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Abortion is not just a contemporary issue. ... On one side, opponents of abortion argue that the fetus is a human and therefore endowed with the same human rights as the mother. Stated simply, they believe that when a society legalizes abortion, it is sanctioning murder. But as an supporter of abortion I see individual choice as central to the debate: If a woman cannot choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, a condition which affects her own body and possibly her entire life, then she has lost one of her most basic human rights. ... Most opposition to abortion relies on the premise that the fetus is a human being, a person, from the moment of conception. In looking at abortion, the first question to ask is: What is this that grows within the woman? ... Linda Harrison of the Pro-Choice Society states, “ Opponents of abortion commonly spend most of their time establishing that the fetus is a person, and hardly any time explaining the step from there to the impermissibility of abortion”. ... Donald Simpson of the Pro- Choice states, “ Many of those who defend abortion rely on the premise that the fetus is not a person, but only a bit of tissue that will become a person at birth. ... Can those who oppose abortion on the ground I mentioned make an exception for a pregnancy due to rape? ... Yet God’s Word is still sufficient to respond adequately even to the issue of abortion. We find that the entire ethos and underlying assumptions and themes of Scripture provide a thorough and clear response to abortion.
Aside from these passages, the Bible does not deal with the subject of abortion. Although both Testaments generally criticize the practices of their neighbors, such idol worship and prostitution, as well as various immoral acts in their own land, there is no condemnation or prohibition of abortion anywhere in the Bible in spite of the fact that techniques for inducing abortion had been developed and widely used by the time of the New Testament. A key question in the abortion controversy is, “When does human life began?
Approximate Word count = 1741
Approximate Pages = 7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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