Aleck Bourne in 1938 made history in Britain by terminating the pregnancy of a 14-year old girl, a victim of rape, on compassionate grounds. Bourne was acquitted by the court when Mr. Justice Macnaughten ruled that the provision of the infant Life Preservation Act of 1929 that, no act shall be punishable when done in good faith with the intention of saving the life of the mother’. covered therapeutic abortion . For thirty years the legality of every therapeutic abortion conducted in British hospitals hung on that single legal precedent
After a flutter of attempted legislation, an act legalising abortion was eventually passed in England in 1967. After closely watching the working of this act, a similar law was passed in India in 1971.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (or MTP) Act of 1971. unlike the British one, did not provide a conscience clause for the benefit of those medical practitioners who were opposed to abortion on principle. In view of the various ethical issues involved in the practice of the Act, all who are interested in the ethical problems of the medical profession ought to review the issue in the light of the last five years’ experience.
So, this is an attempt to high- light the salient features required to form a Christian view on abortion.
Definition
By definition, abortion or termination of pregnancy is the expulsion of the products of conception before the 28th week of pregnancy. Spontaneous abortion, that occurs due to the inter- play of various natural factors, is not our concern here. We are concerned with induced abortion, brought about by external interference during pregnancy.
After 28 weeks, the fetus is considered to be capable of leading an independent life outside the mother’s womb. For this reason, termination of pregnancy after 28 weeks is termed premature delivery.
A clear distinction needs to be drawn between contraception, which is the prevention of conception, and abortion which is the destruction of the products of conception. Abortion is not an extension of contraception.
Background
In spite of aggressive birth control measures, population growth continued unchecked in India, and this was judged to have affected the socio-economic progress of the country
About 4 million induced abortions were performed every year before 1972, most of them done illegally by unqualified people There was a high morbidity and mortality pattern, The Government there- fore took remedial measures and the MTP Act was introduced.
This marked the revival of an era of ‘situation ethics’ in the practice of medicine in India
Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act
The MTP Act of India, 1971, allows termination of pregnancy up to the 20th week of pregnancy on a wide range of grounds, including danger to the life of the pregnant woman or injury to her physical or mental health, substantial risk that the child, if born, is likely to suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped, rape, and the result of contraceptive failure in the case of married woman,
When does life begin?
The Bible has no clear statement on when life begins and how it begins. Some passages such as Psalm 139: 13-16; Job 10:8-12, speak of God forming the child and His concern for the fetus. But since the Bible does not use modern scientific terminology, care must be taken not to attribute to biblical language greater scientific precision than the text naturally carries, So we must accept the truth of Ecclesiastes 11:5, “As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything”(RSV).
In the present state of our medical knowledge, conception or fertilization of the ovum by the sperm is generally accepted as the beginning of human life. At that time, the individual genetic constitution is established and the fertilized egg cell acquires all the potential of growing and developing into a human being. What happens in later months of pregnancy is only continuation and fuller expression of this beginning. This process continues after the birth of the child, until adulthood.
Although we cannot produce evidence to substantiate this claim we may accept that life begins at the time of fertilization, or very close to it. So, any
interference with pregnancy sought after the woman has missed her menstrual period should be considered as an attempt on life.
The idea that the soul is added to the body at some point in its prenatal development is not a biblical concept. Bruce K. Walke in his discussion on, “Reflections from the Old Testament on abortion”, argues that ‘the image of God”, referring to man’s spiritual, rational and moral nature, begins in the womb. the light of Acts 17: 26 he argues that the “Original life breathed into man is passed on seminally and is present at the time of conception” Also, he views man’s sinful nature as being capable of genetic transmission on the basis of Genesis 5:3 and Psalm 58:3. If sin enters at conception, then why not humanity or personhood? It is therefore preferable to recognise the personhood of the fetus from the earliest point of pregnancy rather than considering it to oriinate at a later date in pregnancy.
Value of human life
All human life is a gift of God, who is sovereign in the whole process from conception until the withdrawal of breath in death (Ps. 104: 29 30; Job 1:21). We believe that, by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible… all things were created by him and for him” (Col, 1:16). God’s order of creation and preservation is a divine action because for His “pleasure they are and were created ” (Rev. 4:11). So, any attempt to interfere with God’s plan of action and counsel is not within the limits of our freedom.
God’s predestined eternal plan for every child begins its expression at conception (Jer. 1:5). Parents should gladly accept stewardship of God’s gift as a solemn and sacred responsibility.
The greatest biblical injunction is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. This ethic of love requires us to take seriously our responsibility for the lives of others, including that of the unborn child. The growing fetus, whose personhood we have already discussed. enters into the orbit of our love and care. How can that tender being be cruelly assaulted by abortion? This is a violation of the supreme command of love.
The biblical view of the value of human life is that wilfully to take the life of another person is murder. This is clearly stated in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:13). The only biblical exceptions are capital punishment and some specific
war situations commanded by God. Abortion has been considered homicide since the first centuries of the Christian church.
Sanctity of life
The Bible affirms man’s uniqueness in his relationship to God – man is made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27). It is man’s ability to commune with his Creator that distinguishes him from other creatures. He also has the ability to know good and evil (Gen 2 17), Man is further distinguished by the fact that he is redeemable and his redemption will affect the rest of creation (Rom. 8122-24).
The Cross is the measure of every man’s worth in God’s sight, No one is dispensable, because the Good Shepherd laid down His life for all. Through his act of redemption on the cross He names those who respond to His love as ‘friends’ (Jn. 15.14) and appoints them ‘heirs and joint heirs’ with him (Rom. 8:17). A fetus who is potentially destined to all these privileges becomes a victim of careless human action. The fetus has done nothing to deserve death. Human intervention to terminate pregnancy is the substitution of man’s power for God’s authority. To deliberately seek to destroy what (or whom) He has begun to form is to invite God’s judgment.
Other objections to abortion
Those who enter into a sexual relationship must accept the responsibility and possibility of pregnancy. But if termination of pregnancy or other measures to escape the consequences of irresponsible behaviour are available, then sex may be sought more freely outside marriage. Christians must resist this tendency and discourage freedom without responsibility
Life and love are two attributes of God that are fundamental to His nature. Now of all the creation of God, only man reflects these two qualities, sincerely he can bring life into the world freely and love sincerely. The human sexual act is permeated with these qualities of life and love. So pregnancy, that comes about through sexual union, is a sacred event which should not be considered as “unwanted” under any circumstances.
Immorality, which is spreading in society today, has come about because society has condoned the consequences of misappropriation of freedom. Fear of the consequences is a healthy self-control measure, but in implementing the MTP Act we have offered a way of escape, The large numbers of unmarried and divorced women coming for termination of pregnancy indicates the decline of moral standards in our society.
-M.C. Mathew
