Does not Exodus 21:22-23 teach that God considers abortion to be of no consequence, that it is all right for people to unintentionally or intentionally perform an abortion on a woman?
Here is what Exodus 21:22-24 says:
"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. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."—Exodus 21:22-24.
Some people say that the Bible teaches that if a man kills another man, he is to be slain; but that if he kills a fetus [unborn child], he has done nothing noteworthy and will only receive a small fine.
Here is the truth of the matter:
(1) If a man accidentally slays another (manslaughter), he can flee for refuge so that he can be protected from being killed: Ex 21:13, 28-32; Num 35:11-15, 22-28, 32; Deut 4:41-43; 19:1-10; Josh 20:1-9.
(2) If a man intentionally slays another person (murder), then he should die for what he has done: Gen 4:9-12; 49:7; Ex 20:13; Deut 5:17; Rom 13:9; Ex 21:29-32; Num 35:16-22, 30-31; Deut 17:6; 21:1-9. Many more Scriptural passages could be cited.
(3) Exodus 21:22-23 teaches that if a man accidentally injures a woman so that her child is born prematurely, then that man must pay a fine which will be determined by the judges. (Fines are paid as a "ransom for his life" (Ex 21:30), and this indicates how serious the matter is. Just because he is fined does not mean that the event was of little consequence.)
(4) Exodus 21:22-23 also teaches that if "any mischief follow," then a more severe penalty must be meted out. What is the "mischief?" It is injury or death to the infant or to the mother. And what is the penalty? It is clearly stated in verses 23 and 24: "And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life. Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."—Exodus 21:23-24.
(5) Thus, if a man accidentally causes a premature birth, then he shall pay a fine; but if it then results in crippling, or death, the man is to receive in kind. And we are here only speaking about accidental abortions.
(6) Although the concepts of accidental manslaughter and premeditated (preplanned) murder are both in the Bible (see "1" and "2," above), and the concept of accidental, unexpected and unplanned abortion of a baby is given once in the Bible (Ex 21:22-24),—yet the concept of intentional, preplanned abortion is to be found nowhere in the Holy Scriptures. The very idea of intentionally killing an unborn child—or even worse, killing them by the hundreds and thousands,—is totally foreign to the lives of God's people in the Bible, and so it is never mentioned. Some events are so terrible that they go beyond the simple accidental slaying of a person, or even the premeditated slaying of a human. Such is the case of modern on-demand abortion as requested by mothers and as carried out by certain physicians, hospitals and clinics.
This need not be surprising. Some crimes are so serious that they are mentioned in Scripture as occurring, but no penalty is described. They are obviously so terrible that they would receive the only sentence ever commanded in Scripture for premeditated murder: Death by stoning. An example would be cannibalism. It is an extreme form of preplanned murder, and the penalty would, of course, be a sentence of death. (Lev 26:29; Deut 28:53-57; 2 Kg 6:28-29; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; 4:10; Ezek 5:10.) But as you will see from an examination of those Scriptures, only the event is mentioned, no penalty is affixed. Such a terrible crime would obviously receive the death sentence.
We know from the Bible that any sin can be forgiven. David prearranged the death of a trusting helper who was one of his closest friends (2 Samuel 11). And David pled for forgiveness and received it (Psalm 51). So also may anyone reading this article who has earlier committed an abortion or permitted it to be done, can now seek God and ask for and receive forgiveness. But do not imagine that you can receive forgiveness if you accept abortion as morally right, acceptable, or something you may encourage others to do. Great evils must be abhorred and put away. There is no other recourse in regard to sin. It must be fled from. We cannot dally with it; we cannot toy with it; we cannot consider the suggestions of those who would recommend approval of it.
The truth is that, as we would apply the words today, Exodus 21:22-23 is referring to a miscarriage as a result of an accident; it is not speaking about an intentional abortion.
The advocates of abortion teach that the Bible does not forbid modern abortion operations. That is correct. But neither does the Bible forbid smoking, heroine, LSD, and a number of other modern immoral acts. But the principles are there, nonetheless.
The advocates of abortion also teach that Exodus 21:22-24 teaches that a man only has to pay a fine if he aborts a child and it dies.
But
(1) a fine, or something very severe (to be determined by the judges) had to be done, for, Scripture says, "he shall be sorely punished." (Ex 21:22.) So whatever this fine or punishment may have been, it was considered very serious. Neither mothers who request abortions, nor their physicians who do it, are paying fines today for what they are doing to the unborn children.
(2) The fine was only paid if the child was born alive prematurely. For then the woman's "fruit" came out of (departed from) her "and yet no mischief" followed (read Exodus 21:22). The "mischief" would be injury or death to the child or to the mother.
(3) The result is a very serious punishment. It is stated in verses 23 and 24. "life for life, . . wound for wound," etc. And that is serious punishment.
(4) The above was for accidental abortion, not intentional abortion. Such would be premeditated murder.
Here is what C. Everett Koop, M.D., former U.S. Surgeon General, says about the matter. He was surgeon-in-chief of Children's Hospital, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has authored books on the topic of abortion:
"I have spent thirty-six years in the practice of pediatric surgery, longer than anybody else now practicing in this country..
"Some raise Exodus 27 as a proof text that God doesn't regard the unborn child in the same way as He does the newly born child. But if you read the text carefully, you will find it says that if a man in argument with another man accidentally strikes a woman and she has a premature birth, there is to be a fine. Nothing here is premeditated.
"But if any further mischief is done—and I take that to mean a deformity of the baby or the death of the baby—then the old law applies of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
"Francis Schaeffer [author of a number of books on abortion] checked the exegesis [meaning] of these verses with five Hebrew scholars and was convinced that God means just that, and in no way does He mean to downgrade the worth of the unborn child."—C. Everett Koop, M.D., as told to Dick Bohrer, "Deception-On-Demand," in Moody Monthly, May, 1980.
Here is what Heaven thinks of men who make a practice of killing people:
"Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbor secretly. Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person."—Deuteronomy 27:24.
"The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief."—Job 24:14. [Few people are as poor and needy as the unborn child.]
"When He [God] maketh inquisition for blood, He remembereth them: He forgetteth not the cry of the humble."—Psalm 9:12.
"The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent."—Psalm 10:2.
"Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men, in whose hands is mischief."—Psalm 26:9.
"The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him."—Psalm 37:32.
"Lord, how long shall the wicked triumph? . . They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless."—Psalm 94:3, 6.
"These . . things doth the Lord hate: . . A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood."—Proverbs 6:1617.
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