Some people might think that the Bible does not have much to say about abortion because the word “abortion” does not appear anywhere in the Bible. However, abortion is clearly condemned in the Word of God.
Examining Key Bible Verses
A key verse on this subject is Exodus 20:13 (NKJV): “You shall not murder.” This was recorded when the Ten Commandments were given to Israel at Mount Sinai after God freed them from slavery in Egypt. In it, God declared that murder, all unjust taking of human life—including preborn human life—is sinful.
The very next chapter applies this command to preborn human life in Exodus 21:22-25. God told Old Testament Israel that capital punishment would be required for a man who injured a pregnant woman and caused her to have a miscarriage as a result.
Jeremiah 1:5: A testament to pre–born life
There are also the well-known, often-cited pro-life Bible verses. Jeremiah 1:5 (NKJV) records God’s words to Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in in the womb I knew you: Before you were born I sanctified you.” Here God tells Jeremiah that even before Jeremiah was born, God in His sovereign plan chose Jeremiah to be a prophet and to recount God’s Word to Israel.
Psalm 139:13: The sanctity of preborn life
David’s prayer to God in Psalm 139:13 (NKJV) says, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.” David does not say that God wove together some clumps of tissue that would become David inside his mother’s womb, but God Himself, formed David together in his mother’s womb. Jesse’s wife was pregnant with David, a living human being, not a clump of cells.
Psalm 51:5: An unplanned pregnancy
Psalm 51:5 (NKJV) reads, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” Some people have misunderstood this verse to mean that David’s mother committed some sort of sexual sin that resulted in David’s conception, that perhaps Jesse was not David’s biological father.
Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of repentance to God after he committed adultery with Bathsheba, is not what comes to many people’s minds when they think of pro-life Bible verses. However, perhaps the best verse in the Bible to argue that life begins at conception is in that Psalm.
Original Sin
David confessed that he was a sinner from the moment of conception. The theological term for this is called original sin, which was passed down from Adam to all of mankind. David was not an exception. He was a sinner just like us.
This is an important verse because only humans can be sinners and guilty before God. Animals, or mere clumps of cells, cannot. Therefore, if David was a sinner from the moment of conception, then he was a human from the moment of conception.
Conclusion
The Bible implicitly condemns abortion. By examining key texts, such as Exodus 20:13, Exodus 21:22-25, Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13, Psalm 51:5, and many others, there is a clear pro-life thread that runs throughout. While the term ‘abortion’ doesn’t appear, the message resonates strongly, advocating for the sanctity of human life, even from conception.
