Abortion is Not Murder
Is abortion murder? Murder is defined as "illegal killing with malice aforethought." Abortion fails this definition for two reasons. First, abortion is not illegal, and second, there is no evidence to suggest that expecting mothers feel malice towards their own flesh and blood.
Not all killing is murder, of course. Murder is actually a small subset of all killing, which includes accidental homicide, killing in self-defense, suicide, euthanasia, etc. When pro-life activists call abortion "murder," they are suggesting that abortion fits the definition of murder, namely, "illegal killing with malice aforethought." However, abortion fails this definition for two reasons. First, abortion is not illegal, and
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Let's assume, for argument's sake, that the Bible is indeed the law of God. Unfortunately, this doesn't help the pro-life movement, because there is no Biblical law against abortion. (Abortion is as old as childbirth.) The Hebrew word for "kill" in the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is rasach, which is more accurately interpreted as "murder," or illegal killing judged harmful by the community. It is itself a relative, legalistic term!
Many forms of killing were considered legal in ancient Israel, and levitical law listed many of the exceptions. Generally, levitical law permitted killing in times of war, the commission of justice and in self-defense. Sometimes, God even gave Israel permission to kill infant children. In I Samuel 15:3, God ordered Saul to massacre the Amalekites: "Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants..."
Unfortunately, the levitical law we find in the Bible today is incomplete, and comes to us in large gaps. That is because the ancient Jews passed down their laws orally, and only wrote down the more complicated laws to jog their memory. As a result, levitical law is filled with tremendous omissions; for example, we know little of their laws on libel, business, lending, alimony, lease, rental agreements and civil rights. But perhaps the most unfortunate gap in ancient Jewish law is abortion. If a law did exist on abortion, then we simply do not know what it was. Fortunately, we have an
“The Sixth Commandment of the Bible's Old Testament, "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13), applies to all human beings, including unborn babies” (Should abortion be legal?). If someone were to have picked up a knife, or a syringe of poison, and stabbed somebody with it, killing them, everyone can agree, that is murder. It does not matter if it is done to a person inside or outside of their mother, they are still a unique human being. If killing a woman whom was pregnant would be considered a double homicide, but if a woman decided to get an abortion it is not murder? Taking another human being’s life is murder, there isn’t any exception to it so we shouldn’t try to make any loopholes around it. Murder is the killing of an innocent human life. Abortion is taking away an innocent human life. Therefore, abortion is murder. Abortion is an inhumane thing to do to an unborn child while putting themselves in harm's way as well. Some Abortionist have spoken up on their thoughts on their profession and what they think about abortion and what side they’re on. When asked those questions a surprising amount of abortionist have agreed of abortion being another form of murder. Most who’ve seen it as another way of murder eventually quit their job for moral reasons and proceed a pro-life
Abortion has been one of the most popular and argumentative topics that has still yet to be settled. Ultimately the question we can ask when trying to solve this issue is whether or not pregnant women should have the right to kill an unborn baby. Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth takes place and is a moral wrong. Can we as a society call ourselves human if we allow the deaths of unborn babies to take place? Those who take the side of pro-choice or as also known as pro-abortion often use statements concerning life, humanity, human rights and freedom to support their claims. I believe abortion should be illegal because we as a society must protect the human lives that are in danger whether or not they are in their first
Abortion cannot be and is not murder, you are not taking the life of another
Every individual defines pain differently, so “without interrogation, we cannot know for sure what the fetus feels” (British Medical Journal). As we know, asking a fetus if it feels pain is impossible, and assuming that they do could be wrong. Considering these statements, abortion cannot technically be called murder. Fetuses are not self-aware, rational, or attentive like humans. From a religious standpoint, I understand why people consider abortion murder. A fetus has the potential for life, and that they consider that potential life a real life. However, stretching this idea farther, sperm also have the potential for life, but many of these people are not against sex or masturbation. Fertilization has not yet occurred, but the potential is still there. According to scientific evidence, a fetus has a fifty to seventy percent chance of becoming a feasible human being. These chances are relatively high, but not a guarantee, and not yet a life. One cannot kill something that is not yet alive.
Various religions also have varied responses to capital punishment. Even a particular denomination or religious group may not have a unified stand regarding capital punishment. Religious sentiments do play a significant part in the views of people regarding capital punishment. The Bible is replete with various passages that may seem to support or condemn capital punishment. The Old Testament, particularly, is based upon a morality of “teeth against teeth” and “life for life.” The books of laws of the Old Testament actually prescribe stoning to death the persons who commit serious crimes against God and against the community. A number of biblical scholars have considered the part of the Ten Commandments that say “You shall not kill” as a prohibition against individual cases of murder (The Ryrie Study Bible, Exodus 20:13). In the first place, the Christian faith believes that humans are created in the image of God. As such, a serious crime against another person is also a crime against God. In the Old Testament, premeditated murder was sufficient reason for the death penalty (Numbers 35:31, 33). Moreover, in Genesis 9:6, it can be read that “whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed”. St. Thomas Aquinas also published his thoughts regarding capital
While on the other hand, in Exodus 32:27 it says that killing was commanded. It pointed out the killing of the guilty. But in the Catholic Bible Dictionary, it says that “taking the life of the innocent is condemned”. Even though God commanded the killing, some may not understand why. God may have commanded it because the people who worshiped the golden calf were guilty. Also, they may have disobeyed God’s Law, the Ten
The sixth of the ten commandments says that “You shall not murder.” This is still
A common argument between pro-life and pro-choice believers is abortion considered murder. According to editor Michelle Ye Hee Lee, The Washington Post, “Setting the record straight on measuring fetal age and the twenty-week abortion.” A fetus is considered viable
In Americas Society Abortion is a topic that most people rather not face. More and more abortions occur everyday, causing potential lives to be terminated due to irresponsible sexual activity among adults and teens. Abortions cheats the unborn child of his or hers existence and unknown experiences to come. Abortions are quick escape goats for irresponsible individuals and cause pain, suffering, and death. I t is against the law and immoral to kill another human being, and by terminating a fetus you are performing another act of killing. In my essay I will use different articles and references to back my conclusion of how Abortions are cruel, examples of different types of abortions and how
Thou shalt not kill; one-tenth of what may arguably be the most famous guidelines of morality in the western culture, and also the main driving force for pro-life advocates. The argument supporting their beliefs typically starts with the premises that a fetus is a person, and to destroy or to kill a person is unethical. Therefore abortion, the premeditated destruction of a human being, is murder, and consequently unethical. I deny the fact that the fetus, what I will refer to as an embryo up to 22 weeks old, has the right to live. The opposing argument is invalid because a fetus, although perhaps a part of human species, is not formally a person. This leaves it simply to be a part of the woman?s body, whose fate lies solely in the
Suppose murder is the killing of an innocent human being - and a fetus is a human - then isn’t abortion murder? ProCon.org asserts “Upon fertilization, a human individual is created with a unique genetic identity that
Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy that is often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. As life begins at conception, unborn babies are human beings and thus have the right to life. The federal Unborn Victim Of Violence Act that was made to protect unborn babies from murder states that anybody intentionally killing an unborn baby should be punished for killing a human being. Abortion is a murder because it is taking away someone’s life. Even though the baby isn’t born yet, the fetus in the mother’s womb still feels pain while being aborted. No person, not even a mother, has the right to hurt someone. To keep a child, who can’t even speak, from growing and from living is a murder.
Murder is not the only thing that the Bible allows death as a punishment for. According to an outline called ‘The Bible and Capital Punishment,” the old Testament gives twenty-one ‘crimes’ in which the death penalty is an okay form of punishment. There are only three out of the twenty-one listed offenses that we would categorize as crimes by today’s standards. Six of the listed are for religious offenses, including proselytizing (trying to convert an Israelite to a different religion, Deuteronomy 13:1-10) and for practicing black magic (Exodus 22:18). There are ten crimes listed which are now classified as moral issues, including working on Sunday (Exodus 35:2), abusing parents (Exodus 20:15), and blasphemy (uttering the name of Jehovah while cursing, Leviticus 24:16). Two of these listed are in relation to ceremonial practices, including communicating with the dead (Leviticus 20:27). But only three of the twenty-one offenses are categorized as capital crimes by the standards of today’s justice system (‘The Bible and Capital Punishment’). For this reason, many people think that the Bible is an out-of-date way to govern our lives,
Since 1973, when it became legalized, abortion has been of the most controversial ethical issues in America. In the court case of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court came to the conclusion that women have the right to privacy which includes the right to having an abortion. This ruling has caused many controversies and millions of people throughout America protest against abortion every year. Abortion is an operation of other intervention to end a pregnancy by removing an embryo or fetus from the womb. Since its ratification, more than forty-eight million unborn children have been killed by means of abortion in the United States since the Roe vs. Wade judgment (Abortion in the United States).With abortion outlawed, these lives could have been
The thought of killing to most people is bone chilling and makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up. Abortion is unjustifiable murder because that fetus being done away with is a human being that deserves the right to live just like the people participating in the act. Abortion is an issue that should not be taken lightly because it is a termination of what could potentially become a human