The Right Spin

Many people I've spoken to seem to feel that the Bible is mute on the subject of abortion. Of course they only state this when one declares that the Bible is anti-abortion. I've not yet met anyone who feels the Bible is pro-choice.

Anyway, I thought I'd provide some Biblical verses that argue strongly for the pro-life stance.

Psalm 22:9-10

Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.

Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 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, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Isaiah 44:2

This is what the LORD says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

Isaiah 46:3-4

Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 49:5

And now the LORD says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength-

Job 31:15

Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

Jeremiah 1:4-5

The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

Luke 1:41-42, 44

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!

As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

What is interesting with this verse is that the Greek word for "baby," (or, more accurately, "fetus") used here to describe John the Baptist in the womb, is later used for Jesus in the manger.

Exodus 21:22-25

"If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

There's a bit of contention about this passage as many pro-choicers interpret this verse to say that the baby is dead when birthed. Or that the baby is irrelevant to the scene. Unfortunately this interpretation is wrong. First, in the original Hebrew the phrase "gives birth" appears around 86 times in the Old Testament. Each and every time it referred to a live birth. Such as Moses and others. The Hebrew language does have a word to mean "stillbirth" but it is not used here. Secondly, if the baby is irrelevant to the passage then the question begs to be asked, "Why bring it up at all?" Why mention a pregnant woman and a premature birth to begin with? It doesn't makes sense.

While there is no, "Thou shalt not commit abortion," contained within the Bible it is abundantly clear what the Bible's stance on the subject would be. It would take a hurculean effort to bend the passages I've listed to make the Bible seem silent on the issue.