Well, to me Rich's premiss seems a bit weak.
Not surprisingly, the Bible doesn't address abortion directly - the Bible predates the technology to abort a fetus by a few millenia.
The following are some excepts from Rich's "The Bible and Abortion" page...
Jesus demonstrated the love of God for children often during His ministry. In one passage, Jesus took a child to him and sat with him. He said, "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 18:10).
As do most people. Many women who have had an abortion did so because of circumstances which others may not understand ur agree with, but they still love children. Sure, some abortions occur for convenience, or vanity, or shame, or ... but many are not.
Jesus tells us not to despise or look down upon the least powerful and significant (by human standards) of humans. It is ironic that the most helpless humans are those inside the womb. Of all the risks that we must face in our lives, the most dangerous place we can be is in the womb, since fully one third of all human babies are aborted in this nation - over one million every year. Greater than 98% of all abortions are done for non-medical reasons.
How many babies are miscarried due to natural causes, lack of prenatal care, malnutrition of the mother, etc, etc, -- worldwide?
The law specifically addresses the issue of taking the life of a fetus in the book of Exodus:
"And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide.
Doesn't that say the penalty is left up to secular authority?
But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life." (Exodus 21:22-23)
Injury
to the combatants is more serious than destruction of the fetus?
Reading further ...
Therefore, the law tells us that a man who induces an abortion or miscarriage is to be punished, indicating that God values life before birth.
But doesn't Exodus 21:22-23 seem to say the punishment is to be by secular authority?
A verse from Hosea says that abortion is a punishment for sin, indicating God views it as bad.
The referenced verse is Hosea 9:14 ...
Give them, O LORD-- what wilt Thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
Isn't the prescribed punishment miscarriage (effectively caused by God), not abortion (caused by man)
Likewise, God expressed His disgust for the Ammonites, who "ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead".
Who wouldn't be disgusted at "ripping open"
anyone, whether male or female, pregnant or not?
And further still ...
The Bible tells us God is involved in our creation from the womb:
"Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb? (Job 31:15)
Yet Thou art He who didst bring me forth from the womb; Thou didst make me trust when upon my mother's breasts. Upon Thee I was cast from birth; Thou hast been my God from my mother's womb. (Psalms 22:9-10)
For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Thy book they were all written, The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. (Psalms 139:13-16)
Thus says the LORD who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you, `Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen. (Isaiah 44:2)
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, "I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself, And spreading out the earth all alone, (Isaiah 44:24)
We know life begins sometime before the baby leaves the womb (at birth), but I fail to see any guidance as to when it begins.
Please note -- I am not saying that Rich is wrong, but IMO his "The Bible and Abortion" page fails to make a "The Biblical Basis for a Prolife Position". What am I missing?
Without strong Biblical support, doesn't abortion come down to an individual's moral "compass" and their view of when a fetus transitions from being part of the mother and becomes another person in its own right?
