All in all, the Bible does not speak as clearly about abortion as some politicians might wish. Where it does speak about pregnancy and abortion, the God-given character of human life is an important point of departure. On the one hand, there are passages that state how God has plans for some special human beings, his prophets, already during their stay in their mother’s womb. This implies that already at that stage God had selected them as the persons they would become. On the other hand, some passages indicate that human life was only thought to begin either at the moment the fetus was fully developed or even up to a month after the baby’s birth. It is therefore difficult to refer to anything like “the Bible’s teaching on abortion.”
Article from The Bible in Political Debate: What Does it Really Say? (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016).
By Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte
Theology Department
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
October 2016
Click here for article.
Comments (1)
As a balance to this interpretation, I recommend three Jewish sources which also have some variance: "The Fetus in Jewish Law" from My Jewish Learning; "Abortion in Jewish Law" from Ash.com; and "Abortion in Judaism" from Jewish Virtual Library
#1 - Terry Tim Solon - 10/24/2016 - 00:29