Why Is Abortion Considered a Sin in Religious Circles?
The Bible doesn’t say anything about abortion. It shouldn’t be the pastor’s job to decide; legal scholars and biologists are more qualified
‘You can’t tell me what to do with my body. My body, my choice’
When you hear these words, you don’t need a prophet to tell you that it’s a conversation about abortion.
Abortion is a poisoned chalice. It is a very interesting topic that has singularly caused a lot of culture wars and political disputes.
It has divided society along 2 very thick lines. On one end are the pro-life individuals. People who are pro-life argue that abortion shouldn’t be permissible or legal, it doesn’t matter the reason for the pregnancy. On the other end, are the pro-choice. For pro-choice people, the decision to abort or not should be the sole privilege of the person carrying the pregnancy.
Individuals who are pro-life tend to be religious and associated with conservative politics. In the US as in most of the world, the most fervent opponents, or at least the loudest opponents of abortions are evangelical Christians. Other conservative religionists such as conservative Jews also oppose abortion for the same reasons. Evangelicals pride themselves on their knowledge of the scriptures and interpret the Bible as a book of moral authority that should be taken prima facie. From this prima facie perspective, it makes sense that the argument against abortion should spring from a biblical basis.
Thou shall not kill — Exodus 20:13
This is the first line of defence in the pro-life stance on abortion.
Yes, the bible clearly instructs against killing. In other verses, the bible details the punishment for murder — death (See Exodus 21:12, Leviticus 24:17, etc.). Our legal codes throughout the secular world also prohibit murder. There is no single country in the world where the laws permit you to arbitrarily murder someone else without the threat of punishment. But the pro-life activists or anybody else would be greatly mistaken to assume that the bible forms the basis of our secular law against murder. Conversely, basic human decency and our evolution-endowed sense of morality taught us that killing is bad and counterintuitive to the propagation of our species. The bible’s commandment not to kill only puts in writing a principle that is self-evident to any human with a half-decent brain. That is why God punished Cain for murdering Abel, even though he had not yet given any explicit instruction against murder.
The commandment on murder, however, is incomplete. Yes, we are not allowed to kill, but what are we not allowed to kill, or who?
The Bible is clear that we are allowed to kill, but selectively. In the New Testament (Acts 10), Peter had a vision where he was instructed to “kill and eat”. The scriptures make it clear that animals created by God are for human consumption. Looking back at Genesis 1:26–31, God gave humans dominion over the earth and animals. These verses make it clear that when God instructed “Thou shall not kill”, he wasn’t talking about animals.
Combined with all the Biblical passages that dish out the death sentence for killing a person, it is obvious that ‘thou shall not kill’ means ‘thou shall not kill a person’.
It is tempting to ask who the bible considers a person, and based on which criteria. But asking this question will lead us down a long and windy road. Besides, many writers have broached this topic. It would serve us more to consider the question of if the bible considers the fetus a person.
Does the Bible consider the fetus a person?
To answer this question, let us consider Exodus 21:22–23 (KJV)
22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life.
This passage comes up a lot in the argument about the Bible’s stance on abortion. Although different sides of the argument interpret this passage in a way that buttresses their point, some facts of the case are clear.
When the bible says “her fruit depart from her”, it is not clear if the Bible refers to a premature birth of the child or an unintended miscarriage. Over the years, bible scholars have insinuated that the passage addresses unintended miscarriage. We will therefore be in safe hands if we follow this assumption.
Exodus 21:22–23 makes it clear that if the unborn baby is lost because of a violent incident, whoever is responsible for this incident should pay. However, it doesn’t impose on the perpetrator the traditional biblical punishment for murder — death. Instead, the punishment for unintended miscarriage is a fine which will be determined by the woman’s husband and the judges. By reason of not imposing the standard death penalty on the perpetrator of an unintended miscarriage, this passage signifies that the bible places different values on the fetus — in the womb — and the offspring who is already out of the womb, and therefore they cannot be judged the same.
Another passage that comes up in pro-life circles to defend the opposition to abortion is Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations
Here, God was informing Jeremiah that he had specific plans for his life even before he was conceived. This passage looks like a strong point for pro-life advocates, except that there are 2 problems with it.
First, God was specifically referring to Jeremiah. It is plausible to think that God needed a prophet to fulfill a certain purpose and therefore decided to bring Jeremiah into the picture. Assuming that this passage applies to every other person born on earth would be at best a case of extreme optimism. This is just like the story of Jesus. Before Jesus was born, a lot of prophets prophesied about his birth. Everybody was expecting the coming of the Messiah. According to the Bible, God caused Mary to be pregnant with Jesus even though she was a virgin. From the signs and prophesies, it is obvious that God knew Jesus before he was conceived in Mary’s womb. But it would be foolish to argue that every fetus is the messiah. Quoting Jeremiah 1:5 in defending an anti-abortion stance is akin to appropriating the word of God to a particular person at a particular time by arguing that every fetus conceived today is Jeremiah. This is equally as foolish.
Secondly, it is a big leap to conclude that the fact that God says “I knew thee”, confers special status. Most Christians believe that God is omniscient — he knows everything. They base this belief on Bible passages such as Genesis 22:14 and 1 Samuel 2:3. If we assume that God knows everything at all times, then there is nothing special about you know if God proclaims to know you. “I know you” is a declaration of the nature of God, since it is in his nature to know everything and he cannot not know you even if he tried. Whether it’s an event, a place, a date, or a person, he knows it all even before it happens. This becomes a statement of fact, nothing more, nothing less.
Exodus 21 is the only place the Bible mentions a woman losing her pregnancy due to unnatural causes. This passage is very clear that the life of the fetus and the life of the person already born are to be judged differently.
What does the Bible say about abortion itself?
The Bible is surprisingly progressive for a book that was written many centuries ago. It doesn’t shy away from addressing issues surrounding women. It talks about menstruation (Leviticus 15: 19–23; Ezekiel 18:5–6). It talks about child-birth (John 16:21), infertility (Genesis 15–21; 1 Samuel 1), as well as prostitution (Leviticus 19:29; 21:7). It also addresses the issue of rape (Genesis 34; Judges 19–21) and specifies the punishment for rape (Deuteronomy 22:23–24). The Bible is so specific that it gives instructions on what to do if a woman grabs a man by his testicles (Deuteronomy 25: 11–12). Given how many topics are covered in the Bible and how specific Biblical punishments are, it is very surprising that the Bible doesn’t mention abortion, not even once.
In a society that punished extra-marital pregnancies by death, it is hard to imagine that women didn’t have a way of ending unwanted pregnancies in Biblical times.
In the New Testament, Jesus made it clear that he had not come to destroy the Jewish laws or rewrite previous prophecies (Matthew 5:17–20). Despite being vocal about adultery, marriage, and sex, he did not say anything about abortion. The other writers of the New Testament did not say anything about abortion either.
When Does the Fetus become a person?
Now this is the crux of the issue.
“Thou shall not kill a person” is very clear. But then, what makes a person?
The Bible is not clear about when personhood starts. It doesn’t mention this at all.
This is why there is a lot of disagreement on the issue of abortion among believers. Does life start when a person is conceived or do we consider the fetus a person only after it is born? When the fetus is in the womb, does it have the same rights as the woman, or does the woman’s right and preference supersede that of the fetus? These are very difficult questions to answer, but arguing that the religious book is explicitly against abortion is false and misleading.
We can agree that the issue of when a fetus becomes a person is a contentious one. Since the religious books don’t talk about this, we cannot be sure what the authors of the Bible thought about this. The best we can do is speculate.
In philosophy, a being can be defined as a person if they are rational, conscious, self-conscious, can use language, and intelligent. Morally, a being is a person if they are a moral agent and can make moral judgments. Going by philosophy, since a fetus isn’t self-conscious, is not able to exercise rational thinking, isn’t intelligent, and cannot make moral judgments, the fetus is not a person. Admitting this completely obliterates the points made by conservative religionists about a fetus being a person.
In Closing
Since the Judeo-Christian holy book isn’t clear on personhood, and we don’t all agree on the philosophical definition of a person, then who should define what makes a being a person?
Legal scholars are better positioned to answer this question. Since there are a lot of legal consequences surrounding this definition both for the fetus and its mother, it makes sense to let legal scholars argue this out. Their knowledge of legal history and legal philosophy qualifies them for this.
Scientists who study biology would also be allowed to take a stab at this. Their study of human biology, fertilization, and conception places them in a position to have a deeper knowledge of the biology of the fetus. Together with legal scholars, they can apply this deeper knowledge to answer the question of when a fetus becomes a person.
Because the Bible does not say anything about abortion, the argument for declaring abortion a sin stands on very shaky ground. Pastors and other religious leaders should not have the arbitrary powers to declare abortion a sin, or any other act for that matter that isn’t declared a sin in the holy books. In any case, what the Bible says or doesn’t say about abortion shouldn’t matter in a country that isn’t a theocracy.
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