How should Christians feel about these tragic cases?

Rape and incest

Let’s start with the exceptions to rape and incest. There are two truths that should guide our thinking in this area.

An unborn baby, regardless of how he or she is conceived, is a person fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image from conception.

1. An unborn baby, regardless of how he or she is conceived, is a person fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image from conception.




2. We live in a broken, fallen world, and there are lasting consequences for innocent victims because of the evil of others.

Rape and incest are heinous sins with lasting consequences (and so is murder) – but a baby conceived that way is still a human being who has just been conceived. He or she does not cease to be a person because the father was a violent criminal. That baby’s life still matters, and while the rapist should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, the innocent baby does not deserve the death penalty because of the father’s sin. So do we have the right to kill someone?

The life of the mother

And when it comes to the mother’s life being in danger, once again we live in a broken, groaning world, and on rare occasions this happens when a mother’s life is in immediate danger and both mother and child cannot be saved (again, this is very rare). Even in such cases there are biblical principles that can guide us.

1. Both mother and baby are human beings made in God’s image and of infinite worth.




2. We live in a fallen world and tragedies happen.

It is disgusting to use rare, medically necessary, and terribly tragic circumstances to justify abortion on demand.

In these extreme cases, doctors and parents must make heartbreaking decisions, but such decisions are very different from elective abortions and are generally not even in the same category (for example, when an early delivery can be attempted instead of a violent abortion procedure). It is disgusting to use rare, medically necessary, and terribly tragic circumstances to justify abortion on demand.

This must be said

With the election looming next week, abortion has been in the news more and more, and while many Christians understand the evil of abortion, they struggle with the “exceptions.” I recently filmed a short video giving my answer. I encourage you to watch and share.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

This item was written with the help of AiG’s research team.