Abortion - A short note on the debate

The debate on abortion is hotting up these days in America. There are some states that are seeking to introduce much more restrictive legislation on abortion, while other places are going in the opposite direction. The debate is usually couched in terms of pro-choice v pro-life. The pro-choice side emphasise the importance of the woman's body, arguing that women must have the right to do what they want with their bodies. The pro-life side emphasise the right of the unborn child. This is entirely understandable, and I am amazed and appalled at the number of pro-choicers who seem to assign zero importance to the life that is within the womb, and which they seem to have  no qualms at all about ending. The pro-life position does emphasise the importance of the life within the womb, and the debate is often characterised as the woman's life vs the life within the womb. However, the complete Biblical position does not set one against the other, rather it does place immense value on the woman's body, and this fact rarely seems to be stated. So both the pro-choice and the Bible place importance on the woman's body, but they go about it in different ways. The pro-choice approach is quite happy to end the life that is within the womb, if that seems to be beneficial to the woman. The Biblical approach is very different. God's solution is that men and women are to respect their bodies, and the bodies (as well as the whole person) of each other. It also presents sex as being confined to marriage between one man and one woman. This isn't done out of the desire to restrict, so much as out of the desire to protect. If society adopted a more Biblical approach then there would be far fewer "unwanted pregnancies", but more importantly it fosters a much greater respect between men and women, both for themselves, and for each other. I believe we should place much greater emphasis on the positive aspect of God's teaching, for the gospel is a gospel of life, unlike the world which only has a message of death.

An excellent book has this message at its heart is "Love They Body" by Nancy Pearcey.