ABORTION

https://twitter.com/RevDrBarber/status/1521588650584289280 

 If you don't have twitter, it's a tweet from the Reverend Dr. William Barber saying, "I’m so concerned about those who say so much about what God says so little while saying so little about what God says so much."

Today, I’d like to set the record straight about what the Bible says about abortion. I’ll tell you right now, it’s not much. Outside of some general blessings around women not having miscarriages and a passage in 2 Kings that discusses how an area of land is bad because its water supply causes women to miscarry (which are not even abortions!) there are two. And even these are rarely translated as abortions, although I’d argue that’s what they are.

The first is Exodus 21:22: When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage but no other injury occurs, then the guilty party will be fined what the woman’s husband demands, as negotiated with the judges. (CEB) The word is translated miscarriage, but in this situation, it’s an abortion. Not on purpose, of course, but an abortion nonetheless.

The important thing about this passage is the fact that the penalty for this miscarriage is not the same as if a man – or even a woman were to be killed by accident. That was addressed in verse 12-13: Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death. If it was not premeditated but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee.

To recap: according to Exodus, if a person is killed by accident, the killer must flee to a safe place. If a fetus is killed by accident, there is a fine. Clearly, they judged an unborn fetus to be not worth the same as a person.

The other passage is Numbers 5:21: then the priest must make the woman utter the curse and say to the woman, “May the Lord make you a curse and a harmful pledge among your people, when the Lord induces a miscarriage and your womb discharges.” This is the test for a woman accused of adultery. The priest makes a special concoction, which includes dust/dirt from the floor of the temple (ew), for the woman to drink. If she is guilty and happens to be pregnant, she will miscarry. Again, this is clearly an abortion. The actual phrase discusses her thigh shriveling up and her womb distending. This makes no sense until you learn that the word thigh is often used for genitals in the OT. So, there is some question about whether the woman becomes infertile or merely loses the pregnancy and is sick.

That’s it. Those are the only two places where the OT talks about what might be considered abortion. One of them is a test/punishment ordained by God, while the other makes it clear that an unborn fetus is not yet a person.

The draft ruling by Alito is horrible for many reasons. The Pro-Life movement are mostly horrible - I say mostly because there are some who take the label seriously - because they do not support any kind of legislation to take care of children once they're born to poor or single mothers. They are not worried about children - it's all propaganda and fearmongering. This is what our country has come to.

May God forgive us.

B