Aboortion from a Christian Perspective

One of the most frequently debated topics in bioethics is the morality of abortion, or the ending of a pregnancy without physically giving birth to an infant. Often times abortions are categorized into either spontaneous, a natural miscarriage; induced or intentional, which is premeditated and for any reason; or therapeutic, which albeit intentional, its sole purpose is to save the mother’s life. It seems however that moral conflicts on issue mainly arise when discussing induced abortions. In general, people universally agree it is morally wrong to kill an innocent person and in some people’s eyes induced abortions are the intentional killings of innocent persons, thus making them immoral. However not all individuals view fetuses as persons and consequentially argue it is not morally wrong to kill them.

Nowadays, in this world, there are a lot of problems that can make tremendous conflicts for human beings. They are very complicated and bring a lot of argument and nobody knows what the exact answer is. They also have pros and cons. One of the most complex problems is abortion. This is due to moral and ethical values which we all have. The majority of us are Christians or are brought up in that kind of ambiance which means that as small children we were taught values that are based on the bible such as that famous phrase “Thou shall not kill”. This phrase relates to this topic because an abortion is the murder of a human being.

There are many factors that are taken into consideration when determining if abortion is morally permissible, or wrong including; sentience of the fetus, the fetuses right to life, the difference between adult human beings and fetuses, the autonomy of the pregnant woman, and the legality of abortion. Don Marquis argues that abortion is always morally wrong, excluding cases in which the woman is threatened by pregnancy, or abortion after rape, because fetuses have a valuable future. Mary Anne Warren contends that late term abortions are morally permissible because birth is the most significant event for a fetus, and a woman’s autonomy should never be suspended.

Christians don’t believe that abortion should have happen they say that abortion should not happen because God says that it shouldn’t happen. “For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). Christians see that life is sacred to God.

The Ethical dilemma is mental conflict in making the choice in the complex and uncomfortable situation, every individual faces the ethical decision making issues several times during the journey of life. The Down syndrome child abortion is most debated issue and difficult decision to make, therefore the resolving, evaluating and comparing the decision according to Christian Worldview and other options are very important.

There are many common pregnancy alternatives, but most often the resulting decision is abortion because it is effortless. Abortion is endings a women’s pregnancy by removing or forcing a fetus or embryo from the mother’s womb before it is able to survive on its own. Not all abortions are purposely done some are spontaneous like when a women that has a miscarriage. Rather abortion is done purposely or naturally it is a worldwide complication as to it being wrong or right. Abortion is an ethical issue that will be analyzed according to a personal worldview and Christian worldview. Ethical thinking will be examined by value-based decisions that address abortion from the perspective of a Christian worldview and comparing it to a personal assumption by addressing ethical dilemma, core beliefs, resolution, evaluation, and comparison.

From a biblical worldview perspective, abortion is wrong since it is the killing of a human. All humans are created by God and are created in His image. Since God is the creator of humans, He has the authority to set the value of life and not humans. Human life has value not only because God made them in His image but also because God redeemed them through His Son, Jesus Christ. Multiple verses in the New Testament, including John 3:16 and Romans 5:8, state how God loved humans enough to give up His own Son so humans can have a right relationship with Him. Jesus also talks about how humans are valuable to the Father in Matthew 10:31. God values all life and this includes the life of the unborn. In Psalm 139, David praises God for seeing him in His mother’s womb and ordaining all his days. God is the one who forms the baby in the womb. He does so in great detail and care, knitting together each baby in their mother’s womb. God does not start to value a human once they are born, instead, He knows and calls them even when they are in the mother’s womb. As in Jeremiah 1:5 and Isaiah 49:1, God called and set apart these prophets before they were even formed in the womb. Even Paul believed that God “set me apart from my mother 's womb and called me by his grace.” (Galatians 1:15). God values the unborn baby, He even calls the “fruit of the

Much of the ethical debate stemming from this topic lies with the issue of personhood. Personhood is a concept that defines what is it is that makes a person a “person”. There is no established criteria for this concept and it can vary depending on one’s belief. Patil, Dode & Ahirrao (2014), argue that the concept of personhood is the bridge that connects the fetus with the right to life. If one considers the fetus a person then ethically abortion is wrong. If the fetus is not a person then abortion is ethically acceptable. The issue on personhood mirrors the subjectivity of abortion debate.

Even though many people practice pro-life because of their religion, it may be surprising to learn that catholic women are 29% more likely to get an abortion than Protestant women, though they are as likely as all women to do so2. In Christianity abortion has been considered homicide since Pope Sixtus V declared it so, but the debate didn’t become heated until the 19th century1. So even these pro-life supporters sometimes find the circumstances where abortion is necessary. An example of a situation where you may see this is in a given situation where bearing a child and giving birth would kill the mother because of health issues or womb complications the fetus would have. It’s said that the risks of death associated with childbirth is 10 times higher than

“Abortion is the spontaneous or artificially induced expulsion of an embryo or fetus” (Abortion, 2002). An artificially induced abortion is the type referred to in the legal context. Abortions happen in different situations. The question comes when is it the right or wrong choice. The root question becomes the moment a fetus becomes a person and entitled to rights. The fetus could be a person at conception, during the pregnancy, or at birth. The deciding moment differs from the Pro-life group and Pro-choice group. After critically analyzing four different arguments about the pros and cons of abortion, one will be able to understand the ethical, moral, and

There are several issues that arise when it comes to the development in medical ethics whilst also maintaining religious principles and ethical values. The development of medical knowledge has allowed for humans to practice different ways in helping society. But these new discoveries have found to clash with religious principles and ethical values. This can be related to the topic of abortion as it goes against monotheistic religious teachings.

This author has chosen to discuss the ethical issues of abortion. This is a highly debated topic that will exist amongst women. It is happening at high rates. “In 2013, 664,435 legal induced abortions

When faced with the choice of life or death, most people would choose to live. In fact, most would not want someone else making that decision for them. They would claim that as a living and independent entity it is solely their choice as to whether they continue to live or not. While this concept may seem fairly straightforward, there seems to be some great debate when it is applied to abortion. For many, they will maintain that the fetus has the right to life no matter the situation. There are some who will argue that abortion is morally permissible in specific circumstances and there are even those that will claim that abortion is always permissible. Why is there such a great divide? A major factor that plays a part in this is whether abortion involves more than one life. Because determining the beginning point of life is such a complex and emotional debate, there will be the same allowance in this paper as there was in Judith Jarvis Thomson’s “A Defense of Abortion”. As she eloquently put it “I propose then, that we grant that the fetus is a person from the moment of conception” (p. 721). This will allow for a look into the moral debate of abortion from a more grounded stage. As discussed early in Thomson’s paper, most of the debate on abortion rests on whether the fetus is alive or not. Whereas the focus should be on the many other aspects of pregnancies that may lead to a mother wanting an abortion.

In our society, there are many ethical dilemmas that we are faced with that are virtually impossible to solve. One of the most difficult and controversial issues that we are faced with is abortion. There are many strong arguments both for and against the right to have an abortion which are so complicated that it becomes impossible to resolve. The complexity of this issue lies in the different aspects of the argument. The essence of a person, rights, and who is entitled to these rights, are a few of the many aspects which are very difficult to define. There are also issues of what circumstances would justify abortion. Because the issue of abortion is virtually impossible to solve, all one can hope

The first ethical issue will be right to life and abortion. Abortion remains controversial and a highly debated subject. The ethical debate concerning abortion is the considerations of a woman’s autonomy and the rights of the woman and the unborn child. The parent/ child relationship and assessing the best interests of potential children also provide considerable scope for ethical discussion. (Jones K, Chaloner C 2007). A factor in the ethical future of abortion is the perception of morality, or of actively ending the life of an unborn human being. This process of deductive reasoning explains the most common anti-abortion argument: First, the fetus is an innocent human being. Second, it is morally wrong to kill an innocent human being and lastly, it is morally wrong to kill a fetus. This reasoning can also be applied to support a viewpoint to those who support abortion. First the fetus has no moral status. Secondly, it is not morally wrong to destroy that which has no moral status. Lastly, it is not morally wrong to destroy a fetus.