Christianity and abortion have a long and complex history. Condemnation of abortion by Christians goes back to the 1st century with texts such as the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Apocalypse of Peter. In later centuries some Christian writers argued that abortion was acceptable under certain circumstances, such as when necessary to save the life of the mother, but these views did not become accepted teachings until some denominations changed their views in the 20th century. The Bible itself does not contain direct references to abortion.Frank K. Flinn, J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia of Catholicism (Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Religions 2007 ), p. 4Kristin, Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood (University of California Press 1985 )John Noonan, Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists, Harvard University Press, 1965 (2nd edition 1986).
Today, Christian denominations hold widely variant stances: Most mainline Protestant denominations support abortion legalization, while Catholicism, Evangelicalism and Eastern Orthodoxy condemn abortion under almost all circumstances.
Range of positions taken by Christian denominations
Stances on abortion rights vary between different denominations, with some opposing abortion while others believe it should be permitted, and between followers of respective denominations, with sizable minorities within each that disagree with their denomination's stance on abortion.
Some denominations–mainly European-generated Protestant denominations–have amended their stance on abortion, with religious leaders in more liberal Christian denominations becoming supporters of abortion rights while Evangelical and other conservative Christians still staunchly oppose abortion, a view that is shared by the Catholic Church.
Christians and scholars also disagree on how abortion has been perceived historically. While some writers say that early Christians held different beliefs at different times about abortion, others claim that abortion has always been condemned at any point of pregnancy as a grave sin. Daniel Schiff maintains that some early Christians did not view as homicide the elimination of a fetus not yet "formed" and animated by a human soul.
Biblical passages
A number of biblical passages are often cited by Christians on either side of the abortion question. Some frequently cited ones and common arguments surrounding them are as follows:
+ Selected Bible verses and perspectives Passage Perspective allowing abortion Perspective against abortion Genesis 2:7 (Garden of Eden narrative, see also Soul in the Bible § Genesis 2:7) - "Then the (Yahweh) God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being". (NIV) Christian advocates of abortion rights cite this passage as proof that human personhood begins once the "breath of life" enters the body; lungs of a fetus are not considered fully-functioning until around 37 weeks gestation and cannot breathe until birth. Opponents of legalized abortion reject this interpretation and say that Adam and Eve, having been fully formed as adults, should not be compared to a fetus. Exodus 21:22–25 (Harm to a pregnant woman, see Mishpatim § Exodus chapters 21–22 at "Harm to a Pregnant Woman" for parallels in other Ancient Near Eastern legal texts): "When men have a fight and hurt a pregnant woman, so that she suffers a miscarriage, but no further injury, the guilty one shall be fined as much as the woman's husband demands of him, and he shall pay in the presence of the judges. But if injury ensues, you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." (NAB) Christians who are in favour of legalized abortion cite this passage because it shows that when a woman suffers miscarriage from a blow during a fight, only a fine is required in compensation, while if the woman is injured or killed, then the punishment must be equal to the injury suffered, including capital punishment if the woman dies. According to abortion rights advocates, the significance of this Biblical passage is that causing a woman to miscarry "warrants financial compensation only (to her husband), suggesting that the fetus is property, not a person." Christians who are against legalized abortion, however, argue that this passage still represents the causing of a miscarriage as sinful.They also claim that the arguments in favor of abortion are based on a mistranslation of the Hebrew-language text in Exodus 21, and that the verse actually refers to premature birth rather than miscarriage. Numbers 5:11–31 (Ordeal of the bitter water) -- Numbers 5:27: 'Once she has done so, if she has been impure and unfaithful to her husband, this bitter water that brings a curse will go into her, and her belly will swell and her thighs will waste away, so that she will become an example of imprecation among her people.' (NAB) In this passage, a woman who is suspected of adultery is made to drink something that will cause her thigh to waste away and her belly to swell if she was guilty of adultery. Christians who support legalized abortion believe that this is talking about the woman's fetus being destroyed if she was guilty of adultery with another man. Christians against legalized abortion, however, argue that this passage is not referring to an abortion and that the effects on the woman's body refer to a divine punishment for oathbreaking in Jewish tradition. The practice is also not believed to have been practiced in Christianity. It was also undertaken by both Men and Women as a test for adultery.Helena Zlotnick, Dinah's Daughters: Gender and Judaism from the Hebrew Bible to ... 2002 ISBN 0812217977Joseph B. Tyson, The New Testament and Early Christianity (1984), page 199: "They each highlight a certain portion or aspect of Jesus' history, such as his family, his childhood, his resurrection, or his teachings. [...] But Mary became pregnant, and Joseph was afraid that his neglect had allowed an adulterer to seduce her. So the priests gave both of them a trial by bitter water, a trial they survived." Jeremiah 1:5 (calling of Jeremiah narrative): "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you." (NAB) Christians who support legalized abortion, however, have argued that this passage refers only to Jeremiah alone and explains his uniqueness by saying that God made plans for him even before he was born. They say that this passage is "a reference to a special plan for one man rather than a general approach to biology and reproduction." Christians opposed to legalized abortion have interpreted this passage to mean that life begins prior to birth, thus making abortion the taking of a person's life. Luke 1:15 (in the prologue, featuring John the Baptist's parents): "For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." (KJV); and Luke 1:41–44 (in the Visitation narrative): " And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy." (KJV) As in the case of the passage from Jeremiah, supporters of abortion rights argue that this passage explains the uniqueness of John the Baptist and does not say anything about other fetal life. They also maintain that passages that relate to the later stages of pregnancy are not relevant to the general abortion question, because the vast majority of abortions occur early in pregnancy, before "quickening" (when the woman first feels movement of the fetus) or "ensoulment" (when the fetus is "formed" or "ensouled" according to ancient beliefs). In early times, true pregnancy was usually interpreted as beginning at quickening or ensoulment. Christians opposed to legalized abortion point to these verses dealing with Elizabeth's pregnancy with her son (the future John the Baptist) as showing that the fetus was a person, because the fetus was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb and leaped for joy at the sound of Mary's salutation. The Greek word used in line 44 'βρέφος' (Brephos) is also used for infants after birth and it was used by the gospel writer in describing the baby Jesus in Bethlehem in the second chapter of Luke.
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church states that its opposition to abortion follows from a belief that human life begins at conception and that "human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception." Accordingly, it opposes procedures whose purpose is to destroy an embryo or fetus for whatever motive (even before implantation), but admits acts, such as chemotherapy or hysterectomy of a pregnant woman who has cervical cancer, which indirectly result in the death of the fetus. The Church holds that "the first right of the human person is his life" and that life is assumed to begin at fertilization. Can. 1397 §2 states: "A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication" Before the apostolic constitution Pascite gregem Dei, issued by Pope Francis on 1 June 2021, which reforms Book VI of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the content related to this topic was contained in canon 1398. The excommunication from the Church can only be removed when that individual seeks penance and obtains absolution. The Church has affirmed that every procured abortion is a moral evil, a teaching that the Catechism of the Catholic Church declares "has not changed and remains unchangeable" since the first century. However, this claim of consistency of the Church on the question of abortion is disputed by a number of historians, such as John Connery,John Connery, Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective, Loyola University Press, 1997. Ann Hibner Koblitz,Ann Hibner Koblitz, Sex and Herbs and Birth Control: Women and Fertility Regulation Through the Ages, Kovalevskaia Fund, 2014. Angus McLaren,Angus McLaren, A History of Contraception from Antiquity to the Present Day, Basil Blackwell, 1990. and John Riddle.John M. Riddle, Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance, Harvard University Press, 1992.John M. Riddle, Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West, Harvard University Press, 1997. Until 1869, with the exception of the three-year period 1588–1591 during the papacy of Sixtus V, the Church treated abortion before quickening as less serious than abortion after quickening. The leading early Catholic theologians placed the time when an embryo took form as a human and could receive a soul as between 40 and 80 days; termination of pregnancy before 40 days was a "considerably lesser offense" than a later abortion.
With the papal bull Apostolicae Sedis moderationi of 1869, Pope Pius IX, without making a distinction about the stage of pregnancy, listed as subject to an excommunication from which only a bishop could grant absolution those who effectively procured an abortion. The authors of one book have interpreted this as "Pius IX declared all direct abortions homicide", but the document merely declared that those who procured an effective abortion incurred excommunication reserved to bishops or ordinaries."Excommunicationi latae sententiae Episcopis sive Ordinariis reservatae subiacere declaramus: ... 2. Procurantes abortum, effectu sequuto." In 1895, the Church specifically condemned therapeutic abortions.