21:22
If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief
follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he
shall pay as the judges determine.
21:23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life
(So the miscarriage caused by the man isn't "mischief." It's only worth a fine, according to the Bible.)
This was to exhort men not to fight too near a woman. It was about injury to the woman. There were also the related penalties of a woman grabbing the genitals of men fighting with one another. It was simply something they did not want to encourage.
The bible says nothing about abortion other than to exhort people to rip the the fruit out of the womb--you've read it--that sort of thing. As this verse places no value upon the life of the fetus, the anti-choice crowd have tried to take advantage of the technical ambiguity in the text. However, as this link makes only too obvious--such efforts are feckless, and easily reduced to vapor.
"This new interpretation suffers from three drawbacks. First, the Jews, who know their own tradition best, have always accepted the first interpretation. Second, the laws of surrounding cultures (Assyrians, Hittites, Sumerians, Babylonians, Hammurapi and Eshnunna) were similar to Israel's, due to widespread copying of laws. There is no ambiguity in their laws; any harm caused clearly refers to the mother. Finally, miscarriages in ancient times almost always resulted in stillbirths; saving premature babies is an achievement of modern science."
wiccanhistorian.home.att.net
Here are some of the joyful thoughts the bible has for woman and their children--be the woman pregnant or not...just for some perspective:
Numbers 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones.
Deuteronomy 2:34 utterly destroyed the men and the women and the little ones.
Deuteronomy 28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters.
I Samuel 15:3 slay both man and woman, infant and suckling.
2 Kings 8:12 dash their children, and rip up their women with child.
2 Kings 15:16 all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.
Isaiah 13:16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished.
Isaiah 13:18 They shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.
Lamentations 2:20 Shall the women eat their fruit, and children.
Ezekiel 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children.
Hosea 9:14 give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
Hosea 13:16 their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
ffrf.org
"The teachings and contradictions of the bible show that antiabortionists do not have a "scriptural base" for their claim that their deity is "pro-life." Spontaneous abortions occur far more often than medical abortions. Gynecology textbooks conservatively cite a 15% miscarriage rate, with one medical study finding a spontaneous abortion rate of almost 90% in very early pregnancy. That would make a deity in charge of nature the greatest abortionist in history!"
Ironic, isn't it?
"In our modern era of miracle medicine only 60% of all premature births survive. Three thousand years ago, when this passage was written, they did not have modern technology to keep a preemie alive. In fact, at that time, more than half of all live births died BEFORE THEIR FIRST BIRTHDAY (CAPS MINE). In a world like that, a premature birth was a death sentence.
elroy.net
All in all, the last place one ought to look for anti-abortion support is in the bible. The bible cheapens and denigrates ALL life further than any book probably ever written. Fortunately, we can ignore such primitive and meaningless ugliness, and focus our attentions on the values we place upon human life--and also on the values we place upon potential humans. As we may no longer look to the cruel tyranny of the alpha male to determine our behaviour through fear--we must now rely on our reason and on our natural empathy toward the life that struggles alongside of us.
It is so sad that people not having an abortion will accuse and torment the poor soul making that difficult choice--which is hers alone to make, while when God aborts a wanted baby, do they have anything to say to Him? Do they say "child killer--that baby was human?" NO. Even though almost all babies are aborted by God--they say nothing... |
