Dose the Holy Bible, the Word of God, have anything to say on the important subject of abortion?
Firstly, we need to know what is known by the term “abortion”
“the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus” (Websters English Dictionary)
A “miscarriage” is defined as:
“have spontaneous abortion: to lose a foetus, especially a human foetus, through a miscarriage. be spontaneously aborted: to be expelled from the womb at too early a stage in development to be able to survive” (Encarta World English Dictionary [Bloomsbury])
There is a passage in the Book of Exodus, that mentions a woman who “miscarries”.
Exodus 21:22-23
“And when they strive together men and they injure woman pregnant so that they go out children of her but not he is mortal injury to fine he shall be fined. As he shall place on him husband of the woman and he shall give on judgements. But if harm he is then you shall give life in place of life” (The Hebrew-English Interlinear ESV Old Testament; Literal reading)
This passage is about a violent argument between men, where there is a pregnant woman present near them. During this struggle, the woman is somehow “injured” (nâgaph, which can also include fatal injuries), which caused the “children (masculine plural, boys), to “come out” (yâtsâ’) of the woman. It is clear from the Hebrew, that the “mortal injury” is of the children, and not the woman, as we have the masculine, singular, “’âsôn” used, as the ESV rightly reads, “he is”. “’âsôn” is used in the Old Testament for serious, and even fatal injuries.
The Hebrew “wə·yā·ṣə·’ū yə·lā·ḏe·hā”, literally, “children come out”, is translated as “to miscarry”, or, “born prematurely”, or “fruit depart”, or “come out”, etc, in our English Versions. The masculine plural, shows that there is more than one boy in the womans womb.
In verse 23, “’âsôn” is used to show that either, one, or both of the boys died from the result of the injuries sustained by the woman, during this violent argument between the two men. It is clear, “then you shall give life in place of life”, which is a requirement of death, and not injury.
It is clear from verse 23, that if the child, or children, died, which can only mean, “to miscarry”, and not as some English translations read, “she gives birth prematurely”, as in the NASB, as this does not mean that the child or children, did not live. “she has a miscarriage”, is used in these Versions: NAB; NASB 1977; Douay-Rheims Bible; NRSV; Lasma Syriac Bible; The Contemporary Torah, JPS, 2006, etc
This miscarriage was caused by the fighting of these men, and could well have been deliberate, and not accidental. The seriousness of this, where there is death, results in the death of those who caused the woman to miscarry. If this is the punishment that Bible demands for miscarriage, there can be no doubt that those who perform premeditated abortions, are equally guilty with the Lord.
There is an interesting verse in the Book of Job, on miscarriage/abortion:
Job 3:16, “Or like a miscarriage which is hidden, I would not exist, As infants that never saw light” (NASB). “Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants -- they have not seen light” (YLT)
Hebrew, “ḵə·nê·p̄el”, “untimely birth, abortion” (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Hebrew Lexicon). “a premature birth, miscarry, abortion. (Gesenius; Hebrew Lexicon)
Early Jewish understanding on Abortion
Flavius Josephus (1st Century)
“The law moreover enjoins us to bring up all our offspring: and forbids women to cause abortion of what is begotten; or to destroy it afterward. And if any woman appears to have so done, she will be a murderer of her child; by destroying a living creature, and diminishing human kind.” (Josephus, Against Apion, Bk. II. 25)
The Early Church Teaching on Abortion
The Didache (1st-2nd century)
“do not abort a fetus or kill a child that is born.” (Ch 2 The Second Commandment)
“Thou shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not be. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt love thy neighbor more than thine own soul. Thou shalt not murder a child by abortion, nor again shalt thou kill it when it is born. Thou shalt not withhold thy hand from thy son or daughter, but from their youth thou shalt teach them the fear of God” (Epistle of Barnabas 19:5)
Athenagoras (133-190)
“And when we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder ? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very foetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God's care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it ; and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder, and on the other hand, when it has been reared to destroy it. But we are in all things always alike and the same, submitting ourselves to reason, and not ruling over it.” (Athenagoras, For Christians, Ch xxxv)
Tertullian (155-220)
“The embryo therefore becomes a human being in the womb from the moment that its form is completed. The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion, inasmuch as there exists already the rudiment of a human being, which has imputed to it even now the condition of life and death, since it is already liable to the issues of both, although, by living still in the mother, it for the most part shares its own state with the mother.” (Tertullian, De Anima, Chap. xxxvii.—On the formation and the state of the foetus in the womb, and its relation with the subject of this treatise.)
Hippolytus (170-235)
“Whence women, reputed believers, began to resort to drugs* for producing sterility, and to gird themselves round, so to expel what was being conceived [in their womb. This scandalous conduct they were guilty of,] on account of their not wishing to have a child either by a slave or by any paltry fellow, for the sake of their family and excessive wealth. Behold, into how great impiety that lawless [wretch] has proceeded, by inculcating adultery and murder at the same time!” (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, Bk. IX, ch vii) Dr Wordsworth renders the Greek*, “ women began to venture to bandage themselves with ligaments to produce abortion, and to deal with drugs in order to destroy what was conceived.”
Basil (329-379)
“Women also who administer drugs to cause abortion, as well as those who take poisons to destroy unborn children, are murderesses. So much on this subject.” (Basil the Great, To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons, viii)
Jerome (347-419)
“Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when (as often happens) they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder.” (Jerome, To Eustochium, 13)
Sulpicius Severus (363-420)
“In the number of these was Euchrotia and her daughter Procula, of the latter of whom there was a common report that, when pregnant through adultery with Priscillian, she procured abortion by the use of certain plants. When they reached Rome with the wish of clearing themselves before Damasus, they were not even admitted to his presence. Returning to Milan, they found that Ambrose was equally opposed to them.” (The Works of Sulpicius Severus, Chapter XLVIII)
Apostolic Constitutions (about 380)
“You shall not slay your child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten; for everything that is shaped, and has received a soul from God, if it be slain, shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed.” (Apostolic Constitutions (Book VII, sec. I.3)
Council of Trullo (692)
“Those who give drugs for procuring abortion, and those who receive poisons to kill the fœtus, are subjected to the penalty of murder…Whoever gives or receives medicine to produce abortion is a homicide.” (The Canons of the Council in Trullo, Canon XCI)
Firstly, we need to know what is known by the term “abortion”
“the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus” (Websters English Dictionary)
A “miscarriage” is defined as:
“have spontaneous abortion: to lose a foetus, especially a human foetus, through a miscarriage. be spontaneously aborted: to be expelled from the womb at too early a stage in development to be able to survive” (Encarta World English Dictionary [Bloomsbury])
There is a passage in the Book of Exodus, that mentions a woman who “miscarries”.
Exodus 21:22-23
“And when they strive together men and they injure woman pregnant so that they go out children of her but not he is mortal injury to fine he shall be fined. As he shall place on him husband of the woman and he shall give on judgements. But if harm he is then you shall give life in place of life” (The Hebrew-English Interlinear ESV Old Testament; Literal reading)
This passage is about a violent argument between men, where there is a pregnant woman present near them. During this struggle, the woman is somehow “injured” (nâgaph, which can also include fatal injuries), which caused the “children (masculine plural, boys), to “come out” (yâtsâ’) of the woman. It is clear from the Hebrew, that the “mortal injury” is of the children, and not the woman, as we have the masculine, singular, “’âsôn” used, as the ESV rightly reads, “he is”. “’âsôn” is used in the Old Testament for serious, and even fatal injuries.
The Hebrew “wə·yā·ṣə·’ū yə·lā·ḏe·hā”, literally, “children come out”, is translated as “to miscarry”, or, “born prematurely”, or “fruit depart”, or “come out”, etc, in our English Versions. The masculine plural, shows that there is more than one boy in the womans womb.
In verse 23, “’âsôn” is used to show that either, one, or both of the boys died from the result of the injuries sustained by the woman, during this violent argument between the two men. It is clear, “then you shall give life in place of life”, which is a requirement of death, and not injury.
It is clear from verse 23, that if the child, or children, died, which can only mean, “to miscarry”, and not as some English translations read, “she gives birth prematurely”, as in the NASB, as this does not mean that the child or children, did not live. “she has a miscarriage”, is used in these Versions: NAB; NASB 1977; Douay-Rheims Bible; NRSV; Lasma Syriac Bible; The Contemporary Torah, JPS, 2006, etc
This miscarriage was caused by the fighting of these men, and could well have been deliberate, and not accidental. The seriousness of this, where there is death, results in the death of those who caused the woman to miscarry. If this is the punishment that Bible demands for miscarriage, there can be no doubt that those who perform premeditated abortions, are equally guilty with the Lord.
There is an interesting verse in the Book of Job, on miscarriage/abortion:
Job 3:16, “Or like a miscarriage which is hidden, I would not exist, As infants that never saw light” (NASB). “Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants -- they have not seen light” (YLT)
Hebrew, “ḵə·nê·p̄el”, “untimely birth, abortion” (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Hebrew Lexicon). “a premature birth, miscarry, abortion. (Gesenius; Hebrew Lexicon)
Early Jewish understanding on Abortion
Flavius Josephus (1st Century)
“The law moreover enjoins us to bring up all our offspring: and forbids women to cause abortion of what is begotten; or to destroy it afterward. And if any woman appears to have so done, she will be a murderer of her child; by destroying a living creature, and diminishing human kind.” (Josephus, Against Apion, Bk. II. 25)
The Early Church Teaching on Abortion
The Didache (1st-2nd century)
“do not abort a fetus or kill a child that is born.” (Ch 2 The Second Commandment)
“Thou shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not be. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt love thy neighbor more than thine own soul. Thou shalt not murder a child by abortion, nor again shalt thou kill it when it is born. Thou shalt not withhold thy hand from thy son or daughter, but from their youth thou shalt teach them the fear of God” (Epistle of Barnabas 19:5)
Athenagoras (133-190)
“And when we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder ? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very foetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God's care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it ; and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder, and on the other hand, when it has been reared to destroy it. But we are in all things always alike and the same, submitting ourselves to reason, and not ruling over it.” (Athenagoras, For Christians, Ch xxxv)
Tertullian (155-220)
“The embryo therefore becomes a human being in the womb from the moment that its form is completed. The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion, inasmuch as there exists already the rudiment of a human being, which has imputed to it even now the condition of life and death, since it is already liable to the issues of both, although, by living still in the mother, it for the most part shares its own state with the mother.” (Tertullian, De Anima, Chap. xxxvii.—On the formation and the state of the foetus in the womb, and its relation with the subject of this treatise.)
Hippolytus (170-235)
“Whence women, reputed believers, began to resort to drugs* for producing sterility, and to gird themselves round, so to expel what was being conceived [in their womb. This scandalous conduct they were guilty of,] on account of their not wishing to have a child either by a slave or by any paltry fellow, for the sake of their family and excessive wealth. Behold, into how great impiety that lawless [wretch] has proceeded, by inculcating adultery and murder at the same time!” (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, Bk. IX, ch vii) Dr Wordsworth renders the Greek*, “ women began to venture to bandage themselves with ligaments to produce abortion, and to deal with drugs in order to destroy what was conceived.”
Basil (329-379)
“Women also who administer drugs to cause abortion, as well as those who take poisons to destroy unborn children, are murderesses. So much on this subject.” (Basil the Great, To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons, viii)
Jerome (347-419)
“Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when (as often happens) they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder.” (Jerome, To Eustochium, 13)
Sulpicius Severus (363-420)
“In the number of these was Euchrotia and her daughter Procula, of the latter of whom there was a common report that, when pregnant through adultery with Priscillian, she procured abortion by the use of certain plants. When they reached Rome with the wish of clearing themselves before Damasus, they were not even admitted to his presence. Returning to Milan, they found that Ambrose was equally opposed to them.” (The Works of Sulpicius Severus, Chapter XLVIII)
Apostolic Constitutions (about 380)
“You shall not slay your child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten; for everything that is shaped, and has received a soul from God, if it be slain, shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed.” (Apostolic Constitutions (Book VII, sec. I.3)
Council of Trullo (692)
“Those who give drugs for procuring abortion, and those who receive poisons to kill the fœtus, are subjected to the penalty of murder…Whoever gives or receives medicine to produce abortion is a homicide.” (The Canons of the Council in Trullo, Canon XCI)
