Sadly, knowing such information hasn't seem to put a dent in the number of abortions that are performed each year, so the only people those numbers seem to matter to are the ones who wouldn't choose to get an abortion anyway.

Here's the address to a site I was just looking at concerning USA and worldwide abortion numbers that might interest you: Number of Abortions in US & Worldwide - Number of abortions since 1973 Of course, if you are in favor of abortion, I doubt these numbers will make any difference to you either. As a Pro-Life person, I always find the stats concerning the number of reported abortions disturbing (to say the least).

Yours and His,
David

Do a similar number of world population growth and add destruction of environment and number of species becoming extinct, we share this planet but we are destroying it.

 

[Strathos]

No One should bring a child into the world unless they have the wherewithal to pay for it. It's not right or fair to to bring children into an overcrowded planet with mass starvation on the cards.

Adoption exists, you know.

 

[rjs330]

No One should bring a child into the world unless they have the wherewithal to pay for it. It's not right or fair to to bring children into an overcrowded planet with mass starvation on the cards.

Mass starvation? Where do you live? You do know we produce enough food to feed everyone easily right?

Why don't we just go out and start killing children? After all it's a terrible world they are growing up in.

 

[Friend-of-Jesus]

I've never fully understood why many Christians are opposed to abortion and why it seems to be a very controversial subject, particularly in the US. What is the "religious" reasoning behind the Christian stance on abortion, and are there any circumstances where Christians would support abortion?

I read somewhere that god had allowed the death of thousands or possibly millions of unborn babies, for example in Noahs flood and at Sodom/ Gomorrah (if you believe the bible) as there must have been many pregnant women killed in those incidents, does this affect the thinking of Christians in the modern world when abortion is discussed?

Sorry if I repeat already said things. There are these considerations to help you see the Christian perspective:

1) The soul indwells fetus at conception or soon after. I.e. at any gestation age, the fetus is a full-fledged human being.
2) Without abortion a human child is born. With abortion, not.
3) Life is a sacred thing. God creates it, "breaths the soul into the fetus".
4) New life is a gift or curse of God, His perfect will: punishment or blessing.

 

[Dave RP]

Adoption exists, you know.

Adoption does not solve the problem of population growth and environmental destruction.

 

[Dave RP]

Mass starvation? Where do you live? You do know we produce enough food to feed everyone easily right?

Why don't we just go out and start killing children? After all it's a terrible world they are growing up in.

An early pregnancy is not a child. In any event children are dieing the world over of starvation, lack of clean water, climate change and war. Apparently god gave us stewardship over the earth and we are messing it up. Look at the way animals are treated in factory farming. Look at the loss of habitat and the mass extinctions around the globe. If we don't get a grip on population growth we will hand over a diseased and terminally declining planet to our grandchildren. Look outside your bubble at the wider planet, do the research then talk about every life is god given. God, if he exists, must be sickened by what mankind is doing. Birth control is paramount now, abortion necessary in some circumstances, that's how it is.

 

[Dave RP]

Sorry if I repeat already said things. There are these considerations to help you see the Christian perspective:

1) The soul indwells fetus at conception or soon after. I.e. at any gestation age, the fetus is a full-fledged human being.
2) Without abortion a human child is born. With abortion, not.
3) Life is a sacred thing. God creates it, "breaths the soul into the fetus".
4) New life is a gift or curse of God, His perfect will: punishment or blessing.

Thanks for the reply, can I ask please:

1. Where does it say that " The soul indwells fetus at conception or soon after." and if its "soon after" could that be many weeks, in which case an abortion at (say) 10 weeks might be before the soul is in the fetus?
2. Not always, sometimes a child is not born, sometimes it dies, sometimes it is malformed.
3. Where does it say that god "breathed the soul into the fetus". My understanding is that God breathed life into the body, as with Adam, therefore the fetus only becomes a life at birth.
4. Noted, but life is only life outside the womb.