Abortion

ABORTION

Non-Christian History (Pre 100’s)

“I will not give a woman a pessary to produce and abortion” (Hippocratic Oath)
Ill-conceived embryo’s should be aborted (Plato & Aristotle)
“The law has commanded to raise all children and prohibited women from aborting or destroying seed; a woman who does so shall be judged a murderess” (Josephus)

Early Christian History (Pre 300’s)

“You shall not kill the child by obtaining an abortion” (Barnabas)
“You shall not murder a child by abortion” (Didache)
“We say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder” (Athenagoras)
“Murder is once for all forbidden. Therefore, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb…to hinder a birth is merely a speedier way to kill a human” (Tertullian)
“Are you to dissolve a conception by aid of drugs? I believe it is no more lawful to hurt a child in process of birth, than to hurt one who is already born” (Tertullian)
“Some women who, by drinking medical preparations, extinguish the source of the future man in their very bowels. So they commit murder before they bring forth” (Mark Felix)

Statistics
Approximately 46 million abortions are performed worldwide every year
26 million in places where abortion is legal
20 million in places where abortion is illegal
The world ratio is 26 induced abortions per 100 known pregnancies
88% of abortions were conducted at or prior to 12 weeks

Scriptural Argument Against…

It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3)
From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God (Psalm 22:9-10).
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13-16).
He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you...(Isaiah 44:2).
The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:4-5).
You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13).
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked (Psalm 82:3-4).
If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. (Exodus 21:22-25)

Medical Argument Against…

An embryo is genetically distinct from its mother at conception
A heart is formed by the 18th day in the womb
Brainwave activity is detectable by the 40th day

Legal Argument Against…

Roe v. Wade violated standard legal reasoning
--Tabled the question of when life begins
--Failed to error on the side of life
--Went against the religious majority
--Went against the Hippocratic Oath
--Went against the Declaration of Geneva (‘From the moment of conception’)
--Went against the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of a Child (‘Before as well as after birth’)

Philosophical Argument Against…

“Every woman has the right to control her own body”

1. "every woman" (what about the aborted females?)
2. "has the right" (we actually do NOT have free reign over our bodies)
3. "to control" (the 'control' is displayed in whether or not we have sexual intercourse)
4. "her own body" (God is the owner, but even if He weren't, what about the babies body?)