What Does the Bible Say about Abortion?

Episode Outline:
0:00 What do the Old and New Testaments actually say about abortion and the beginning of life?
1:19 Bart and Megan on staying busy, enjoying the podcast, and first trips abroad to France, Italy, and Romania
5:54 Why this topic matters so much in modern politics and why the Bible gets invoked so often
7:20 Was abortion known and practiced in the ancient world?
8:57 The basic point: the Bible never explicitly talks about abortion as a debated legal or ethical issue
10:23 Conference promo: New Insights into the New Testament 2024 on Paul
13:45 Which Bible passages people usually cite in abortion debates, and why Bart thinks they are being misread
14:01 Jeremiah 1:5 and why “before I formed you in the womb I knew you” is not really about fetal personhood
16:27 Psalm 139 and why “you knit me together in my mother’s womb” is also metaphorical rather than a legal statement about abortion
18:30 Exodus 21: what happens if a pregnant woman is struck and miscarries?
20:59 Numbers 5 and the ordeal that appears to induce a miscarriage in a suspected adulteress
23:53 Why the Bible is not really “for abortion,” but also does not treat the fetus as a full human person in these laws
24:40 Genesis 2 and Adam’s first breath as a clue for when human life begins in biblical thought
26:17 Would biblical writers prioritize the pregnant woman’s life over that of the fetus?
27:24 Should modern abortion arguments be based on the Bible at all?
30:20 When Christians began condemning abortion, even though the Bible itself does not
31:36 Why early Christian opposition to abortion may have developed as part of moral competition with pagan critics
34:34 Weekly Update: Bart’s 2-part course When Does Life Begin? and what it covers in more depth
38:34 Listener Q&A: Paul and slavery in Philemon, Zoroastrianism and apocalypticism, rival apocalyptic prophets, and Old Testament manuscript ancestry
46:24 Final summary: the Bible does not call abortion murder, and its own assumptions about life beginning do not line up with many modern anti-abortion claims

Episode Description
The Bible is frequently invoked in the ongoing national debates about abortion, almost always to show that abortion is murder and strictly forbidden. Is that true? This episode is not meant to resolve the issue about whether abortion should ever be considered a legitimate procedure or not. The focus is on what the Bible actually says. Does it condemn abortion? Does it indicate that the fetus is to be considered a human with human rights, so that abortion constitutes murder? When, according to the Bible, does life begin. The overarching point of the episode is that those who cite the Bible in support of their social and political views should at least read what it says and be clear about what it means.

Also watch these episodes:
How to Weaponize the Bible
How to Weaponize the Bible

When Is a Christian Not A Christian?
When Is a Christian Not A Christian?

Paul and Jesus at Odds
Paul and Jesus at Odds

Megan asks Bart:

- When did you first go abroad?

- Why is this important?

- Let’s start with a pretty basic question - do we know if abortion was either permitted, or a regular occurance in the ancient world?

- Do either the old or new testaments actually say anything about abortion directly?

- What are some of the passages that people use to “show” that the bible is for or against abortion?

- Can you give us any other examples?

- When does the bible consider life to have begun?

- Are there other passages that talk about the start of life, and then a person is considered a person?

- Are there any passages used to argue in favor of abortion?

- Would you say that the biblical text prioritizes the life of a fetus, or that of a pregnant woman?

- Do you think it’s reasonable to use the bible to make any kind of argument in this debate?

- When do Christians start to condemn abortion?

- Do we know what prompted this shift in doctrine?