Is Abortion Wrong?

Hot Topic – Week 4 – Is Abortion Wrong?

Genesis 1:26-31

August 21, 2022

There are a lot of Hot Topics in our news and media right now and one of them is abortion. While things have cooled down just a little bit since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, I can guarantee you that things will begin to heat up very soon again with midterm elections right around the corner and the Presidential elections not that far behind.

Just to give you a little history that I found on abortion. Originally, abortion was legal in the United States before what they called, “quickening”. “Quickening” was when the woman could first feel movement of the baby in the womb. This is generally around the fourth month of pregnancy.

According to the History Channel, regulations were first introduced in the 1820s and 30s mainly because of the drugs that were being sold for abortions were dangerous and fatal at times. Criminalization of abortion began to come around in the 1850s. The American Medical Association didn’t really have a medical reason it was really trying to eliminate the competition from midwives.

Others were also concerned that immigrants would have more babies that white protestant women and so they should not be able to abort their babies. 1869 saw the Catholic Church ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy and by the 1880s abortion was illegal in most of the United States.

By 1950 abortion was illegal in every state except when necessary to save the mother’s life. The feminist movement in the 1960s began to see some change in views of abortion and loosening of laws in some states. 1960s the Supreme Court ruled on some cases ruling that laws pertaining to restricting birth control violated the right to privacy and began to pave the way for Roe v. Wade. States also began to legalize abortion and at the time of Roe abortion was legal in Hawaii, Alaska, New York and Washington.

Thirty one states however still held abortion to be illegal with the only exception being to save the life of the mother. This was the case in the state of Texas where Roe v. Wade would originate. In 1970 attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of Jane McCorvey known as Jane Roe, and all other women, “who were or might become pregnant and want to consider all options.” The suit was filed against the District Attorney of Dallas County and it would eventually make its way to the Supreme Court. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision, struck down the Texas law opening the way to legalizing abortion nationwide.

Later states would begin to impose restrictions on abortion as the debate would rage on over the rights of the woman verses the rights of the unborn life. In 2022 the case Dobbs. V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization would make its way to the Supreme Court. Without getting too deep into this the right to make abortion decisions was returned back to the states so each state now makes its own laws when it comes to abortion. As you all know whether you applaud that decision or think it is appalling it for sure has caused a lot of ruckus around the United States.

With that said I get the privilege or challenge of talking about this subject this morning. Whichever side of the issue you are on I simply ask that we all listen to the Word of God with an open mind. We digest and wade through what it has to say. I also pray that as always we reserve judgment for God and not for us. If you agree or disagree with me this morning I don’t love you any more or any less. Together we wade through the Word of God and it challenges us in our everyday lives, together. Scripture is my truth and guide and so if you don’t believe in the words of scripture you might have a harder time with this today.

So let’s crack open our Bibles and keep them handy, I will also have various passages up on the screen as well. First this morning I want us to look at Genesis 1:26-31.

So nowhere in the Bible does it say, “Thou shall not have an abortion.” What I want to do this morning is to uncover what God thinks about his creation, when does scripture indicate that life begins and how does it all fit together with God’s law.

What we see here in Genesis that it is God that is the one that created man. All the way back in the beginning it was God that created male and female, Adam and Eve if you will. This was not just another creation of his however. This was a creation in his own image. Man(female) is special. Everything that God had made to this point had been good but this creation of male and female, no this was different.