One of the more serious issues of the current generation is the topic of abortion. Modern Western culture does not believe babies in the womb are living beings worth defending and protecting. Rather, our culture celebrates aborting babies in the womb as a moral ‘right.’ The Christian, however, should go to the Bible to discern if we are allowed to abort babies. This article sets forth the biblical perspective on abortion.
Christians should never abort babies. According to the Bible, babies in the womb have life and worth to God (Ex 21:22–25). Pregnancy has worth to God as seen in the many shouts of praise when women get pregnant. Finally, children have worth to God as seen throughout the composite biblical witness.
The Bible does not explicitly comment on abortion. It does, however, have a lot to say about the worth of babies in the womb, the worth of pregnancy, and the worth of children. This article will take the big picture from the Bible on the aforementioned topics to discern whether Christians should consider aborting babies or not. This article will not delve into the medical or political side of the discussion. It will simply put forward the biblical perspective.
The Worth of Babies in the Womb
Scripture, and God in particular, is clear that babies in the womb have worth (and that is lightly saying it!). Let’s look at three passages that clearly teach the worth of babies in the womb.
God Demands Severe Punishment for Killing a Baby in the Womb (Ex 21:22–25)
The most pertinent passage in the abortion debate is Exodus 21:22–25, which states that if a man hits a pregnant woman and causes damage to the baby or kills the baby, then he is to receive the same injury that the baby received. This principle is called Lex Talionis. Let’s take a look at the passage:
“If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the one who hit her will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides. But if there is serious injury, then you will give a life for a life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”
EXODUS 21:22–25, emphasis added
Exodus 21:22–25 shows the worth of the baby in the womb in two ways. First, if a man hits a pregnant woman and the baby is born prematurely, but healthy, the man still must pay whatever the woman’s husband demands (as long as the courts approve). Second, if a man injures the unborn baby in any way, including death, then he must be injured in like manner (Lex Talionis). Thus, if a man kills the baby in the womb, he is to die. If a man injures the baby’s hand while it is in the womb, then the man’s hand is to be injured the same way. The severed punishment upon a man who injures a baby in the womb or even causes a miscarriage demonstrates that babies in the womb have exceptional worth to God.
Further, Exodus 21:22–25 considers babies in the womb to have life; babies in the womb are living babies. In verse 23, Moses says “But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life.” The phrase “life for life” (נֶפֶשׁ תַּחַת נָפֶשׁ) indicates that the babies are alive; they are living people. Thus, if a baby in the womb is killed, the killer must die. This law would not make sense if the baby in the womb were not a living being.
A common question is whether or not Christians should mete out the punishments called for in Exodus 21:22–25 for a man who injures or kills a baby in the womb. Unfortunately, no, Christians may not because these laws are part of the Sinai Covenant and Christians are under the New Covenant (Luke 22:19–20; Hebrews 8:1–13). What Exodus 21:22–25 does show us is the clear worth of the child in the womb, something that is not negated anywhere in Scripture.
God Does not Desire Miscarriages (Ex 23:26)
In his instructions to Israel prior to entering the land of Canaan (the Promised Land), God tells the people that if they obey him then no woman will miscarry:
“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries . . . . None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
EXODUS 23:20–22, 26, emphasis added
That God promises his people no woman will miscarry a child shows that (a) God believes babies in the womb have worth and (b) the death of a baby in the womb is a travesty and an evil that is reserved for God’s enemies and punishment (see Hosea 9:14).
God Directly Intervenes so that Women will not Miscarry (2 Kgs 2:19–22)
Proof that God believes babies in the womb have worth is his direct intervention in the city of Jericho. Something was wrong with the water in Jericho that was causing miscarriages. Elisha the prophet is told about it and God uses Elisha to heal the water for the people:
“Now the men of the city said to Elisha, ‘Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.’ He said, ‘Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.’ So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, ‘Thus says the LORD, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.’ So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.”
2 KINGS 2:19–22, emphasis added
2 Kings 2:19–22 attributes the healing of the water to Yahweh (“Yahweh” is God’s personal name, see my article HERE). God healed the water in Jericho so that no woman would miscarriage from it again, showing the worth God has for children in the womb. Miscarriage is seen as a horrible thing by the people, the prophet, and God.
The Worth of Pregnancy in the Bible
The Bible paints a clear picture that being pregnant is a great good that all married women should seek. Women who are unable to become pregnant lament, while those who become pregnant in the Bible always rejoice. This section will (a) look at four women’s response to becoming pregnant and (b) how the Bible perceives not being able to get pregnant and have children.
Sarah Pregnant with Isaac (Gen 17:15–17; 18:12; 21:1–7)
Part of God’s covenant promise to Abraham is that he will have offspring (Gen 17:3–8). The problem is that Abraham and his wife Sarah are quite old. Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah is 90 years old (17:17). Despite their age, God promises that Sarah will have a son. When God promises Sarah a son, he speaks of it as a blessing:
“And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’”
GENESIS 17:15–16, emphasis added
When Sarah finds out that she is to have a child in her old age, her response is to laugh and say the following:
“So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?’”
GENESIS 18:12, emphasis added
Note how Sarah speaks of being pregnant in Genesis 18:12. She speaks of getting pregnant as “pleasure.” The pleasure referred to is not the sexual act that results in pregnancy, but refers to either conception or the pregnancy itself. Thus, Sarah views her pregnancy as pleasure!
Finally, when Isaac is born to Sarah, her response is one of pure joy and elation:
“And Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.’ And she said, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’”
GENESIS 21:6–7
For Sarah, conceiving and being pregnant was a blessing from God that brought her pleasure and joy.
Rachel Pregnant with Joseph (Gen 30:1, 22–24)
Rachel’s husband, Jacob, married Rachel and her older sister, Leah. Leah bore Jacob many children (Gen 29:31–35), but Rachel bore none. Rachel’s response to not being pregnant and bearing children is quite dramatic and shows her desire to bear children:
“When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I shall die!’”
GENESIS 30:1
Finally, God opens Rachel’s womb and she becomes pregnant and bears a son, Joseph:
“Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son and said, ‘God has taken away my reproach.’ And she called his name Joseph, saying, ‘May the LORD add to me another son!’”
GENESIS 30:22–24, emphasis added
For Rachel, it was a reproach not to have children. How different in modern Western society! Not only did getting pregnant and bearing a child take away her reproach, but she named him “Joseph,” which means “may he add,” demonstrating her desire to have another son!
Hannah Pregnant with Samuel (1 Sam 1:5–11, 19–20; 2:1–10)
Elkanah had two wives, Peninnah and Hannah (1 Sam 1:1–2). Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Not having children caused much distress for Hannah (1:3–8). So desperate for a son was Hannah that she promises to give him into the service of the Lord if He would grant her petition:
“She [Hannah] was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, ‘O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.’”
1 SAMUEL 1:10–11
The phrase “She was deeply distressed” (1 Sam 1:10) is וְהִיא מָרַת נָפֶשׁ and can be rendered “she was bitter in soul.” It coveys well Hannah’s heartache at not having a child. For more information about the term “bitter” (מַר), click here to see my brief summary.
Shortly after Hannah’s prayer, God answers her and she conceives and gives birth to Samuel (1 Sam 1:19–20). When Hannah eventually gives him to Eli the Priest to minister to the Lord, Hannah prays a wonderful prayer extolling God (1 Sam 2:1–10). The prayer is too long to reproduce here, so allow me to quote just two verses:
“My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation . . . . Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.”
1 SAMUEL 2:1, 5
For Hannah, not having any children caused her deep anguish and is considered “affliction.” However, upon getting pregnant and having a son, she praises the Lord and rejoices in His “salvation” in a beautiful prayer to the Lord. The prayer of Hannah should remind us of a similar prayer sung at a woman’s pregnancy—Mary’s prayer, the Magnificat.
Mary Pregnant with Jesus (Luke 1:30–32, 46–56)
The most famous pregnant woman in the Bible is of course Mary, the mother of Jesus. When the angel Gabriel approaches Mary, he quells her fear with the following good news:
“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David . . . .”
LUKE 1:30–32, emphasis added
Note what the angel says to Mary about her conceiving, being pregnant, and bearing a son (who is the Son of the Most High). The angel claims Mary has found “favor with God.” For Mary, conceiving, being pregnant, and bearing a son amounts to having the favour of God, which is what we have seen with the other pregnancies. Fun fact, the Greek word for “favour” is χάρις, which is commonly translated “grace.”
While Mary is still pregnant, she prays one of the most famous songs from the Bible: The Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55). Although the prayer is too long to quote in its entirety, I will quote the first five verses:
“And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.”
LUKE 1:46–50, emphasis added
For Mary, getting pregnant and being pregnant with God’s child is something in which she rejoices! She calls God her saviour (similar to Hannah). She speaks about how God has done a great thing for her. And she talks about his mercy to those who fear him. For those familiar with Hebrew, the Greek New Testament commonly translates the Hebrew hesed(חֶסֶד) as “mercy” (ἔλεος).
Not Being Able to Get Pregnant is Viewed as a Bad Thing in the Bible (Num 5:11–31)
Numbers 5:11–31 is about what a husband and community should do in the case when a husband suspects his wife has committed adultery, but cannot prove it. The passage lays the meting out of judgment to God, not the husband and not the community. If the wife is found guilty of committing adultery, God will curse her with infertility. The actual language used in Numbers 5:23–28 is quite obscure, so feel free to check out my article on that passage HERE. The curse for committing adultery, however, is most assuredly infertility, the inability to get pregnant, not the death of the baby in the womb (again, see my article), as seen through the blessing of being found innocent, which is the ability to conceive:
“And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.”
NUMBERS 5:27–28, emphasis added
Numbers 5 is a clear window into the biblical perspective on pregnancy and child birth—it is a blessing and something for which all married women should strive. If pregnancy and bearing children were not important to God or his people, then the curse would have been something else, not infertility. Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah are proof of this point. These women were devastated at the fact they could not conceive, and rejoiced exuberantly when the Lord opened their wombs.
The Worth of Children
The final discussion in the topic of abortion is the worth of children according to the Bible. I have written on this topic in my articles “The Eightfold Purpose of Children” and “Should Christians Have Children?” and do not intent to replicate the content of those articles here. Suffice it to say that entire biblical witness and God himself view children with extraordinary value for the parents, the broader family, the community, and the human race.
Summary and Concluding Thoughts
The biblical witness is clear that abortion is a horror that should be shunned by all Christians. Babies in the womb are babies according to the Bible. They are living beings. If a person kills or injures a baby while in the womb, that person will receive severe punishment amounting to death if the baby is killed. So precious are babies in the womb that Yahweh intervenes when poisoned water results in miscarriages. Not only do babies in the womb have worth, but pregnancy has worth. Many women in the Bible rejoice and praise God when they get pregnant, including Mary the mother of Jesus. Numbers 5:11–31 demonstrates the worth of pregnancy by recounting when God will make adulteresses infertile. Finally, the Bible paints a picture of the overwhelming worth of children.
Based on the biblical witness toward the worth of babies in the womb, pregnancy, and children, I can confidently say that abortion is an outright evil according to the Bible and no Christians should ever abort their baby or even consider aborting their baby. To intentionally kill a baby while in the womb is unthinkable in the Bible. Not only is it unthinkable, but the death penalty is applied to any man who accidentally kills a baby while in the womb, showing how valuable babies in the womb are to God, and showing that the killing of a baby in the womb for any reason is murder.
It blows my mind (in a bad way) that some Christians and churches in the West have been caught up in the culture’s position toward babies in the womb and abortion. To think so little of babies and to think so selfishly of ourselves and our sinful desires over the needs of babies in the womb is so clearly a sin that it boggles the mind that some Christians will even entertain the thought abortion. Satan is called “the deceiver of the whole world” for a reason (Rev 12:9). He has certainly deceived our world and he is deceiving many churches, much like he did to five of the seven churches in Revelation 2–3. My prayer is that God will use this article to open the eyes of the blind and turn the tide of slaughter-by-abortion (infanticide) in the West.