Is abortion okay if it is medically necessary?

score:14

Accepted answer

This is a difficult topic. Some biblical references would help to understand how God views an unborn child:

God views the life of a child as precious even during the very early stages of development after conception:

Psalms 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

God stated that a person would be called to account for injury to an unborn child:

Exodus 21:22,23

If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely[a] but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows.

It's a very serious sin to willfully take a human life for any reason not authorized by God:

Genesis 9:6

Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.

Exodus 20:13

“You must not murder.”

So the life of a child is very valuable in God's eyes. If a medical decision must be taken between mother's or child's life, this is up to the couple. If the doctors inform the parents that the child will be born with medical problems, this is no reason to murder the child.

Upvote:5

Both situations described illustrate a lack of faith in God. I would imagine that a Christian pondering the situation would either (please pardon the generalizations)

  • not believe that God knows or is able to save their lives or,
  • not believe that the outcome of carrying the baby to term would ultimately be the best outcome for for both the baby and mother.

Romans 8:28 (NIV)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Upvote:7

No, and this isn't surprising considering the state of medical knowledge in Old Testament times. (And it really hadn't advanced all that much by NT times.) There was no way to diagnose that carrying a pregnancy to term would put the mother's life in danger, the way we can today with electric-powered technologies such as ultrasound imaging.

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