What does Scripture Say about Abortion?

While the word "abortion" is an English word, and the Bible was not written in English, the Bible is filled with Scriptures addressing it. No true Bible scholar can say - without lying - that the Bible condones abortion. Rather, the Bible condemns it.

The Bible defines for us what is moral, compassionate, and just (fair), and tells us how we are to treat one another. Throughout Scripture, we read of God's judgement for child sacrifice, the shedding of innocent blood, unjust laws, and how nations and individuals treat the orphan, the widow, and the least of these.

The Authority of Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16

"All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness"

Matthew 22:29

Jesus answered, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God."

The Child's Humanity

Luke, a medical doctor who recorded the gospel of Luke shortly after Christ ascended into heaven, used the same word that is translated into English as "children" or "child" when referring to the children Jesus welcomed into his arms (Luke 18:15-17), and when referring to John when he leaped in his mother's womb (Luke 1:41). The word in Greek is "brethos", used in both passages, making no distinction between the born and unborn child.

When the angel came to John's father, the angel said that John would be "filled with the Holy Spirit" while he was still in his mother's womb (Luke 1:15). God's Holy Spirit does not fill inanimate (non-living) objects, only people.

When Jesus came to earth, He came at the moment of conception (Luke 1:31-35). "So the Holy One to be born" refers to Jesus before He was born (Luke 1:35). Elizabeth called Jesus while still in the womb "my Lord". Elizabeth called Mary a "mother" while she was very newly pregnant with her firstborn (Luke 1:43).

Jesus didn't start being Jesus when He was born. He came to earth at conception, just as the science of biology - embryology specifically - confirms scientifically that each of our lives begins when we are conceived.

Abortion

The humanity of a child prior to birth is also recognized in the Old Testament. Exodus 21:22-25 says that if a man accidentally strikes a pregnant woman so that her child "comes out" and has any harm, the grown man must pay for damage to the child with his own life equal to the injury he caused to the preborn child: "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe". If the child only "comes out" but there is no injury to the child, the father of the child can fine the man.

Scripture shows that there is no distinction in the value of a human life, whether a preborn child or that of a full-grown, working man. God's law does not judge between people based on age, developmental abilities, or usefulness, but on innocence and guilt. God's mercy responds to one's recognition of guilt and application of faith (1 John 1:9).

Throughout Scripture, beginning in the Old Testament, God forbids killing the innocent. One of the Ten Commandments, the basis for all western civilization, is God's law: "Thou shalt not murder" (Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17). Because God does not distinguish between born and unborn children, this includes the innocent child in the womb. God tells us how we are to treat one another. According to the ultimate standard of God's Word, the preborn child is not exempt from the human race in how we are to treat them.

Scripture tells us throughout the Old Testament not to sacrifice children. Every abortion is an act of idolatry, because whether it is health, self, wealth, education, reputation, career, popularity, fear, misplaced trust, concern for the mother of the child, or the father of the child, someone or something is more important than God's command, "Thou shalt not murder".

Ezekiel 16:20

"Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols."

Notice God calls them His children when people sacrifice their daughters and sons. We are already daughters and sons before we are born. Embryology confirms that from the moment of our first complete cell we are already male or female.

Psalm 106

"They sacrificed their sons

and their daughters to demons.

They shed innocent blood—

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,

and the land was polluted with blood.

They defiled themselves by their actions

and prostituted themselves by their deeds.

So the anger of the LORD burned against His people."

Abortion and The Law

God establishes in the Old Testament that He is a God of law. We see this in the laws of nature and the perfect law of God given through Moses upon which our own nation's laws were modeled. The law is a tutor that teaches individuals what is morally right from wrong and ultimately shows our need for mercy (Galatians 3:4).

Isaiah 10:1-3

"Woe to those who enact unjust statutes

and issue oppressive decrees,

to deprive the poor of fair treatment

and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people,

to make widows their prey

and orphans their plunder.

What will you do on the day of reckoning

when devastation comes from afar?

To whom will you flee for help?

Where will you leave your wealth?"

Isaiah 5

"Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

and clever in their own sight.

Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine

and champions in mixing strong drink,

who acquit the guilty for a bribe

and deprive the innocent of justice."

"The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6;10).

Deuteronomy 16:19-20

"Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you." 

Proverbs 24:23-25

"To show partiality in judgment

is not good.

Whoever tells the guilty, “You are innocent”—

peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him;

but it will go well with those who convict the guilty,

and rich blessing will come upon them."

Proverbs 17:15

"Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent-- the LORD detests them both."

Abortion and God's Judgment

In pagan cultures, children were sacrificed as infants to supposedly bring about more prosperity, much like children are sacrificed in our culture to supposedly bring more prosperity. God makes very clear that He judges nations for this. Every nation in history that has engaged in child sacrifice has been wiped from the face of the earth. Here are just a few of the many verses throughout the Bible explaining why God judges nations:

Jeremiah 6:28-29

"They refuse justice to orphans and the rights of the poor. Should I sit back and act as though nothing is going on? the Lord God asks. Shouldn't I punish a nation such as this?"

 Jeremiah 23

"The land itself is in mourning-- its pastures are dried up. for the prophets do evil and abuse their power. The priests are like the prophets, all ungodly, wicked men. ... they commit adultery, and they love dishonesty. They encourage those who are doing evil instead of turning them away from their sins."

Ezekiel 22:3-4

"and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself, you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands."

Rape

How a child is conceived has nothing to do with the value of the child and their right to be here. Do you know how you were conceived? Does it matter? Once a child is conceived, they are living and worthy of the only life they have been given. To say that there should be exceptions to who we protect or kill in the womb based on the sins of their father is unfair. Even if a child is conceived in sin, their existence is not a sin. Because only God can make a child. God tells us we are not to put to death a child for their father's sin.

2 Chronicles 25:4b

​"The LORD commanded: “Fathers must not be put to death for their children, and children must not be put to death for their fathers."

The only good that can come from a rape is a child. We need to remember what God says about children still being a gift to that mother, that God creates children, and verses like this one:

Romans 8:28

"And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose."

Fear of Handicap

We are not to kill people just because they may have a handicap or perceived disability - including in the womb. Notice how we've changed "handicap" to "birth defect". We throw away what is defective. If God creates children - and He says He does - there is no "defective" child. Whatever standard we have identified as "normal" is only man's definition, not God's. We all have handicaps to overcome, the greatest being sin. This is what God says about people with disabilities.

Exodus 4:11

"The Lord said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?"

John 9:1-3

"Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth, and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him."

God creates us ultimately for His glory, not for our own, and not for our parents. Every human being God creates is unique with unique purpose. God doesn't make mistakes. While He is forming someone in the womb, give Him time. He makes each of us different. Down to each of our fingerprints and the numbers of hairs on our head, which Jesus tells us the Father counts! (Matt 10:30, Luke 12:7) God cares more about details than we do! And He makes everything beautiful in its own time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God's ways and understanding are far beyond our own (Isaiah 55:8). No one else can replace that child.

Why Abortion is Wrong

Abortion is wrong because murdering innocent people is wrong. And as God makes no distinction between people in the womb and outside the womb, neither should we. Abortion shows our lack of trust in the character of who God is - a good God who gives life and good gifts. He knows better than we do what we need. He is the Creator of all things (John 1:30). "Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves" (Psalm 100:3 NKJV). The sin of abortion goes to the deep root of the sinful nature listening to the one who comes to kill, steal, and destroy, rather than the One who came that we might have life and have life abundantly (John 10:10).

Solutions to Abortion

God replaces death with instructions for loving our neighbor as ourselves (Romans 13:9-10), treating others as we would like to be treated (Luke 6:31), and protecting the weak and innocent (Psalm 72). The child in the womb is no exception in how we are to treat and love "others".

While God has given each of us free will, the choice to sin is never a good one. We are to submit our bodies to God as living sacrifices which is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1-2). As Christians, our bodies are not our own, because Christ bought us and we are to "glorify God in our bodies" (1 Corinthians 6:20). This means "my body, my choice" is not Biblical for the believer even if it were only talking about a woman's body.

God promises that with every temptation, He will provide a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13). So, when it comes to abortion, we need to trust there is a way out and look for it. For the believer, we know that God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8;28).

Our Responsibility

We have a responsibility to warn others away from sin, whether they will listen, or not. The Lord speaking to Ezekiel says, "If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself. (Ezekiel 3:18-19)

Proverbs 24:11-12

"Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know about this,” does not He who weighs hearts consider it? Does not the One who guards your life know? Will He not repay a man according to his deeds?"

Abortion and Worship

Isaiah1:15-17

"When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil! Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

Amos 5:14-15

Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed. Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate.

Jeremiah 7:5-11

"For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’? Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD."

Children

"All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." (1 John 1:3)

"... for in His own image

God has made mankind." (Genesis 9:6)

"Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate." (Psalm 127:3-5)

God gives us children for a reason. They are a blessing to us. And we are to teach them about the LORD:

"We will not hide them from their children, but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might, and the wonders He has performed." (Psalm 78:4-8)

"Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger." (Psalm 8:2)

“Whoever welcomes this little child in My name welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me welcomes the One who sent Me." (Luke 9:46)

"And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’" (Matthew 25)

"But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!" (Matthew 18)

Conclusion

God says children are a gift (Psalm 127:3). If we are to take God seriously, we can believe that the God who cannot lie is telling us the truth (Titus 1:2). He is not deceiving nor misleading us or speaking in hyperbole. We do not know better than our Creator how life is best lived. If God says children are a gift, then they are. If we start acting on what we say we believe: that God's Word is true, and children are gifts, we start getting to the root of the problem with abortion.

The enemy of our souls hates the image bearers of God so intensely that he does everything he can to destroy the ones nearest to the heart of God - the little ones, the least of these. We are the hands and feet, the body of Christ. Our actions influence those around us. Our policies, our influence, and our daily actions display and reflect the God we say we serve and protect the little ones He says He loves.

If we do not speak the truth, who will hear it?

If we do not enact just laws, who will do it?

There are too many Scriptures to reference - see also Scriptures | Colorado Initiative

Sermon regarding what the Bible says about preborn children: Let the Children Come