The Bible Does Not Support Abortion Bans
Despite what you may have been told, the Christian Bible cannot be used as a basis to oppose abortion at conception or heartbeat.
Here are some basic facts:
- In the Christian Bible, even considering the verses often quoted by abortion opponents—e.g., Psalms 139:13, Jeremiah 1:5, or Isaiah 44:24—a focus only on those verses ignores Genesis 2 and Ezekiel 37 which define life as beginning not with vessel (i.e., conception, heartbeat) but breath.
- There is no text explicitly prohibiting the termination of a pregnancy, even though it is a practice that has been in existence for centuries.
In Numbers 5 beginning with verse 11, an abortion is performed by a priest. - Exodus 21:22-25 demonstrates that ending a pregnancy does not violate “Thou shalt not murder.” Causing a miscarriage incurs a fine and is not subject to the ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ penalty.
- Jesus never contradicted the definition of life beginning at breath and never mentioned the termination of pregnancies in his teachings.
To download a copy of our fact sheet on the Bible and Abortion, click here.