Abortion - a Biblical perspective

In order to understand what God's view is on abortion, we need to understand what the Bible says about the value of human life - including the value of the child before it is born.

Some points to consider:

• In the Bible, the pre-born child is portrayed as a human being
  In Luke's gospel, after Mary has conceived, she visits her pregnant cousin Elizabeth. The text says that Elizabeth's baby leapt in her womb - and Elizabeth acknowledges the tiny baby in Mary's womb that is Jesus. Luke 1:39
• Life is created by God
  * God created human life when he made man and woman. Genesis 2:7
  * Jeremiah says "Now the word of the Lord came to me saying 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."
  * David, in Psalm 139:13-16 says "You [God] created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made . . . My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place."
• Life begins at conception
  Genesis 4:1 says "Adam knew his wife and she conceived".
  Medical texts affirm that life begins at conception, when the sperm fertilises the egg.
• Life is sacred - we do not have the right to destroy or kill life
  Exodus 20:13 says "You shall not murder".

Once we understand some of these principles it leads us to acknowledge human life as sacred - and thus to oppose abortion.

Articles:

Abortion - A Biblical Perspective
Andrew Lansdown
For a full discussion of this topic, please read Andrew Lansdown's excellent article: Abortion - A Biblical Perspective - Andrew Lansdown. [The points and references above are taken from this article.]
Andrew is a Baptist pastor in WA who writes for Life Ministries.

This article is also available as a 3-fold pamphlet from our office for 75 cents plus 55 cents postage.
Click here to contact our office.

Abortion in the Bible and Church History
By Randy Alcorn who runs Eternal Perspective Ministries.
Randy is a US pastor who has written and researched extensively on this topic.
We have his book, Pro-life Answers to Pro-choice Arguments, for sale at our office.

Abortion - The answer's in Genesis
by Jonathan Sarfati - Creation Ministries International
First published in Prayer News (Australia), May 1998, p. 4.
He says there are two issues we must consider:
1. Is the unborn child ('fetus') a human being?
2. If so, is it ever acceptable to kill the unborn?