The Abortion Dilemma

Church and Politics on the Idea of Abortion

Since the beginning of time, civilizations have been divided on whether a particular religious group or religion should dominate and govern state laws to their citizens. One can look to the Bible to see how a theocratic civilization operates which was a time in history where certain people were ruled and governed by God Himself. There are other countries like Saudi Arabia that are dominated by the religion Islam. These types of countries are built on and operated by Sharia Law which is derived solely from the Quran. Then one can look at the United States and see that even though the beginning law and governance were built through a Biblical lens; as time has passed, the country is now divided on how religion should influence the states and its citizens. 

One of the biggest questions in an American society today is should religion have any part in dictating state laws? The slogan of keeping Church separate from the state is a famous mantra that one frequently hears when the debates arise regarding certain ethical or moral issues. Can the Church separate from the state at the core level? Is the Church supposed to let the world dictate what is right and wrong? What is permissible and what is allowed? This article will address these critical issues, especially when it comes to the influence both parties have regarding the specific ethical issue of abortion. Arguments will be made to show how a balance of religious influence is necessary to dictate proper ethical laws. In addition, arguments will also be made for the position of pro-life through the lens of Christianity, and how that viewpoint is lived out through the people of the Church today.

Abortion in the Eyes of the Government

As one looks to the ethical idea of abortion, sadly some people are completely divided on the morality of this great issue. Abortion is defined as terminating a pregnancy or ending the life of an unborn child (Davidson, 2016; Sproul, 2010). This practice has been around sadly for thousands of years. Ancient Near Eastern (A.N.E.) civilizations practiced abortion. It was legal in the Roman Empire for some time, and even became a permissible law in the United States after Roe vs. Wade in 1973 (Davidson, 2016; Sivak, 2018). There are inscriptions and ancient writings that have been discovered by archeologists showing how most abortions were administered through herbal chemistry thousands of years ago (Davidson, 2016). Sadly, the abortion dilemma is on the rise all over the world. Governments are more concerned with the choice of the women, the impact babies have financially on a person, the emotional distraught that a child can bring, the limitations of one’s social life and many other excuses to advocate for the position of pro-choice (McQuilkin & Copan, 2014).  

There are even people who promote the idea of abortion because they say that aborting a child is a guaranteed entrance for the child into the presence of God and lets them “experience the joys of heaven without the temptations of Earth” (Thomas, 2016, p. 518). According to Christian theology and eschatology, a baby or unborn child is declared innocent in the eyes of the Lord and thereby makes the babies who are victims of an abortion the most fortunate of all humans. They do not have to suffer the pains of this world and struggle with volition which may hinder their entrance to heaven (Thomas, 2016). Thomas (2016), throws the conviction back on people that advocate for preserving their life that these same people (pro-life people), are letting the child experience life on this sinful planet instead of letting them experience immediate eternal Life with a capital l, with their creator. Thomas (2016), even calls the doctors and abortion practitioners “the most effective evangelists” (p. 538). What a crazy way to justify the murder of babies! Despite the scientific evidence of how the unborn can feel pain, the unborn can distinguish their mother’s voice and music from other noises, and the unborn can learn words and sounds and remember them after they are born; the government still errs on the side of choice (Grudem, 2018; Hopson, 2016; Partanen, 2013; Skwarecki, 2013; “The University of Florida,” 2004).

Three Arguments from the Pro-Choice Side

When it comes to the subject of abortion, there are some pretty basic arguments that exist out there. 

• Interaction and Survival - Some people advocate for abortion and say that killing the unborn is morally acceptable since the unborn are unable to interact with others and are unable to survive and maintain their own life on their own. One can easily counter this argument and say that their conditions would also include certain disabled people, the elderly, or someone who is perhaps in a coma. Does this mean that we should just line up these people and murder them? Absolutely not! Ones interaction with society and dependency on others does not disqualify a person from the right to live.

• Birth Defects – Some people argue that it is morally acceptable to abort a baby if the baby is diagnosed with certain birth defects. This argument again breaks down since there are studies that show that a diagnosis is not 100% accurate. Furthermore, there are also studies that have been proven to show that people with down syndrome for example, are some of the happiest people on Earth and that the people who end up caring for such life, end up seeing the beauty of life in a whole other lens (Grudem, 2018; McQuilkin & Copan, 2014). Lastly, it is the Lord who creates these beautiful children with a purpose, to bring Him glory (Ex. 4:11; John 9:2-3). Randy Alcorn (1992) proposes a beautiful example to this exact scenario in which a child had the potential of being born with a disability,

The father had syphilis and the mother had tuberculosis. Of four previous children, the first was blind, the second died, the third was both deaf and dumb, and the fourth had tuberculosis. What would you advise the woman to do when she finds she is pregnant again? One student answered, ‘I would advise an abortion.’ Then the professor said, ‘Congratulations.… You have just killed Beethoven.’ (p. 175)

• Rape or Incest – The majority of people would perhaps agree that this particular scenario should be fit to be declared morally acceptable. Would it be morally acceptable to murder the child though once the baby is born? If not, why then the change of heart weeks before the birth? A child should not have to suffer the consequences of the fathers and mother’s crime, should they? God doesn’t seem to agree with this type of thinking (Deut. 24:16; Ezek. 18:20). Again, there are examples of children who become incredible people even though they were the product of a rape or incest incident (Alcorn, 1992). Mcquilkin and Copan (2014) put it this way,

A second act of violence cannot correct the first. The mother’s lack of responsibility for the conception does not remove the child’s God-given right to life. The unborn child is not the attacker but is, in fact, a second victim, who should not receive capital punishment for its father’s crime. (p. 438)

Abortion in the Eyes of the Church

What about the Church? What has been the teaching of Christians about this ethical issue of abortion? When it comes to the subject of ethics, Christians must always look to the Word of God to get the final answer. For subjects such as abortion, which is not explicitly spoken of in Scripture, one should also look at the early church fathers and the historical tradition that was passed down to get an idea of what the Church has always believed and taught on a particular issue. When it comes to the subject of abortion, the Bible indirectly makes it clear that this practice is immorally wrong. In Scripture, we find the opening pages of how God created people in His image (Gen. 1:26). Human beings are God’s crowning jewel of creation and no matter what type of life that person is meant to have, the only person who should be able to take a life is God Himself (Dt. 32:39; Jas. 4:12; Matt. 10:28). We get an idea of how abortion is wrong just by looking at the Ten Commandments; thou shall not murder (Ex. 20:13). Another key example of how the Bible shows that life in the womb is valuable is when God pronounces death for the person who causes a baby in the womb to die, even if it is accidental (Grudem, 2018). Grudem provides valuable insight in his commentary on the famous passage in Exodus 21,

When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. God established for Israel a law code that placed a higher value on protecting the life of a pregnant woman and her unborn child than the life of anyone else in Israelite society. Far from treating the death of an unborn child as less significantthan the death of others in society, this law treated the death of an unborn child or its mother as more significantand therefore worthy of more severe punishment. And the law did not make any distinction about the number of months the woman had been pregnant. (p. 570; Ex. 21:22-25)

Another example given in scripture is when the Psalmist proclaims how much value an unborn child has in the eyes of God as found in Psalm 139:13-16,

For you formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

Beauty, sacredness, and value are found for every life that God creates since they are all image bearers of God Himself. The Bible has always shown that life begins at conception which is why believers advocate and champion pro-life positions (Calvin & Anderson, 2010; Eph. 1:4; Gen. 4:1; 25:22-23; Jer. 1:5; Job 3:3; Luke 1:35, 44; Ps. 51:5).

Abortion in the Early Church Writings

Not only does scripture speak on the issue of abortion indirectly, but early church writings speak on the abortion dilemma directly.What is amazing about living in the present world is people today have much to reflect on as they gaze over history. It is essential to see what the people of God believed on the subject of abortion to get a complete and accurate picture on the subject, especially if the Bible never directly speaks on the issue. One astounding discovery that has been proven to be of significant value on church practice is called the Didache which “was a manual of church discipline and a codebook for Christian morality” (Sproul, 2010, p. 43). It is an early church document that dates back to the early first century (McQuilkin & Copan, 2014; Niederwimmer & Attridge, 1998). What is impressive about this document is that it directly speaks to the subject of abortion. It says, “you shall not murder a child, whether by abortion or by killing it once it is born” (Niederwimmer & Attridge, 1998, p. 88). This early church document gives us a monumental belief that the Church was and has been against the idea of abortion for thousands of years. 

As the church continued to become more influential and prominent, God would raise up men to write and leave behind foundational instruction from these early church fathers. People like John Chrysostom in the East and Jerome in the West help shape the faith of Christianity as we know it today. Both of these great men condemned the idea of abortion (Bakke, 2007). Other spiritual giants like Basil of Caesarea and Augustine of Hippo firmly spoke against the practice of abortion as well (Bakke, 2007; Davidson, 2016). Today, people can look back at the Church and see through the three main branches of Christianity (i.e., Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism), that the Church has always believed taking the life of the unborn is clearly a sin and a violation against God.

The Balancing Influence the Church Should Have with the State

So how involved should Christians be when it comes to influencing the government and the laws that pass for their citizen to adhere? First, Christians need to realize that we are living in two kingdoms: the kingdom of man and the Kingdom of God (Horton, 2008). In one kingdom people are obsessed with themselves, and in the other, people are driven by the love they have for their creator. These two kingdoms have different natures, goals, and influences (Calvin, 2011). Believers need to recognize that no matter what they do in this life, sin and the passions of the world will most assuredly dominate the collective mind and abortion may never be entirely eradicated until the King of King and Lord of Lords returns to make all things right (Rev. 19:11-21). Second, believers need to keep in mind that our first duty is to love God and others no matter the circumstance and to be salt and light to a perverse generation (Luke 10:27; McQuilkin & Copan, 2014). There have been countless examples of how Christians had moved the world just by radiating the type of love that Jesus displayed when He walked this Earth (Justin, Irenaeus, Roberts, Donaldson, & Coxe, 2007). This is one of the critical ways that Christians have had influence within the government.

Third, Christians need to remember taking over the government to have the dominant influence in society is not their primary goal. One only has to read history books to see what a lousy choice and effect that has had on the people of God. During the reign of Constantine in the Roman Empire, one can see how eventually the Church became the primary influence of the state and even though many good things were done (e.g., the murder of Christians stopped), the Church became prideful and was full of the lust for power (McQuilkin & Copan, 2014). This continued throughout the history of the Church and became even more polluted and corrupted for the love of power in what has become the Roman Catholic Church. Having a supreme position of power only has corrupted Christianity in the long run instead of making a Godly long-lasting impact on the people. Christians should remember the Reformers teaching of balancing the influence within the government instead of having the reign of power (McQuilkin & Copan, 2014).  

Lastly, Christians should put their talents, time, and money into legislation or institutions that began to limit the idea of abortion. It has been said that actual progress begins with incremental steps. This has been the idea behind proposed legislation for years. Trying to implement new laws that reduce or eliminate public funding of abortions, implement consent laws, provide ultrasounds before abortion, and make minors tell their parents about their decision to abort their babies has had a profound impact on women choosing not to abort their babies (Cohen, 2011; Jessen, 2016; Zylstra, 2011). Not only do these types of incremental laws have a profound impact on abortion, but pregnancy centers have also been proven to change people’s lives by making a conscious decision to keep their babies and even put them up for adoption (Zylstra, 2011). Christians need to be careful when engaging the kingdom of this world more than the Kingdom that God wants us to be partakers in instead.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Horton (2008), summarizes a Christians goal in their influence within the government, 

We need not “Christianize” culture in order to appreciate it and participate in it with the gifts that God has given us as well as our non-Christian neighbors. Though called to be faithful in our callings until Christ returns, with Abraham, we are “looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Heb. 11:10, p.5)

A Christian’s goal should not be to control the government but rather make deposits of love within the government. They should advocate for things like prohibiting late-term abortions, encourage legislation to be passed to improve our children’s education, requiring women to see their child on a sonogram, and encouraging the idea of adoption (McQuilkin & Copan, 2014). Since believers are stuck inside the kingdom of man until the Lord returns, they will never be able to eradicate death and murder fully. Instead, Christians today need to shine the light of Christ, love others unconditionally, and win others over by their works so that people would become hungry for the Gospel and that this would cause another great awakening to change the morality ideas of the government from within. The only way people will change is if they have an encounter with God. Let Christians be the tool that God uses to accomplish this mighty work!

References

Alcorn, R. (1992). Prolife answers to prochoice arguments. Portland, OR: Multnomah.

Bakke, O. M. (2007). When children became people: The birth of childhood in early Christianity. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

Calvin, J., & Anderson, J. (2010). Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Calvin, J. (2011). Institutes of the Christian Religion 1 & 2. (J. T. McNeill, Ed., F. L. Battles, Trans.) (Vol. 1). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Cohen, A. (2011). The next abortion battleground: Fetal heartbeats. Time. Retrieved from http://ideas.time.com/2011/10/17/the-next-abortion-battleground-fetal-heartbeats/

Davidson, J. R. (2016). Abortion in antiquity. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Grudem, W. (2018). Christian ethics: An introduction to Biblical moral reasoning. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Hopson, J. L. (2016). Fetal psychology. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/199809/fetal-psychology

Horton, M. (2008). A tale of two kingdoms. Table Talk (9), 3-5. Retrieved from https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2008/09/tale-two-kingdoms/

Jessen, L. (2016). How this ultrasound program brought life to 358,000 babies. The Daily Signal. Retrieved from https://www.dailysignal.com/2016/01/07/how-this-ultrasound-program-brought-life-to-358000-babies/

Justin, Irenaeus, Roberts, A., Donaldson, J., & Coxe, A. C. (2007). The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. New York, NY: Cosimo Classics.

McQuilkin, R., & Copan, P. (2014). An introduction to Biblical ethics: Walking in the way of wisdom (Third ed.). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. 

Niederwimmer, K., & Attridge, H. W. (1998). The Didache: A commentary. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

Partanen, E. (2013). Learning-induced neural plasticity of speech processing before birth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Retrieved from https://www.pnas.org/content/110/37/15145.full

Sivak, D. (2018). Fact check: Have there been 60 million abortions since Roe vs. Wade? Retrieved from http://checkyourfact.com/2018/07/03/fact-check-60-million-abortions/

Skwarecki, B. (2013). Babies learn to recognize words in the womb. Science. Retrieved from https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/08/babies-learn-recognize-words-womb

Sproul, R. C. (2010). Abortion: A rational look at an emotional issue (20th anniversary ed.). Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing.

Thomas, D. (2016). Better never to have been born: Christian ethics, anti-abortion politics, and the pro-life paradox. The Journal of Religious Ethics, (3), 518. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/jore.12152

University of Florida. (2004). University of Florida research adds to evidence that unborn children hear “melody” of speech. Science Daily. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/01/040123001433.htm

Zylstra, S. E. (2011). Abortion: The new pro-life surge. Christianity Today, 55(6), 17–19.