This is the first instalment of a series of articles on the ‘Sanctity of Human Life’.  This week’s article focuses on Abortion. Abortion is the removal of a fetus from a womb, thus terminating a pregnancy. 

An abortion may be spontaneous, in that a physical cause not intentionally contrived causes the fetus to be expelled from the womb.  

An abortion can be intentional in that a woman may decide to terminate a pregnancy. Abortion is as old as humanity itself. 

As an ethical issue, abortion has challenged the minds of Christians and ethicists, often polarising people, over the generations. 

What makes the issue even more difficult, is that there is no direct biblical reference to guide us in this discussion.

 We must base our approaches and decisions on a general understanding of Christian ethics. 

According to the Namibian newspaper of 13 December 2022, the Ministry of Health and Social Services said it had recorded 3 050 abortions between 2020-2021, which includes spontaneous, attempted, failed and other types of abortion. 

In 2020, the same ministry recorded 10 medically approved abortions and 24 in 2022. 

With that in mind, there are four possible positions that Christians may choose to adopt, depending on their ethical inclinations. 

These are:

An absolute no to abortion under any circumstance.

An absolute yes to abortion under all circumstances since it does not contradict Christian morality in any way.

A conditional yes which indicates being for abortion but only under certain conditions and acknowledging that in certain circumstances it should not be allowed. 

A conditional no which maintains a basic anti-abortion stance but acknowledges that there may be times when abortion must be permitted. 

In southern Africa, positions two and three do not attract much following. Christians in southern Africa either reject abortion completely as in the first position or reject it with the proviso that we can’t be absolute in our rejection of it.   

People who subscribe to positions two and three most likely believe that a fetus is not yet a human being. It is only a potential human being. 

Therefore, although abortion may not be desirable, it is not murder as others choose to believe. 

Those who support abortion often do so because they believe it is a woman’s choice that counts over and against what society may say. Therefore, they are said to be pro-choice. 

Those who argue for an absolute rejection of abortion do so on the basis that a fetus has human life. However, there is no agreement, even within this group, as to when the soul enters the foetus. 

Some believe it is at the moment of conception while others argue it is two weeks after fertilisation. 

The latter view holds that life begins 12 to 14 days after fertilisation of the egg by the sperm when the fertilised egg lodges itself in the womb of the mother, since not all fertilised eggs actually reach this point. 

Those who reject abortion absolutely also do so because of their theological position that human life is sacred. Christ came into the world so that we may live (JN 10:10) and be redeemed (JN 3:16). 

From this perspective abortion is contrary to the life process. 

The last position outlined above holds that, whereas abortion is always tragic and should be avoided, there are times when circumstances push us to do the very thing we abhor. 

We live in an imperfect world that has fallen short of the glory of God and needs redemption. We are not perfect as God is perfect, even though we may have the potential to be. For example, if a child of 10 or 11 is raped by her father and becomes pregnant, what shall we say? 

Do we say that the conceived fetus is a gift from God? 

Is the most loving action to let the child be born irrespective of the physical, psychological and social problems such a pregnancy entails for the child-mother? 

Another illustration is the pregnancy of a woman who is physically at risk so that it is certain that either the mother or the child or both will die in childbirth. 

Is the most loving action to risk both their lives to uphold a theological principle?

In the next edition, we explore the concerns about euthanasia. 

(Reverend Jan A Scholtz is the former Chairperson of //Kharas Regional Council and former !Nami#nus constituency councillor and is a holder of a Diploma in Theology, B-Theo (SA), a Diploma in Youth Work and Development from the University of Zambia (UNZA), a Diploma in Education III (KOK) BA (HED) from UNISA.