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On Facebook, I'm seeing this article making the rounds. The response to this has been rather heated, let's say. There have been claims that God/The Bible clearly doesn't support something as horrible as abortion and thus God obviously wouldn't answer these prayers.
Well, I decided to look into this a bit. Now, granted, I only spent a little bit of time searching Google on this, so this is in no way comprehensive research or anything of that nature.
As far as I can tell, this passage (Exodus 21:22-25) is the main one that is flimsily used as "support" for abortion in the Bible. Essentially, it is saying that if a man accidentally hits a pregnant woman during a fight and causes her to have a miscarriage, then, well, as long as he just pays a fine to the husband, then it's all square. It's only if he does injury to the woman that all that "eye for an eye" stuff comes into play. Again, I find this to be very flimsy support indeed. So, no, I wouldn't say that this really is Biblical support for abortion. If there are other passages that more clearly support abortion, I didn't find them in the short amount of time I was looking.
That said, however, let's take a little look at some of the other things I did find that God apparently does support in the Bible.
Ezekiel 9:3-7 In this passage, God is telling these people to just go and straight up murder everyone who isn't marked. This includes the children. So, yeah, all those babies who aren't showing grief and lamentation over all the detestable things that are done in the city of Jerusalem? I guess they're just straight up screwed. Who knows, though, maybe some of them were lucky enough to have been wearing a poopy diaper (or whatever they used back then) and just happened to be crying when the marker guy came by, so that he believed they were showing appropriate grief and lamentation and thus marked them. *shrug*
Isaiah 13:15-18 Here, again, we see God advocating just murdering everyone, including (explicitly this time) the infants, who are to be "dashed to pieces." However, this passage introduces a new twist. Here, God is also calling for the women to be "violated." So... I guess God supports rape, as well? Interesting to know.
1 Samuel 15:2-3 Eh, this is just another typical "God says kill everyone" passage, except this time, even the poor livestock are on the hit list as well.
Hosea 13:16 Once again, God is calling for the infants to be "dashed to the ground" but, fascinatingly, He is also calling for the "pregnant women [to be] ripped open." How very interesting, that. So, while God may or may not support a woman's choice for abortion, God clearly does support forcible abortion under the right circumstances (which, I think it's safe to say, the women in question here didn't want). Hmm.
So, in conclusion, I have determined that while God apparently doesn't explicitly support consensual abortion, He does support some very vile and despicable things. As such, who can definitively claim that they truly know God's heart enough to say that He would or would not answer honest prayers for Him to support abortion? I know I certainly can't pretend to make such a claim. All of this is, of course, predicated upon the assumption that God actually exists in the first place, which is something that is still very questionable and most likely not true, at least as far as I am concerned.
Now I am not saying that I, personally, support abortion. Intellectually speaking, I support a woman's right to choose, but on a deep down personal level, the whole concept just doesn't sit well with me, except perhaps in extreme circumstances like rape or if the woman's life is endangered. I guess that means that I'm "on the fence" on this issue. However, and most importantly, my honest opinion on the subject is that whether a woman chooses to get an abortion or not is a very personal thing for the woman in question (and, I suppose, her doctor) and is, quite simply, none of my damn business. Nor should it be the business of anyone else, including the government or the church. That said, I also support a doctor's right to not perform abortions due to moral objections of his own. So, in that sense, I am very much pro-choice.
Well, I decided to look into this a bit. Now, granted, I only spent a little bit of time searching Google on this, so this is in no way comprehensive research or anything of that nature.
As far as I can tell, this passage (Exodus 21:22-25) is the main one that is flimsily used as "support" for abortion in the Bible. Essentially, it is saying that if a man accidentally hits a pregnant woman during a fight and causes her to have a miscarriage, then, well, as long as he just pays a fine to the husband, then it's all square. It's only if he does injury to the woman that all that "eye for an eye" stuff comes into play. Again, I find this to be very flimsy support indeed. So, no, I wouldn't say that this really is Biblical support for abortion. If there are other passages that more clearly support abortion, I didn't find them in the short amount of time I was looking.
That said, however, let's take a little look at some of the other things I did find that God apparently does support in the Bible.
Ezekiel 9:3-7 In this passage, God is telling these people to just go and straight up murder everyone who isn't marked. This includes the children. So, yeah, all those babies who aren't showing grief and lamentation over all the detestable things that are done in the city of Jerusalem? I guess they're just straight up screwed. Who knows, though, maybe some of them were lucky enough to have been wearing a poopy diaper (or whatever they used back then) and just happened to be crying when the marker guy came by, so that he believed they were showing appropriate grief and lamentation and thus marked them. *shrug*
Isaiah 13:15-18 Here, again, we see God advocating just murdering everyone, including (explicitly this time) the infants, who are to be "dashed to pieces." However, this passage introduces a new twist. Here, God is also calling for the women to be "violated." So... I guess God supports rape, as well? Interesting to know.
1 Samuel 15:2-3 Eh, this is just another typical "God says kill everyone" passage, except this time, even the poor livestock are on the hit list as well.
Hosea 13:16 Once again, God is calling for the infants to be "dashed to the ground" but, fascinatingly, He is also calling for the "pregnant women [to be] ripped open." How very interesting, that. So, while God may or may not support a woman's choice for abortion, God clearly does support forcible abortion under the right circumstances (which, I think it's safe to say, the women in question here didn't want). Hmm.
So, in conclusion, I have determined that while God apparently doesn't explicitly support consensual abortion, He does support some very vile and despicable things. As such, who can definitively claim that they truly know God's heart enough to say that He would or would not answer honest prayers for Him to support abortion? I know I certainly can't pretend to make such a claim. All of this is, of course, predicated upon the assumption that God actually exists in the first place, which is something that is still very questionable and most likely not true, at least as far as I am concerned.
Now I am not saying that I, personally, support abortion. Intellectually speaking, I support a woman's right to choose, but on a deep down personal level, the whole concept just doesn't sit well with me, except perhaps in extreme circumstances like rape or if the woman's life is endangered. I guess that means that I'm "on the fence" on this issue. However, and most importantly, my honest opinion on the subject is that whether a woman chooses to get an abortion or not is a very personal thing for the woman in question (and, I suppose, her doctor) and is, quite simply, none of my damn business. Nor should it be the business of anyone else, including the government or the church. That said, I also support a doctor's right to not perform abortions due to moral objections of his own. So, in that sense, I am very much pro-choice.
