Why are Christians generally opposed to abortion?

[Dave RP]

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?

 

[WilliamBo]

Abortion practiced in ancient times in the Bible is referred to as ''child sacrifice.'' It is an abominable act in the sight of God.

Child sacrifice in the OT was generally done for Molech, a god of the Ammonites. Killing an infant is no different than killing a baby in the womb of a woman. It's still murder.


''Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and rto profane my holy name. put him to death, whoring after Molech.''
-Leviticus 20:2–5

''They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.''
-Jeremiah 32:35

 

[St_Worm2]

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?

Hi Dave, the fact that abortion is legalized murder might have something to do with it. As for the religious reasoning, it begins here:

Exodus 20
13 Thou shalt not kill.
​

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.

Yours and His,
David

"A baby is cradled / carried in the womb of it's mother, to grow and be nurtured until birth. Each baby is a wholly separate person from it's mother: With different DNA, different fingerprints, with possibly a different blood type or the opposite sex. The baby is a person living within a person and not "the mother's body". The mom is appointed to care for the separate life she carries within her and once it's born, find a home for her baby, if she can't provide one." -- Melody Green

 

[Dave RP]

Hi Dave, the fact that abortion is legalized murder might have something to do with it. As for the religious reasoning, it begins here:

Exodus 20
13 Thou shalt not kill.
​

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.

Yours and His,
David

​

Thanks for the response. Having quoted the Old Testament, how do you justify the deaths of thousands of unborn children in their mothers womb by god in the various incidents of mass murder he perpetrated?

 

[dysert]

Simply put, Christians value human life to a great extreme. A fetus is considered to be a human life, therefore, a fetus is valued to a great extreme. To kill him/her for the mother's convenience (in the vast majority of cases) is morally wrong.

 

[Yanni depp]

how do you justify the deaths of thousands of unborn children in their mothers womb by god in the various incidents of mass murder he perpetrated?

Looks like a loaded question with strawmen for ammunition.

 

[NothingIsImpossible]

how do you justify the deaths of thousands of unborn children in their mothers womb by god in the various incidents of mass murder he perpetrated?

Well God doesn't kill unborn children. Unborn children just die to various circumstance. In my wifes case the sperm and egg just didn't work out right and the baby died.

Also what mass murder did He perpetrate? Now I do know some talk about biblical times when He did things. Such as the flood killing people. But the question isn't how does He justify it, the question is "Does it really matter?".

Gods real and it doesn't matter what we think or not. Hes God. He created everything. He has to answer to no one. So in the end the only thing we can do is choose to believe and see heaven or have a tantrum about how we think He acts and end up in hell.

I mean I don't believe in Him based on those reasons, but I know many do.

 

[Dave RP]

Well God doesn't kill unborn children. Unborn children just die to various circumstance. In my wifes case the sperm and egg just didn't work out right and the baby died.

Also what mass murder did He perpetrate? Now I do know some talk about biblical times when He did things. Such as the flood killing people. But the question isn't how does He justify it, the question is "Does it really matter?".

Gods real and it doesn't matter what we think or not. Hes God. He created everything. He has to answer to no one. So in the end the only thing we can do is choose to believe and see heaven or have a tantrum about how we think He acts and end up in hell.

I mean I don't believe in Him based on those reasons, but I know many do.

Fair enough and thanks for the response.

 

[Dave RP]

Looks like a loaded question with strawmen for ammunition.

Sorry if I offended, I just wanted to understand the thinking on contradictory matters. I will post no more on this subject.

 

[seeking.IAM]

I only speak for one Christian. I believe abortion destroys a beloved creation of God. I think it is sinful to destroy that which God has created.

 

[grasping the after wind]

All these questions, and just about all moral questions IMO, seem to me to hinge upon property rights. The basic tenet of much of morality, from what I can see, is that to take, use without consent of the owner or destroy that which belongs to another is morally wrong. Taking, using or even destroying that which belongs to you is not. "Belonging to" here meaning strictly the ownership of something.This does not include being in some kind of relationship with others that we might consider as belonging to. Like belonging to a club or group or family or church or country. that kind of belonging to is not what I am talking about but more like "that pen belongs to me" or" that pair of shoes belongs to me". In the case of abortion the mother is saying "that fetus belongs to me" . For Christians, the life of another individual does not belong to you but all life belongs to God as God is the Creator and a creator has property rights over all that the creator creates. Part of Christian belief is that God gave humanity dominion over the plants and animals of the earth which therefore gives us the right to "take, kill and eat" because the rightful owner gave permission to use what is His.Some Christians have decided that a human fetus is not an individual but instead a part of the group that we have been allowed dominion rights over, though none have yet have advocated that we ought to eat a fetus they have asserted the dominion right of the mother to dispose of the fetus as being equal to the dominion right of disosing of any non human parasite that might be problematic for the host. . Others do not agree with that calculation seeing as the adjective human is attached to fetus in the case of abortion they do not see any right of ownership there beyond God's right of ownership and do not find any permission by God to dispose of His property. The non Christian, AFAIK, has no problem seeing the fetus as the property of the person that gives it shelter so any moral problem a nonChristian might have would have to come from a different source.

 

[JoeP222w]

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?

Abortion is murder. Life is sacred. God commands, "You shall not murder".

No, there is never a justification for abortion. Never.

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?

God is the Creator of all life. He has the sovereign right to do with His creation as He so chooses. God brought about the death of many people as execution of His divine justice against a wicked and idolatrous people. Because of Adam, all mankind is born with a sin nature. God is the only one with autonomous free will to do with His creation as He sees fit according to the counsel of His own will and according to His divine decree.

Since the flood occurred early in the history of mankind, there is no way to know that "millions" of unborn babies will killed. We are not told the number of deaths in the Noahaic flood or Sodom and Gomorrah.

God has the sovereign right to execute justice. When man or woman murders a child in the womb, man does so 1) against the decree of God and 2) man is not the Creator of life, so man has no sovereign right to take a life in the manner of abortion.

Moreover, the creation (mankind) has no right whatsoever, to judge the actions of God, the Creator.

 

[Strathos]

A better question is: why are so many Christians opposed to comprehensive sex education and easily available birth control, since studies prove those are the most effective ways to reduce the rate of abortions?

 

[SPF]

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

Hi Dave, great question. The morality of abortion stands or falls with how we understand the moral worth and value of humanity. For Christians, we believe that humans are unique among God's creation. We are created in the image of God and possess inherent moral worth and value.

Scientifically we know that human life begins at conception. Therefore, for a Christian, human life is morally valuable from its very beginning.

Therefore, it follows that terminating a human life for convenience sake (which is why 99% of all abortions are committed), is morally wrong, and consequently abortion becomes a form of murder.

The only reason that abortion is acceptable in the first place is because we have fabricated an artificial and subjective distinction between a human being and a human person. It is then asserted after this fabricated distinction is created that only human persons have moral worth and value. Therefore, actions may be committed against the non-persons that would otherwise be considered immoral.

The problem of course is that the distinction between a human being and a human person is a necessarily subjective and arbitrary line. It doesn't actually exist in reality.

 

[essentialsaltes]

At least in the US, this sentiment was whipped up by the 'moral majority' in the aftermath of Roe. Leading up to and immediately after Roe, many Christian denominations were not theologically tied to a life-starts-at-conception-abortion-is-murder stance. Here's some history on how the Southern Baptists evolved on the issue.

“There is no official Southern Baptist position on abortion, or any other such question,” Barry Garrett, head of the Washington bureau of Baptist Press, wrote in a news analysis dated Jan. 31, 1973. “Among 12 million Southern Baptists, there are probably 12 million different opinions.”
--
Dehoney, a Baptist statesman who served as SBC president 1964-66 and died in 2007, said he “didn’t anticipate the deep feelings on the matter.”

“Protestant theology generally takes Genesis 2:7 as a statement that the soul is formed at breath, not with conception,” Dehoney said.
--
In 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a resolution supporting legislation to “allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental and physical health of the mother.”
--
By 1980, the exclusions from banning abortion narrowed to saving the life of the mother.

 

[jardiniere]

All these questions, and just about all moral questions IMO, seem to me to hinge upon property rights. The basic tenet of much of morality, from what I can see, is that to take, use without consent of the owner or destroy that which belongs to another is morally wrong. Taking, using or even destroying that which belongs to you is not. "Belonging to" here meaning strictly the ownership of something.This does not include being in some kind of relationship with others that we might consider as belonging to. Like belonging to a club or group or family or church or country. that kind of belonging to is not what I am talking about but more like "that pen belongs to me" or" that pair of shoes belongs to me". In the case of abortion the mother is saying "that fetus belongs to me" . For Christians, the life of another individual does not belong to you but all life belongs to God as God is the Creator and a creator has property rights over all that the creator creates. Part of Christian belief is that God gave humanity dominion over the plants and animals of the earth which therefore gives us the right to "take, kill and eat" because the rightful owner gave permission to use what is His.Some Christians have decided that a human fetus is not an individual but instead a part of the group that we have been allowed dominion rights over, though none have yet have advocated that we ought to eat a fetus they have asserted the dominion right of the mother to dispose of the fetus as being equal to the dominion right of disosing of any non human parasite that might be problematic for the host. . Others do not agree with that calculation seeing as the adjective human is attached to fetus in the case of abortion they do not see any right of ownership there beyond God's right of ownership and do not find any permission by God to dispose of His property. The non Christian, AFAIK, has no problem seeing the fetus as the property of the person that gives it shelter so any moral problem a nonChristian might have would have to come from a different source.

This is interesting but ultimately unhelpful. For example, this: "In the case of abortion the mother is saying "that fetus belongs to me" ." Well, maybe she's saying something else instead: "That uterus belongs to me." Thus grounding the "property rights" within her body, not that of the fetus. Then the moral question shifts to "Does she have the right to determine how she wants her uterus used, or doesn't she?" and not "Does she have the right to determine another's right to life?"

The moral question is not "is it part of the group we have dominion over?", but "does she morally have the right to determine how her uterus is used at any given time?". Neither of which is easily solvable.

And thus I think property rights is not all that helpful in resolving the moral ambiguity of abortion for many people.

 

[SnowyMacie]

A better question is: why are so many Christians opposed to comprehensive sex education and easily available birth control, since studies prove those are the most effective ways to reduce the rate of abortions?

I can't speak for people on the conservative side obviously, but I've heard several people argue that a lot of conservative politicians don't actually want to abortion to go away because they're smart enough to know that's just being for completely outlawing is the one issue that brings support to them more than anything else is. In other words, it's actually against their (the politicians) interest to effectively end abortion.

 

[Soyeong]

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?

Have you seen pictures of the process? It is not a choice for a civilized society except if the mother's life is in danger, which would be exceptionally rare because the mother needs to be prepared days ahead of time for an abortion.

If a parent does something illegal and is put in prison, then their children also suffer consequences because of their absence, and the responsibility for that is on the parent.

 

[Soyeong]

Thanks for the response. Having quoted the Old Testament, how do you justify the deaths of thousands of unborn children in their mothers womb by god in the various incidents of mass murder he perpetrated?

God has not murdered or commanded anyone to be murdered.

 

[Uncle Tommy]

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?

Dave you have asked a question that deserves an answer. I do not speak for all Christians, I will answer for myself only and will offer a few tangential thoughts.
I have studied Biology at the basic college level. It is my understanding that human life begins at conception at the earliest. Thus we have the earliest possible moment at which the value we may place on human life can be placed. An ovum is not a unique human life nor is a spermatozoon. So we may, as I believe, have human life at conception.
As others have already pointed out most Christians value human life as being created (in whatever way God created human life) in God's own image and most believe, including me, that this is the reason that God declared murder a sin. (Side note) I understand that abortion doesn't qualify in American jurisprudence as murder based on definition. I do not claim that abortion is murder, instead I claim that in almost every case abortion is the unjustified taking of human life. (End Side note)

As for God taking or causing the death of possibly millions of children or unborn babies, I am not qualified to give an answer for God. If these events did occur as recorded I can offer no explanation. I know that is an unfulfilling response to your question but at least for me it is the only honest one.

Some of my thoughts: If one is opposed to abortion due to ectopic pregnancy or other pregnancies that reasonably can be expected to end in death of the mother then one cannot reasonably argue for any form of self defense in any situation.

Oops little emergency here I'll try to follow up later.