I wouldn't go so far as to say that the Bible is pro-choice (at least not for women) but it turns out that it is explicitly against the proposition that life begins at conception. Exodus 21:22 says:
“If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman so that she miscarries but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined ..."
So killing a fetus should be punishable by nothing more than a fine.
That should be game, set and match in the debate over whether abortion is murder, but of course it won't be because religion is not about truth, it's about feeling good, so as long as fighting for "innocent unborn children" feels good, no amount of logic nor the Word of God will deter the anti-choicers from their fix.
I am with you on this but that section in the bible also says,"If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do."
ReplyDeleteThe phrase "so that she miscarries" is not the meaning of the original hebrew, which connote a still-living child being brought forth prematurely. If either the monther or child is harmed in the struggle, the eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth rule applies. No discount for the unborn.
ReplyDeleteSee: http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5700
Sorry, Thomas, but "miscarriage" is the meaning of the original. I'm a native Hebrew speaker. The words literally mean "if the child comes out of her" and it is clear form the context that it means miscarriage. Back in the days before neonatal intensive care units the survival rate of premature babies was essentially zero. This is absolutely uncontroversial among Hebrew speakers, and it is one of the reasons abortion is legal in Israel.
ReplyDelete