A news headline appeared on Yahoo.com on June 5, 2014 stating “Planned Parenthood: God Supports Abortion”. The headline linked to a story on dailycaller.com, which states, “Planned Parenthood recently posted a “Pastoral Letter” that explained that God
would champion women to terminate pregnancies because abortion is never mentioned in Christian or Jewish texts, reported the Christian Post.”
Could that really be true? Does God really support abortion? How can we know?
At Covenant Family Church, we believe that God wants us to know what He thinks and, yes, even feels about things we deal with in our daily lives. We believe that He has given us the Bible for this very reason, so that we can live in right relationship with God and others.
But the article said that abortion isn’t mentioned in any Christian or Jewish texts. That must include the Bible, right?
I can’t claim any knowledge of Jewish texts but I can confirm that the word “abortion” does not occur anywhere in the Bible. That 
doesn’t mean that we can’t know what God thinks about abortion, however. I liken it to simple arithmetic you learned in elementary school. Suppose I ask you to solve this problem: 3 + 1 = x. Do you say, “I can’t possibly solve that because I don’t know what x is”? Of course not. You take the information you have and figure out what you don’t know. So, what information do we have that would help us figure out God’s position on abortion?
WHAT WE KNOW
First of all, we know that Man is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). This statement is not made about any other creature – only Man. Like God, man is the only creature with the ability to envision something and then create it.
Secondly, God sees our entire life from the time we are in the womb. Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” It’s clear from this verse that God considers us living, human beings before we are born.
Finally, if we are Christians, we have the very presence of God living inside of us (Col. 1:27). 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that our bodies
are the “temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.” Even angels, who get to live in the presence of God, do not have the presence of God living in them. That is a privilege that is reserved for humans alone!
HOW DOES IT ALL ADD UP?
Let’s go back to our simple arithmetic problem. We know that: a) we are the masterpiece of all God’s creation – created in His very image; b) God sees and knows us AND our lives before we are born, and; c) it’s God’s intention that we be carriers of His very presence. Does this equal ‘God supports abortion’? No, it clearly does not!
The real point I want to leave you with isn’t just that God is not in favor of abortion, although, if you’ve been unsure about that, I hope this simple exercise has given you a solid answer. No, the real point is that we need to read and know the Bible for ourselves, both to help us know God himself – His nature and character – and to keep us from being deceived by those who try to twist His words. Sadly, in this world there is no shortage of people who will do that. It’s up to us to know the truth.
If you’re new to the Bible, don’t start with the most difficult questions, the “calculus”, to continue our math analogy. Start with simple arithmetic and go from there!
Finally, even more important than knowing the book of the Lord is to know the Lord of the book! If you’ve never been introduced to Jesus Christ, or have questions about how to have a relationship with Him, we would love to help you find those answers. Come and visit us!