The world of the ancient near east in which was Christianity was born was harsh towards children. Abortion and exposure were common practices, most often for economic reasons. Even so, the Church has always prophetically spoken regarding the value of every child. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that conception and birth are sacred events in the theology of the church.
The Gospel of Luke gives priority to the conception and the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. The story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth reveals the significance of infants in utero.
Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:39-42).
It is significant that John the Baptist, while a fetus in his mother’s womb, responded to the presence of the Christ child in the womb of Mary. Here Holy Scripture testifies to the ability of children in utero responding to external stimuli, in this case to the presence of the Holy Spirit. In other words, even in the womb the fetus formed in the image of God, can respond to the presence of God, and it is certain that God knows the fetus as fully human. The Greek word for “baby” is brephos. This is the word used by Luke in reference of the fetus/child Elizabeth carried in her womb. Luke used the same word in reference to the baby Jesus who was born and found laying in a manger (Luke 2:16). In other words, the inspired word brephos speaks to an unborn fetus and a born infant (BAGD). There is no distinction between the unborn fetus and the born baby. Both the unborn fetus and the born infant are fully human and deserved to be protected.
As the church expanded throughout the Greek and Roman world, the message of the gospel was consistently pro-life and pro-child. In possibly the earliest post-canonical Christian text, The Didache, the theology of the post-apostolic Church maintained fidelity with the ancient teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures: “Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not commit sodomy; thou shalt not commit fornication. . . thou shalt not procure abortion, nor commit infanticide” (Didache 2:2).
Regrettably, it sometimes becomes necessary for certain abortive procedures when life is endangered. For example, an ectopic pregnancy in which the embryo attaches outside the uterus. In such cases the death of the fetus is certain, the death of the mother is likely, and an abortive procedure may be necessary. These events are tragic. However, an abortion for the sake of social or economic convenience is a crime against humanity.
The apostle Paul has written that the highest form of idolatry is self-deification. We live in an age in which individual autonomy is the highest form of political freedom. The concept of individual autonomy has become the golden calf of the secular age. Abortion is child sacrifice before the idol of human autonomy. Christians must be reminded of the words of the apostle Paul: “Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? for you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
Hillary Clinton has said, “The unborn person does not have constitutional rights” (2016). Holy Scripture declares that all humans, male and female, are created in the image of God. The human body was created to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, a sacred place. Abortion is a violent act against a sacred place and a sacred being. Neither male nor female have absolute autonomy over their bodies. Our bodies belong to the Lord; and in the case of a woman carrying the human fetus, the body she carries also belongs to the Lord.