Is Abortion Ever Justified?

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.

The Overall Context: A Child, Created in the Image of God

• The question posed: are there any situations where abortion might be justified? And what should we consider, when we're talking about this issue?
• Well, first, let's start with the overall context. We do teach that abortion is the wrongful taking of an innocent human life, that's created in the image of God. We see this in Psalm 139: that God forms the child in the womb. And the whole concept is: every child is created in the image of God. We see God having a plan for Jeremiah, while he was in the womb; for John the Baptist, while he was in the womb; and of course, Jesus Christ. So the overall teaching of scripture says that unborn child is a child. And of course, science says that child is a human: what else could that child be? And if you try to decide: when does it become human, when does it become alive — there really is no biblical or scientific place. People have proposed other times: after so many weeks, or at birth, or when they're viable, capable of living outside the womb on their own — which, of course, depends on medical technology. But all those are rather arbitrary. The only one that you could actually draw a clear line would be conception. So that's why we, as the UPCI, take a biblical stand, that abortion is wrong.

Scriptures: Psalm 139

The Proposed Exceptions — and the Political Pragmatics

• Now, sometimes there are exceptions proposed. The three that are most prominent are: rape, incest, and preserving the life of the mother. I would hasten to add — and the statistics may vary, but the last I checked — only about 3% of legal abortions come under that category; 97% of abortions are actually elective. And so, in the US, with the ruling overturned, the matter is left to the states. And some states, their liberals allow abortion pretty much on demand, up until the moment of birth; and some ethicists propose it should be allowed 7 days after birth, which would be infanticide. But other states pretty much restrict abortion. Many states are in the middle. And there is probably, in America, a consensus — if you had a consensus: there's hotly debated views, and you could say the pro-life and pro-abortion are almost evenly divided. But if you allow those few exceptions, the overwhelming majority of people support that. Now, as a biblical position, we would oppose any abortion. But as a political, pragmatic choice, we would ally ourselves with people that would pass legislation to block 97% of abortions, as opposed to allowing 100% of abortions. So where each person falls on that, politically, they will have to decide. We don't want to compromise our belief, but we do want to be pragmatic, and be effective, in getting legislation actually passed, that will address the vast majority of the problem.

The Life of the Mother: Preserving Life Is Not an Exception

• But just looking at it from the perspective of the Bible: first of all, the life of the mother — actually, this is not really very hard, the way I think; the way, from my perspective. It is something that has to be carefully written into laws, because sometimes pro-abortion people say: 'See there, you're so strict, you're going to kill the mother.' Well, here's the way I look at it. Most medical cases, thankfully, with modern medicine, there is usually a way to preserve the life of the mother. It's very rare. But if it's truly a case where — here, we're in an emergency, we're in a crisis: this mother is expecting, and she's going to die in the next 24 hours — to me, if you take the baby out of the womb, you're not trying to kill the baby. You would like to preserve both, if possible. But if you don't — if there truly is that case, which is rare — well, they're both going to die, right? I mean, it's possible maybe the baby might be viable outside the womb. But if you do nothing, the mother dies; the baby's still there; the baby's going to die. So, in the rare case where the doctor says: 'This mother is going to die, in the next day or two, if we don't take the baby' — so you say: 'Well, we're opposed to abortion; we're not going to take the baby.' What's going to happen? They're both going to die. If you do take the baby, the mother lives. And maybe, if the baby is viable, maybe the baby lives. So I would argue, in that case, you're not taking a human life. You're not — maybe the medical term might be abortion — but you're not performing an abortion to kill the child. You are trying your best to preserve two lives. And if it's impossible to preserve two lives, you want to preserve the one life. So, to me, if it's framed properly, medically — and I'm not a medical doctor — I would say that issue, we should make allowance for: let's preserve the life of the mother. The goal is not to kill the baby; the goal is to preserve two lives, if possible; but in a case of emergency, to at least preserve one life, the life of the mother. So, to me, I don't really regard that as an exception, because your intention is not to kill the child; your desire is not to kill the child; your utmost desire is to save both. And there's a role, you know, prayer: God could heal; God could deliver; God could show you a way out; God could confirm that, if you patiently wait, this problem is going to be resolved. So, to me, that's not an exception to abortion. But we do have to understand: we should do what we can, medically, to preserve the mother's life.

Rape and Incest: Don't Make a Second Victim

• Now, the more difficult case: rape and incest. In the case of rape and incest, we're very sympathetic towards the victim here, because there's a true victim. But the solution — the child is innocent. So the way to help one victim is not to make another victim. And although it's easy for me to say, because I would not be in this position, but I would appeal to the person, even though it's dreadful: if you carry that baby for 9 months, you can give that baby up, for a Christian adoption. They can have a blessed life. And yes, it has been a traumatic experience of your life, but a very short — in the big scheme of things — a short time. But you, in the future, will be thankful that you gave life. And it's amazing: obviously, God would never want rape or incest; but what's amazing about God: he can make good things out of bad situations. So there are children of rape and incest, who've grown up to be very blessed, productive people. It's amazing how God has done a miracle. So I would appeal to a person: choose life, even in those cases.
• Now, very practically, in these cases — especially rape; unfortunately, sometimes incest is not discovered until too late — but the chance of someone getting pregnant, my understanding is, only about 6%. But what you can do is immediately go to the doctor, and you can take medication, the morning-after pill. And I'm not talking about a pill that causes an abortion. There are pills that can actually prevent ovulation: they prevent the egg from descending; so they prevent conception. So there's nothing wrong with preventing conception. We're not talking about a pill that causes an abortion; we're not talking about a medical abortion. We're talking about, within — and again, I'm not a medical expert, but what I've learned is, within about 72 hours, sooner if possible — there's an opportunity to actually prevent conception, even if it might be going to happen. So there's only a 6% chance it's going to happen. But if you immediately go to the doctor, get the emergency contraception — which, they have several options — you can prevent the pregnancy. So, when weighing the factors: there's a horrible rape, which is not God's will, which is evil, which is sinful, where there's a victim. But you have got two choices. One choice is to immediately prevent any possible conception. The other choice is to wait. So I would say: choose that choice; so prevent the conception. But then, if you didn't do that, you allowed it to continue — well, then you've made a choice. Now there's a life, and that life is innocent. So it's not really fair to that child, to take their life, because of the evil perpetrated by the father. And I would not blame the victim, in any way, shape, or form. But I would just say, with the weighty issue of life at stake, there is a responsibility, if you can immediately get the medical care that you need: then you can eliminate this ethical dilemma. And I would say, also, in the case of incest, if that's possible, that that would be the same answer. Of course, sometimes there is a miscarriage. And so, sometimes, in God's plan — and especially with incest, because one of the problems of incest is the higher potential for birth defects, and so on — so it's very possible that God would help the person out of this dilemma, by a natural miscarriage, in which case we would accept that as the will of God.

The Summary: Stand for Life, without Exceptions to the Concept

• So, to summarize: we stand against abortion; we stand for life. We don't believe that there should be exceptions to the concept, because it is the taking of a human life. We do believe that we can try, in every way, to preserve the life of the mother; and in most cases, you're not facing an absolute choice, thanks to modern medical science. And again, in these cases, immediately go to the proper medical personnel, to get the best possible care. And in most cases, you can avoid the difficult choice, that otherwise may come your way.

Scripture index: Psalm 139.