THE BIBLE AND ABORTION

 I confess that it is unusual to write a "devotion" on the topic of abortion, but trying to understand what the Bible does and does not clarify sometimes leads me to greater humility and prayerfulness.

Issue
Most people who value the authority of the Bible seek for guidance on the issue of human life and abortion. An early Jewish interpretation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) was that ensoulment/personhood began when the birthed child first drew breath. That is because the Hebrew word that we translate as "soul" (nephesh) refers to breathing beings. (This understanding makes sense but is not based on any clear biblical text addressing abortion.) Another understanding followed by Christians for several centuries was that ensoulment began at "quickening" (the first movement felt in the womb) at about 15 weeks after conception. (This position is based on there being dualistic separation of body and soul that is not in accord with Genesis 2.)
    Today, however, there is a movement that believes personhood begins at conception. Those who defend it point to verses that speak of God's involvement in the womb. The problem is that they are reading a modern concept into the Bible. Proper biblical interpretation first starts with understanding what such texts communicated to the original people of faith and then seeks to apply them to today. The form of most of those texts is poetry using hyperbole. They were intended to make a point that would not have been understood literally. The main contextual content was generally an expression of wonderment at God's personal involvement in one's life "from the beginning." The communicative intention was not to teach biology.

Sample Texts Cited*
Here are some biblical examples regarding the womb:
    Figuratively expressed, the Israelites understood that God could “open” or “close” a womb to fulfill his promises (Gen 20:18: 29:31). They could see any “fruitful womb” as a blessing. However, the Bible nowhere teaches a divine determinism about all wombs. (As we know, many zygotes never successfully lead to births.)
    Job’s language of God “making” and “forming” people in the womb (Job 31:15) is not teaching that embryonic development is a hands-on activity by God, but was expressing the principle that all human life comes from God. Job was poetically giving his reason for treating his servants justly (Job 31:13-15).
    Psalm 139:13-14, speaks of the wonder of being formed in the womb by God, but the thrust of the psalm is about how nothing is unknown or hidden from God who is beyond our sense of time and space.  Although this is beautiful theology, it was not intended as a science lesson.
    The prophet Jeremiah expresses how God told him he had set him aside and called him to be a prophet from the womb (Jer 1:4-5). The language here is poetic and is a way to say, “from as early as possible.” Jeremiah even plays off this language later when he complains that he would have chosen not to come out of the womb, if he had known what trouble his prophetic role would bring him (20:18). The main point is that Jeremiah was called by God. We should note, too, how Paul uses Jeremiah’s language. Paul, who as an adult was responsible for putting Christians to death, could still refer to himself as set apart by God in his mother’s womb for the purpose he later was fulfilling (Gal 1:15).
    Therefore, these texts taught such things as divine involvement going well back in time in one's life to call people to fulfill God’s promises, to promote the value of all people, to express awe and wonder about human formation, to project one’s sense of belonging to God, etc. It is important to note that these texts are neither teaching universal determinism beginning in the womb nor modern biological science about human development. Moreover, they are not addressing the modern understanding of conception. (It was not even known to modern people until the 1800's that women contributed genetic material to the process.) The ancient Israelites thought of procreation agriculturally in terms of a seed being planted in the womb and eventually growing into the "fruit" of a birthed person.

Science
If we turn to modern science for help, we find that the zygote is a stem cell that can keep multiplying and dividing theoretically into any number of human beings. When, then is it a person? When stem cells reach a certain cluster? When they begin to specialize? When organs are formed? When there is a rudimentary nervous system? When the fetus is viable? When there is consciousness? (Who knows when one can become aware of the presence of God?)

Reflection and Application
I wish I had THE answer to when the “fruit of the womb” is a “person” before God, but neither the Bible nor current science provides a definitive answer. What I do know is that neither supports personhood beginning at conception. Science also leads me to push inward from the other side of the birth spectrum to value the unborn child before birth. My ignorance leads me toward a humility to be gracious toward the mothers faced with difficult decisions and for me to be slow to judge. I understand how honest, deeply thoughtful, and prayerful people may well come to different conclusions. I will have to trust such people to do the best that they can do before God, as I am trying to do.

Lord, guide those who face pressing circumstances about whether or not to bring a pregnancy to term. Bless them. Take care of them, and may as many of those unborn be brought into fruition as possible within your will. Amen.
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*Exodus 21:22-23, a text that has been appealed to by those both for and against abortion, further complicates the issue by its difficult textual and exegetical problems. At best it can be said that it is not about intentional abortion. Whether or not it clarifies the legal value of a fetus is understandably debated.