An Abortion Question

Here’s a bunch of statements that I believe to be true – followed by a question. 

  • Nobody believes that killing babies is morally acceptable (unless under some freakishly extreme hypothetical – not the point)
  • Thus people who believe that abortion is morally acceptable, have a different belief about when a conceived egg becomes a person/baby
  • It seems to me that the question of when a fertilised egg becomes a human is not primarily a religious question
So, why then is it that the question of whether or not abortion is morally acceptable viewed as being a question of religious belief? 
Victoria (my state of Australia) has recently been re-jigging their abortion laws and stretching the lateness in a pregnancy that a woman can have an abortion. And I was amazed at the reactions from people on blog comments, that without any mention of religion or God – people defending women’s rights to an abortion were instinctively accusing the pro-life brigade of being a bunch of right wing religious bigots. Why have we as christians polarised this debate into being a question of religious belief?
Side note: I’m not going through a process of questioning my position on abortion – which is a fairly conservative one. I’m just perplexed as to how the conversation has been twisted around.
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5 Comments

  1. rick
    Posted 1 October, 2008 12:37 am at 12:37 am | Permalink

    I think your second point may not be true. Joe Biden (US nominee for vice-president) explicitly believes life begins at conception but still supports abortion. He simply has a higher value for a woman’s right to choose.

    This is similar to pro-life folks who support abortion for instances of rape, incest, etc..

    I’m not sure if that answers your question but I think the presumptions are not the same for all.

  2. Susannah
    Posted 1 October, 2008 4:08 pm at 4:08 pm | Permalink

    Interesting question Geoff. At uni we looked at thw whole debate in regards to what Rabbis thought and this passage was central Exodus 21:22-24 “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely [e] but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
    As I understand it Jews and Christian ( not sure about Muslims) take this passage to mean that abortion is indeed death of a person, because the death of an unborn person is punished the same way as the death of a fully born and living outside the womb one. Thus those who regard this text as sacred take an anti abortion state. So my answer to your question would be that it is a religious question because it is a religious text which is forming viewpoints on the matter ( if you use this text).
    Interestingly though, some Rabbis, based on this text are pro-choice

  3. Geoff
    Posted 1 October, 2008 4:14 pm at 4:14 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for the comment Susannah – got me thinking.

  4. Geoff
    Posted 2 October, 2008 1:00 pm at 1:00 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for the comment Rick – it got auto-moderated so it only just got through now. Sorry about that. Good call on the second statement not being true for everyone: I must admit that’s where I find it all a bit weird. But I’d still hold that for most people, at least people who have come to a viewpoint through a deliberate thought process – the concept of killing an actual person is abhorrent.

  5. Jermayn
    Posted 6 October, 2008 12:30 pm at 12:30 pm | Permalink

    I believe there is a scripture talking about when ‘life’ starts..

    From memory it is after 15 days or something.