Is abortion absolutely wrong in God’s eyes?

Genesis 9:6“If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.”

Since human life is a reflection of God’s own image, it is held up in Scripture as profoundly precious, requiring our protection. This demands that we wrestle with the implications of abortion and the destruction of human life that comes with it.

Exodus 20:13“You must not murder.”

Exodus 21:22-25“Now suppose two men are fighting, and in the process they accidentally strike a pregnant woman so she gives birth prematurely. If no further injury results, the man who struck the woman must pay the amount of compensation the woman’s husband demands and the judges approve. But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

Psalm 139:13-16You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb . . . You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

The Bible states that murder—killing another person—is sin. In the abortion debate, the issue becomes this: Is the unborn child really a person yet? If the unborn child is a person, then aborting—killing—that child is murder. Exodus 21:22–25 strongly implies that an unborn child is a human life and that killing the unborn is murder. Murder ends a human life and cuts short that person’s potential. It puts into our hands authority over human life rather than leaving it in God’s hands. If you have had an abortion or encouraged someone to have one, don’t despair or turn away from God out of guilt. God’s amazing grace and mercy still comfort and restore us if we ask his forgiveness (1 John 1:9).