WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT ABORTION

• Genesis 38:24 Tamar's pregnancy was discovered three months after conception. Because she was a widow, she was assumed to be a prostitute. Her father-in-law Judah ordered that she be burned alive for her crime. If Tamar's twin fetuses had been considered to have any value whatsoever, her execution would have been delayed until after their birth.
• Exodus 21:22 If men strive [fight] an hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit [fetus] depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. This passage may be confusing to today's readers. Other translations explain that if a fight between two men occurs in which a pregnant woman is hit and has a miscarriage, then the man responsible would have to pay at a fine. The amount would be set by her husband and approved by the judges.

  Verse 23 explains that if the woman died, the guilty man would be executed by the state, as in the case of any other homicide. This would seem to imply that the killing of a woman was a capital offense, because she is a human being. However, the killing of a fetus was not a capital offense. The man responsible might have to pay a fine because of its future potential worth; but the fetus was not considered human life that would justify the death penalty to the murderer.

• Leviticus 27:6 And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver and for the female ten shekels. A child was only given a value after the age of one month; boys were worth five shekels; girls three; below that age, they were assigned no monetary value.
• Numbers 3:15 Take a census...including every male a month or more old. Only male babies over one month of age were considered persons for the purposes of enumeration. A baby under one month of age and a fetus were apparently not worthy of being counted.
• Psalms 51:5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. This is a description of "original sin": that because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, all subsequent humans have inherited their sin. Thus the writer's mother was in a state of sin when he was conceived and during her pregnancy. It does not seem to have any relevance to the abortion debate, but is occasionally cited.
• Psalms 139:13-16 For thou hast possessed my reins [formed my inner parts]: thou has covered [formed] me in my mother's womb. Again, this describes Jehovah observing the development of a fetus during pregnancy. No reference is made to either miscarriage or abortion.
• Ecclesiastes 6:3-5 If a man begats 100 children...and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say that an untimely birth is better than he. The passage implies that a person can have many children and a long life; but if he is not motivated by love and goodness, an if he is not properly buried, then it would have been better if he had been born dead. The suggestion here is that a terminated pregnancy (one that does not produce a live birth) is better than a pregnancy that produced an empty life.
• Isaiah 49:1...The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. This apparently means that Jehovah was aware of the author's name before the latter was born. Some people interpret this as implying that God recognizes a fetus as a human.
• Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified [set apart] thee. This apparently refers to the process of pregnancy leading to a live birth. Jehovah is talking in this passage and reinforces the belief that he is able to foretell the future. God had important plans for the adult Jeremiah, a priest of the tribe of Benjamin, even before the latter was conceived. Presumably, an all-knowing God would realize when the conception would occur, that a miscarriage would not happen, the time when Jeremiah would be born, and the important role that Jeremiah would play. Presumably, an all-knowing God today would know when conceptions would occur, would know when miscarriages and abortions will happen, and when infants will be born. But the passage does not appear to be related to the legality or morality of abortion.
• Luke 1:15....[Jesus] shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. Some translations of the bible refer to the interval before birth; others after birth. The passage appears to be ambiguous; it might refer to a time during the third trimester when the fetus is viable. At any length, it apparently refers only to Jesus' birth, not to infants today.
• Luke 1:41...when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb.... Elizabeth's fetus was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. Verse 36 states that she was in her 6th month, at a time when the fetus is viable. The verse might be intended to imply that a 6th month (26 to 30th week) fetus has some degree of awareness of its environment, is capable of living independently, and should be considered as a "pre-born" human worthy of protection. It says nothing about a first trimester fetus without a functioning brain or nervous system.
• Luke 1:42...Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. This statement by Elizabeth might imply that the pre-embryo that Mary was carrying is a child. Otherwise, she would have said "blessed will be the fruit of thy womb". On the other hand, it might simply mean that the pre-embryo is special because it will eventually develop into the child Jesus.
• Galatians 1:15-16 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace that I might preach.... This appears to repeat the beliefs of Jeremiah 1:5; i.e. that God knew Paul's role from before his birth.

The Bible does not address abortion directly. Exodus 21:22 appears to state that the fetus is not to be regarded as human. Thus abortions (which are performed prior to viability of the fetus) do not appear to be prohibited by its teaching. The Christian Scriptures (New Testament) might be interpreted as implying that a third trimester fetus has awareness and that its life should be preserved. Of course abortions (using the medical definition) are not performed at that time. When hysterotomies (Cesarean Sections) are performed after viability of the fetus, local state and provincial medical society regulations and any state legal restrictions on third trimester abortions require that they must be first justified on the basis of preventing a very severe threat to the health or life of the woman, or because the fetus is dead, or due to some other overwhelming medical consideration. (In very rare instances, where the fetus is already partially born, a D&X may be performed.)