Is God Pro-Life?

The first time I heard of the concept of "abortion," I was about 10 or 11 years old. On the news that day was the 1989 Supreme Court decision restricting public funds and facilities from abortion providers. I asked my mom if she supported abortion. I only had a vague notion that abortions somehow involved babies and women. Due to the similarity of the words, maybe it was something like adoption? Mom emphatically stated that she was completely against abortion. I was shocked at her vehemence because it was so unlike my Mom to be wound up about something other than her favorite actor being killed off on "General Hospital."

My mother didn't go into any details about exactly what abortion was. Probably because we still hadn't had The Talk. All I knew was that abortion was bad. It was worse than when Jenny Gardner was blown up on a jet ski on "All My Children." It is safe to say that I became Pro-Life at that moment, even if I didn't know exactly what that meant.

Over the years and with understanding about abortion, I myself became vehement that abortions are wrong. No woman should ever voluntarily kill her child. I believe that life begins at conception and any willful act to terminate a pregnancy after that point is murder. Well... that was until today.

I have been reading and enjoying Slate's feature on Blogging the Bible. Mr. David Plotz has been reading the Bible cover to cover and blogging his impressions of the stories within. In his most recent entry, he noted that a reader pointed out to him an interesting law found in the book of Exodus. It reads:

"If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine."

- Exodus 21:22

Clearly, this law be interpreted two ways. One, that this isn't necessarily talking about a willful abortion. It could well refer to accidentally causing a miscarriage. Two, the verb "strive" does leave room for interpretation that it could mean either and maybe both. A legal abortion pretty well fits the description of the crime as given in this Biblical law.

God in the Old Testament wasn't no soft-on-crime pansy-ass. You do the crime, you do the time, or more likely... you die. Capital offenses in the Old Testament included violent crimes (murder, letting your cow run loose to trample your neighbors), involvement in the occult (sorcery, sacrificing to false gods) and sexual sins (rape, incest). Yes, back then... God would have run for office on a "tough on crime" platform.

Why would God only require a fine to be paid to the woman's husband if someone causes her to miscarry? Doesn't the Bible fight for the sanctity of life: woman's "fruit?" It seems to all come back to the old chestnut of the abortion debate, "When does life begin?" Interestingly enough, this is the very next sentence following Exodus 21:22:

"And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

- Exodus 21:23-25

It seems clear by reading these passages together that there is a hierarchy of value given to the life of an unborn child and the mother. Only if mischief happens to the woman, is it considered something that requires a "quid pro quo" punishment. The death of the child can be ameliorated with a fine.

God Himself created all life. He knows when life begins, and when it ends. God sees everything. Thus, it is very compelling to me to see His perspective on what is life. It seems clear to me that to Him, the woman's life is vastly more important than an unborn child's.

This doesn't change my personal feelings on abortion. I would never have one myself except in the case of a life-threatening pregnancy. But it really gives me something to think about in regards to whether legalized abortion is the grave sin that I believed it was all these years.

Does anyone know of any Bible passages that seem to contradict this one? (Specifically contradictary, something along the lines of "If you have an abortion, you will burn in Hell.")

Update: More fuel for the fire...

• What Does the Bible Say About Abortion? - Bible quotations relating to abortion and the death of unborn children
• Does the Bible Forbid Abortion? - Although the author clearly comes down on the "no it doesn't" side of the argument, I think he/she presented the debate pretty fairly.