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While the status of abortion has been accepted by many mainline and progressive Christian denominations, Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians have actively opposed both the legal right of a woman to undergo an abortion and its practice within the wider community.
This stance has been naturally at odds with any person who supports abortion. The reason why Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians have opposed abortion is because of their belief in the Bible as the unchanging, perfect and inspired "Word of God" (ie, God's words written down for people to understand), as well as the interpretive framework that is used to understand and apply it. Through this belief and process of interpretation, Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians have come to the conclusion that abortion is morally wrong. Indeed, most would argue that, in God's eyes, the termination of a human embryo - whether in pregnancy or artificially fertilised outside the human body - is murder.
The Bible and Hermeneutics
Evangelicals generally believe in both the divine inspiration of the Bible (the idea that in the Bible, the Christian God clearly speaks) and the fact that it was written by people who were writing in a specific way. The Bible is therefore both a divine and a human document, with God (as the Holy Spirit) supervising his direct work through the people who wrote it. It is because of this divine supervision that any errors in fact or thinking are not present in the Biblical text. Both Evangelicals and Fundamentalists hold to the belief that the Bible is the perfect, "Spirit-breathed", words of God to all who read it.
Classic evangelical Biblical interpretation (Christian Hermeneutics) holds also to the idea that the Biblical text should be interpreted via the Historical-Grammatical method of interpretation. Put simply, this method of interpretation seeks to understand the human genre of the text and place it in its historical context. "Reading it the way the author intended it to be read" is one way of explaining this.
The result of this dual interpretive structure - that the author of the Bible is ultimately God / The Bible should be read like any other text - is that certain passages, when understood in this light, result in a belief and attitude that abortion is morally wrong.
Thus any attempt by non-Evangelicals to argue that "the Bible is no longer relevant", or that "the Bible doesn't have to be interpreted that way" runs into problems at a very basic level. Modern philosophical bases for textual criticism, including Deconstructionism and Postmodernism, are generally not held by these Christians.
It needs to be pointed out, however, that this interpretive basis is quite often forgotten in other areas of Christian theology and morality, for an example of this, go here
See also:
Relevant Biblical passages
The practice of abortion is not mentioned explicitly in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. For the evangelical, however, enough Biblical material exists to believe strongly that abortion could be classified as murder.
Psalm 139:13-16
These four verses are perhaps the most quoted part of the Bible when dealing with Abortion. In these verses, the Psalmist speaks of God creating the Psalmist's foetus in the womb of his mother. The language the Psalmist uses indicates clearly that an unborn foetus is considered to be a human being.
Evangelicals would argue strongly that if God sees an unborn foetus as a human being, then any termination would result in the death of a human being. Because this death was deliberate and indiscriminate, the argument would then focus upon Abortion as a form of murder.
It could be pointed out that God only recognised the Psalmist as a human being while he was still a foetus, and that making the correlation that God therefore sees all foetuses as human as being a logical fallacy. This can be countered by the argument that such a belief is not present anywhere else in scripture, and that other verses support the original assertion.
Jeremiah 1:5
God speaks to Jeremiah and says that he "knew" Jeremiah not only before he was born, but before he was even conceived. This verse, although specific to Jeremiah, indicates that God recognised Jeremiah as human before birth. This verse supports the argument outlined in Psalm 139:13-16 above.
Luke 1:41 and 2:12
The Greek word for baby, brephos (βρεψος), is used interchangeably for both the unborn foetus and a newborn baby in these two verses. In 1:41 it is used to describe the unborn foetus, while in 2:12 it is used to describe a newborn.
The evangelical argument against abortion is strongly supported by the two different uses of brephos. It indicates that the unborn foetus is synonymous with a newborn - not in development, but in terms of its value.
Psalm 137:9
No argument for or against abortion should ignore these verses because they appear to undermine the evangelical case severely. Indeed, they are so shocking that many churches refuse to read them out in public.
The Psalm itself is a lament of the people of Judah after they had been exiled by the Babylonian empire. The first line ("By the Rivers of Babylon") was used by Boney M in their 1978 hit of the same name.
It is the last line, however, that is problematic. The anger of the psalmist towards his Babylonian captors leads him to say "Blessed are those who take your (the Babylonians) children and smash them against the rocks".
Non-evangelicals (particularly those from a pro-choice viewpoint) could argue that the content of this verse is so horrific that it undermines the Bible's divine inspiration and proves that it is a document that cannot be taken as a guide to modern ethics.
Evangelicals would counter this by pointing out that other instances of infanticide by God's people occurred regularly in the Old Testament Biblical narrative as part of God's judgement towards those who oppose both God and his chosen people. Execution and murder are, for the Evangelical Christian, separate things - the former is an act of justice while the latter is a criminal act.
Moreover, many Evangelicals from a Reformed perspective would point out that, despite their helplessness, original sin infects infants too. That God would choose to end a rebellious sinner's life as an infant rather than as an adult is essentially God's prerogative.
Evangelical teaching on specific situations
In all the following situations, the basic assumption that Evangelicals make is that the foetus is a human being.
The inability of the mother to care for the child
Many women become pregnant without the ability to care for the child when it is born. This may be due to their physical or psychological state, or simply due to their socioeconomic background. Many women are counselled to have an abortion because of this fear.
Evangelicals would argue that the life of the baby should not be ended simply because the woman cannot cope with looking after it. Their argument would be that the woman in question be cared for during pregnancy, and that she be supported in every way to ensure that she is able to care for them in her own way. Alternatively, the baby could then be given up for adoption.
Pregnancy as a result of rape
This issue is much more difficult ethically because the woman is doubly a victim. The argument given by the Pro-choice movement is that the foetus should be aborted because of the damage already inflicted upon the woman, who did not choose to engage in sexual activity.
Evangelicals would counter that while it is not the woman's fault, neither is it the fault of the unborn child. While rape is a terrible crime, so is murder. The evangelical would then argue that the pregnancy be taken the full term and the baby given out for adoption if the mother does not want it.
Pregnancy as a result of incest
Similar to rape (above), this situation is problematic because of the genetic problems that are caused by incestual pregnancy. Yet Evangelicals would still argue that the pregnancy be brought to full term because it is a human being.
Severe physical and/or intellectual disability
Foetal abnormalities can often be picked up early in a pregnancy, and severe physical and/or intellectual disabilites may result if it is brought to full term. The option many women have is to abort the foetus early to prevent the child from suffering.
The logic of this action is similar to Euthanasia in that it seeks to prevent potential future suffering. Evangelicals reject this notion, and would argue that mercy killings are nowhere sanctioned in the Bible. In this case, the foetus should not be aborted and the parents supported as they bring up a child in difficult circumstances.
Social stigma
In many cultures (including parts of western culture), pregnancy outside of marriage is a social stigma that can bring great shame and embarrassment upon the woman.
Evangelicals point out, however, that such shame and embarrassment is cultural, while the human value of the foetus is objective and divinely determined. The woman must therefore continue her pregnancy despite the stigma that she feels.
Ectopic Pregnancies
This is one area where the vast majority of evangelicals would agree that termination is the only option. An Ectopic pregnancy will inevitably result in the death of the mother unless the foetus is terminated and removed.
In terms of theology, Evangelicals will point out that, while the foetus is not intentionally endangering the woman's life, it has nevertheless lost its right to life because of the danger it has put its mother in.
Other pregnancies in which the mother will clearly die unless the foetus is terminated fits into this category.
In vitro fertilisation
Evangelicals are not fully opposed to IVF but many are suspicious of problems that may result from it - namely the potential death of many embryos as the woman and her partner attempt to get pregnant.
Human Cloning
Evangelicals are generally opposed to human cloning because it may result in the manipulation and subsequent death of an embryo. If cloning does not result in the death of any human embryos, Evangelicals may support it.
Stem Cell Research
Because stem cell research often uses human embryos, and will almost always result in their death, evangelicals are opposed to it. Stem cell research that does not use human embyros is more likely to be supported by evangelicals
The influence of Christian Reconstructionism
Main article: Christian Reconstructionism
Within the evangelical church today there is a movement that believes that God's laws (revealed in the Bible) are not only for God's people (the church), but are also applicable for all people, including "unbelievers".
This movement has been very influential in convincing many Evangelical leaders (including James Dobson among others), that Christian laws and belief have to be put into governmental legislation. As a result of this, the Christian Right has many moral objectives that it is trying to impose upon the rest of society. Abortion is, naturally, one of those issues.
The result of this movement is that many evangelicals not only believe that Abortion is wrong, but will actively work to remove any law that allows it. It therefore stands as a rallying point for many evangelicals, as well as a standard by which to judge politicians and political parties.
It needs to be pointed out, however, that Christian Reconstructionism is rejected by a significant minority of evangelicals. This minority would argue that, while all sin is wrong, the church is only responsible for its own people. When it comes to abortion, the evangelical church should naturally enforce its beliefs on its members, but those outside the church and in general society - "unbelievers" - cannot have God's laws imposed upon them, including prohibiting abortion. This argument is backed up by the idea that "unbelievers" cannot obey God's laws because they have been enslaved by their sinful natures.
The solution, according to this minority, is not to impose God's laws on unbelievers, but preach the Gospel to them in the belief that God will use the message to bring them into his kingdom and become part of the church. Once they have become "believers", then they become subject to God's laws.
This idea is backed up by 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, where Paul excoriates the Corinthian church for allowing sexual adultery to go unhindered in their midst. He commands them to expel the offending church member and to have nothing to do with sexually immoral people. But Paul then goes on to point out that such a command only applies to sexually immoral people within the church, not in society generally. In verse 12-13, Paul concludes by pointing out that God judges those outside the church, while (the church) should judge those inside.
The influence of Neoliberalism on evangelical thinking
The link between conservative Christian faith and market economics has been around ever since the Cold War, where the "Atheist commies" supposedly sought to destroy freedom around the world.
It is due to this link that Evangelicals have generally embraced Neoliberal economic thinking. As a result, while many Evangelicals vote for political parties that fit their ethical framework, they are also voting for parties that promote smaller government spending and more personal freedom.
Pro-choice advocates argue that while evangelicals oppose abortion, they do not support any state-sponsored welfare spending either. This is important, because there appears to be evidence to show that nations which have permissive abortion laws as well as generous welfare spending actually have less abortions per capita.
In practice, while evangelicals may argue that a woman who is pregnant due to rape should not terminate the foetus but be supported to look after the child, the fact is that many evangelicals support a political and economic system that prevents this support from taking place.
Many evangelicals assume that neoliberal economic policies are actually part of the Christian faith. Raising taxes and spending them on sex education and supporting single mothers could ensure that a "safety net" exists that helps prevent women from having abortions in the first place.
It could be argued that evangelicals, by aligning themselves with political parties that espouse neoliberal economics, actually cause more abortions to occur simply because of the lack of state support that many argue women need.
The Apostle Paul commanded the church to pay taxes and be submissive to the authorities (Romans 13:1-7), even though the authorities he was referring to was the corrupt militaristic, pagan dictatorship of the Roman Empire.
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