Today we continue our series of bulletin articles looking at why abortion is wrong. My articles initially focused on the Biblical evidence against abortion. Then we saw that God’s people have usually understood abortion to be a sin, including first century Jews, early church fathers and Reformers. This week I want to begin to draw the series to a close by answering common reasons people give for why abortion is right.

Two of the most common reasons given for allowing abortion concern those children conceived through rape and incest. In such instances, it is seen to be compassionate to the mother to permit the abortion of the child. However such an argument implies that a child may live or die based on the circumstances by which it was conceived. In which case it would be right for a mother to order the death of any child in those circumstances, for example a child aged seven. Yet no one would kill a seven year old simply because of the fact that they were conceived through rape or incest. But this is what is being advocated. The only difference is that the child is much smaller, inside a womb, less developed and more dependent.

What I’m trying to make clear is that abortion for rape and incest is not a valid argument. The argument has not dealt with the question of when life begins, rather it has side-stepped the question and begun to seek an emotional response from the horror of the sins of rape and incest.

This is not to suggest that bringing a child to full term after such a conception wouldn’t involve considerable mental anguish for the mother. But mental anguish is not a reason to kill another person. In these circumstances the mother should be given all the compassionate care that may be offered, beginning with the teaching of the gospel, the sovereignty of God (such as Roman 8:28) and that children are always a precious gift from the Lord.

Therefore rape and incest are no reason to abort a child, such an abortion is still a sin. But is the abortion of a person an unforgivable sin? No. Through repentance of your sin and trust in Jesus’ death for your sins you can be forgiven for any sin, including the wrongful termination of another human.

Do you recognise abortion for rape and incest is still sinful?

Joel Radford.