<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier">Twelve years ago I wrote this summary:</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>ABORTION AND THE BIBLE</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Does God forbid abortion? Many people think he does, but they merely cite poetry or theological speculation. God actually speaks about abortion in only two places in the Bible, and Jesus never mentioned it at all.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">1. ACCIDENTAL ABORTION</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">If a brawling man happens to strike a pregnant woman and causes a miscarriage, that is, an ABORTION, he must pay a fine to the expectant father. But if he injures the woman in any other way, he must be punished accordingly (Exodus 21:22-25).</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">2. INTENTIONAL ABORTION</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">If a man suspects that his wife has had inercourse with another man -- and possibly has become pregnant -- he shall take her to the tabernacle, where the priest will mix holy water with dust off the floor -- where animals are slaughtered for sacrifice -- and force the woman to drink it. If she is guilty, her womb will discharge and her uterus will drop. In other words, she will have had an ABORTION (Numbers 5:11-21).</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">In neither case does the LORD say that the fetus has a so-called "right to life." And in neither case does the LORD forbid abortion.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "> *****************************************************************************************************</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">How much is a person worth in the eyes of the LORD? It depends on the age and the sex of the person. A male of working age -- 20-60 years old -- is the most valuable, both older and younger males are worth less. Females are always worth less than males. But infants less than one month old are apparently not worth anything in the eyes of the LORD (Leviticus 27:1-7). So, obviously, persons not yet born have no value either. This view completely agrees with the citations above.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Ralph Nielsen<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></div><div><br></div></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier">Hi Wayne,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Courier; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier">It's not completely true that the Bible does not mention abortion. Here is a passage from my article on abortion (<a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/abortion.htm">www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/abortion.htm</a>):</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Courier; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier">Christian orthodoxy was profoundly influenced by the first Greek translation of the Torah, done by Hellenistic Jews living in Egypt in the Third Century B.C.E. This first Greek Bible, called the Septuagint and considered divinely inspired by some early church fathers, translates Exodus 21:22 in such a way as to make a clear distinction between an "unformed" fetus and one "formed." The moral implication of the verse is that the accidental destruction of an unformed fetus was punishable by a fine, but any killing of a formed fetus required "a life for a life." The Jewish Halakhic tradition has a more different view of this verse in Hebrew: "Since the punishment is monetary rather than execution, the unborn fetus is not considered a living person and feticide is not murder."</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Courier; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier">For English Common Law the "formed" fetus was one that is sensate, and kicks and quickens in the womb. The Catholic Church allowed the abortions of unformed fetuses until 1917.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Courier; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier">If the conservative is one who preserves traditional views, then Roe v. Wade is a conservative position on abortion.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Courier; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier">Yours for a woman's right to choose.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier">Nick Gier</font></div><div><font face="Courier" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Courier"><br></font></div>
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