While that may sound like an absurd question to a conservative Christian, a Pew Research poll conducted in 2022, indicates that Americans are very divided over the issue of abortion. The survey found that although “About three-quarters of White evangelical Protestants (74%) think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases…84% of religiously unaffiliated Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, as do 66% of Black Protestants, 60% of White Protestants who are not evangelical, and 56% of Catholics.” (Emphasis added) That means that the majority of non-evangelical Protestants and Catholics believe abortion should be legal in most cases.

The main argument for those who support abortion is that the woman has the right to choose what happens to her body. The popular slogan is “My body, my choice”. For the “professing Christian” woman to proclaim this ignores the teaching of Scripture. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NASB95) “¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” Christians must recognize their bodies do not belong to themselves but to the Lord who bought them by His shed blood. The slogan may be true when the woman is choosing whether to have a surgical procedure such as dental surgery or a mastectomy needed for breast cancer. However, the pro-choice argument ignores the issue of the right to life of the child growing within her.

Many will argue the unborn child is not yet a person and therefore does not have any moral rights, such as the right to life. That belief was recently demonstrated at a pro-choice demonstration by an expectant mother who had the words “Future human” written on her pregnant belly. While the developing infant is not a human in the fullest sense of the word, it is still a potential person and therefore has God-given rights.

Most people refer to the unborn child as a fetus. That term comes from a Latin medical term that refers to a developing “baby”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the fetus as “a developing human from usually two months after conception to birth.”

But the two months after conception is an arbitrary time limit since even science now teaches that from the moment of conception, the fertilized cell contains all the DNA information necessary to become a fully developed human person.

The main cause of the division in the church is that most “professing Christians” do not understand the clear teaching of Scripture.

Genesis 1:27–28 (NASB95) states “²⁷ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The first command of God to Adam and Eve was to “be fruitful and multiply”. They were commanded to have children in order to fill the earth, subdue it, and rule over (take dominion over) it.

Even though God commanded them to have children, it is also clear that it is God who creates those children in His own image (Genesis 1:27). It is God who acts to bring forth children.

King David proclaims in Psalm 139:13–16 (NASB95) “¹³ For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; ¹⁶ Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”

The prophet Jeremiah relates in Jeremiah 1:4–5 (NASB95) “⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

As Christians, we must understand, as these passages (and others) teach, it is God who created and formed each person in the mother’s womb. The eyes of God saw our unformed bodies even before they were recognizable. All of our days were written in His book, even before we were born.

Psalm 127:3 (NASB95) states “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.”

The issue is that today, even most professing Christians do not see children as “a gift of the Lord”. In many cases, children are seen as a burden; an unexpected complication in the life of the mother or the married couple.

Many claim that abortion should be legal because having a child would cause emotional or economic distress in the life of a single mother or even in the lives of a family. Some believe it is better to abort a deformed child than allow that child to live a life of hardship. Consequently, even some theologians claim that abortion is a “difficult moral issue”.

Stephen J. Cole, in “What the Bible Says About Abortion”, at www.bible.org, writes “To abort because having a child would cause emotional or economic duress is always wrong. To argue that it is better to kill a deformed child in the womb than to allow him to live is an affront to the thousands of people born with severe handicaps, but who live meaningful and productive lives. It is an affront to the many families that love and care for such children. On rare occasions, there may be the difficult dilemma of performing an abortion to spare the mother’s life. But even then, the goal should be to preserve the lives of both the mother and the child, if possible.”

Would any Christian support abortion if it is murder? Surely not!

Is there a difference between killing an unborn child or murdering that unborn child? The Merriam-WebsterDictionary defines murder as: “to deprive a person of life by illegal, intentional killing—‘to murder’”. The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary states to kill is “to deprive of life: cause the death of’”. The only difference is that murder is acting illegally or intentionally to cause the death of someone. Since abortion is the “intentional ending of a pregnancy” (Wikipedia), and is therefore intentionally ending the life of the unborn child, it is necessarily murder.

The sixth commandment God gave His people in Exodus 20:13 (NASB95) is “You shall not murder.” That command is restated in Deuteronomy 5:17 (NASB95): “You shall not murder.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ affirmed the validity of the commandment in Matthew 5:21 (NASB95): “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’”

Proverbs 6:16–19 (NASB95 states “¹⁶ There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: ¹⁷ Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, ¹⁹ A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.”

If God hates “hands that shed innocent blood”, then He surely hates those who intentionally kill babies in the womb since they are certainly innocent.

What about the situation when the life of the mother is in danger? Is abortion justified in that case? Does God allow intentional killing (murder) to save another life?

Scripture certainly permits the unintentional killing of another in self-defense.

Exodus 22:2 (NASB95) states “If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account.” If a thief breaks into your home at night, you have the right to strike him so that he dies and there will be no penalty for your action.

The book of Esther is instructive regarding self-defense. In chapter 8, the Jews, who were under a wrongful sentence of death, were granted “in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil,”

In the providence of God, they were granted, through the edict of the king, the ability to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate those who would attack them.

Therefore, if the life of the mother is in danger, abortion may be necessary. However, the decision should be made with more than one medical doctor’s opinion (on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed: Leviticus 19:15).

In the case of a Christian woman, the decision should also be made in prayerful consultation with her family and church leadership.