Examining the Pro-Choice Claim

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

Various Texts

Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

CASE #1: EXODUS 21:22-25

Exodus 21 = Lex Talionis, Lt. “The Law of Retaliation”

v.22 – “When men fight together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.”

vs.23-25 – “But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

Freedom from Religion Foundation

Psalm 139:16 – “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

CASE #2: NUMBERS 5:11-31

vs.11-15 – “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the people of Israel, If any man’s wife goes astray and breaks faith with him, 13 if a man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act, 14 and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her.”

Leviticus 20:10

vs.16-17 – “And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the LORD. 17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.”

vs.19-22 – “Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20 But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, 21 then (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. 22 May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’”

v.22 (NIV) – “May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”

“The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure an abortion, nor destroy a newborn child.” (Didache 2:1-2, first century)

“You shall not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shall you destroy it after it is born.” (The Letter of Barnabas, AD 70-132)

“In our case, a murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from the other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed.” (Apology 9:8, AD 197)

See also: Athenogoras, Hippolytus, Basil the Great, Jerome, John Chrysostom, the Apostolic Constitutions

Jeremiah 1:5 – “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.”