Banning abortion is not supported by the Bible
Texas, the second-largest state in the union and with a population of almost 30 million, has just passed a draconian anti-abortion law. This could lead to prochoice activists and doctors being prosecuted, and women losing autonomy and basic rights. It has shaken the country, and sent ripples across Canada, where there are many in the Conservative caucus who support the Texas move.
There is, of course, overwhelming hypocrisy on display. Texas executes more people than any other state, allows deadly firearms to be carried even by people with no training, and invests relatively little into women’s health. Also, we know from repeated experience that abortion numbers fall when there is modern sex education in all schools, free contraceptives, affordable public daycare, socialized medicine, female equality, enforced paternity payments, extended maternal leave and drastic poverty reduction.
The people behind the new Texas legislation, however — along with most critics of choice — oppose all of these policies. They are motivated not by a compassionate and mature approach to a sensitive issue, but by a misinformed reading of scripture. Almost all of the impetus behind this attack on women’s choice comes from the Christian right, but the absurdity of their position is that abortion is seldom mentioned in the Bible, and even sometimes demanded.
The obsession with abortion is fairly recent. As recently as 1968, Christianity Today, the most important magazine in the evangelical world, argued that abortion had always to be considered in the light of “individual health, family welfare, and social responsibility.”
In 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant church in the U.S., voted to “work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.”
But the zealots have triumphed, and roar callow biblical literalism. They quote Genesis, “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind.” But the original language clearly explains that this is about murder, an adult killing an adult.
They also refer to Jeremiah, who wrote around 2,700 years ago. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” But this is where understanding is so important. He’s emphasizing the important of a single person, “a prophet to the nations,” not making a general comment about the beginning of life. If anything, the emphasis is on this case being unlike all others.
Then there’s Psalm 139: “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” It’s poetry, and is about God’s power rather that scientific definitions. God, it tells us, knows everything, but this is no way specific or relevant to the fetus.
Finally, there is the New Testament story of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, when she meets Mary. “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Yes, there is movement in the womb. But once again, this is about uniqueness and not generality. The very point being made is that this is John the Baptist and the Son of God. It’s prophecy, not biology.
But there’s more. Exodus says that if a pregnant woman has a miscarriage due to a fight, the aggressor is to be fined. Not killed, because this isn’t murder and not the taking of human life. Or Numbers, in which if a woman commits adultery and becomes pregnant she is told to take a potion so as to abort.
It’s an ancient text; it’s not divine dictation. Faith is a dialogue, and the central and pulsating themes of the Bible, especially the Gospels, are love, justice, grace and acceptance. The abortion fetish may fulfil a modern narrative needed by an increasingly insecure Christian right searching for causes, but it’s non-biblical and, ironically, genuinely anti-Christian. If anything is sacred, it’s women’s choice — and that’s something the activists should pray hard about.