Rhoda Kadalie argues that the anti-abortion arguments=20 of Christian fundamentalists are biblically unsound
THE march to Parliament in the last week of May was not=20 only to protest against the exclusion of the words=20 ”Almighty God” in the final Constitution, and the=20 liberalisation of the Constitution with regard to=20 abortion, pornography and prostitution — it also=20 signalled a realignment of right-wing politics and=20 religious fundamentalism.
The anti-abortion submissions made to Parliament in May=20 have been equally disturbing. One of the leaders of=20 these groups, a highly dubious political figure with=20 links to the former regime’s anti-liberation war=20 machine on the border, is centrally involved in the=20 anti-abortion campaign, I suspect with international=20 right-wing financial support for the pro-life campaign.
We should be wary of this unholy alliance between=20 right-wing politics and Christian fundamentalism. I=20 wish to challenge their views, particularly with regard=20 to abortion from a Christian point of view. Their claim=20 that abortion is murder is avowedly anti-Christian and=20 I would like to point them to the Bible to illustrate=20 my point.
Consider Old Testament Law in the book of Exodus, 21:=20 22-24: ”If, when men come to blows, they hurt a woman=20 who is pregnant and she suffers a miscarriage, though=20 she does not die of it, the man responsible must pay=20 the compensation demanded of him by the woman’s master;=20 he shall hand it over after arbitration. But should she=20 die, you shall give life for life, eye for an eye,=20 tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”
In other words, according to Old Testament Law, if you=20 cause the death of a foetus, you merely pay a fine; if=20 you cause the death of a woman, you lose your own life.=20 In those days the foetus was not considered to be a=20
Equally ludicrous, if we accept the argument that life=20 begins at conception, then we have to accept that life=20 begins before conception in that the sperm and the ovum=20 are alive long before they get together at the moment=20 of fertilisation. If terminating life is murder, then=20 the anti-abortionists should argue that terminating the=20 life of an ovum or sperm is murder as well. An acorn is=20 not an oak; a seed is not a carrot; an embryo is not a=20 human being.
Nowhere in the Bible is the embryo or foetus given the=20 status of a human being. Personhood does not begin at=20 conception. Personhood begins when the baby takes its=20 first breath, that is, when God infuses the baby with a=20 soul. Genesis 2:7: ”And the Lord formed man out of the=20 dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the=20 breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Another assumption made by Christian anti-abortionists,=20 that God wants every foetus to grow into a person, is=20 biblically unsound. In Ecclesiastes 6:3, God compares=20 the rich man who has led an empty, foolish life with a=20 stillborn infant and says, ”I maintain that the=20 stillborn child is in better case than he”. Jesus said=20 of Judas, ”It would have been better for that man if he=20 had not been born”.
The other assumption held by anti-abortionists is that=20 God wants every conception to result in a child.=20 Between one half and two-thirds of fertilised eggs in=20 women fail to implant themselves in the uterus. They=20 are washed away unnoticed.
Why didn’t God speak out explicitly on the question of=20 abortion in the Bible? It wasn’t an issue in Biblical=20 times (neither was polio, but who would say that polio=20 vaccine is against the will of God?).
Anti-abortionists pretend to be motivated by reverence=20 for life. Their main motivation, I would argue, is=20 revenge. They want to see pregnant teenagers and women=20 suffer the consequences of their ”sin”.
When the mob wanted to stone the woman who had=20 committed adultery, Jesus said: ”He that is without sin=20 among you, let him cast the first stone” (John 8:17). I=20 cannot help but feel that if Jesus were here today he=20 would say to them: ”Let he who has no sperm cast the=20 first stone”!
Kadalie is gender equity officer at the University of=20 the Western Cape