Matt asked a very good question, and once I finished my response, I thought it had turned into a blog post. So here it is.
Warning: graphic descriptions or partial birth abortion ahead. I'll indicate which paragraph to skip before you get to it, if you don't want to read it.
Matt asked:
"Recently I have been watching all seasons of "The West Wing" (I am in the last season). A recent episode focused on abortion, and one of the people said "there is no Biblical argument against abortion." (paraphrased) Granted, "The West Wing" is often called "The Left Wing" for a reason, but what is your argument against this? What is the Biblical argument against abortion (outside of "life is precious")?"
Firstly, I reject your premise: "outside of 'life is precious'." The fact that life is precious
IS enough. The fact that God has given us his own image
IS enough reason to abhor killing each other. But I know that's not what you meant, so I'll answer your real question.
And it's a very good question, actually. I have to admit that this argument is a little bit esoteric, but it is certainly Biblical.
Here's a great place to get an in-depth argument
from a Catholic priest. I may not agree with everything the Catholics believe, but they are definitely leading the charge in the Anti-Abortion movement.
Let's start with the fact that to produce offspring is a command from God. While contraception is a little bit more difficult to discern, killing a child that already exist is clearly in defiance of this commandment.
Secondly, the Psalmist tells us that God regards prenatal children as being the same as children who have been born. See in Psalm 139 that God already has a plan written for this child before he is even formed:
Psalm 139:13-16
For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.Here also, we see that the life of a child is valuable based on the punishment prescribed:
Exodus 21:22-25
"If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise."
The life of the
child shall be paid by the life of the
adult. Thus the two are equated, to some degree.
To be more esoteric, there is no significant difference between a prenatal child and a postnatal child. The only differences are: Size, Level of development, Environment, and Degree of dependency. Thus, we must argue that the life of anyone else who is smaller, less well developed, in a different environment, and more dependent should be subject to the whims of someone else, anyone else, in fact.
We cannot say that because the child is small, underdeveloped, inside of another person, and highly dependent that they are not a human.
So which humans get human rights, and which ones don't?
So which humans does God love and which ones does He not care about?
So the capricious killing of which humans is murder and of which others is abortion?
(the weak-stomached can skip this paragraph without missing much)
In fact, you can't even say that abortion is only of those children who are too young to survive after birth. Partial birth abortions are performed on children only 3 or 4 months before birth. THEY WOULD PROBABLY SURVIVE!!! In fact, this particular form of barbarism is entirely unconscionable. The mother's labor is induced, she goes through labor and birth, just like a normal birth, but once the child's head is out, the "doctor" stabs a needle into the back of the little baby's head a vacuums out his brains. The mother often feels the death throes of her little child as it's being killed.
This is butchery. This is absolute barbarism. Not to mention the brutal murder of a little baby, but how do you think it affects the mother to have felt her little one dying inside her? Of course, Planned Parenthood doesn't care. They rarely provide sufficient counseling or even warning about the psychological damage that any abortion, but especially partial-birth abortions cause to the mother.
In conclusion, abortion is a butcherous murder of innocent life which ought to be enough reason for even atheists to get up in arms about. But beyond that, the Bible doesn't use the word "abortion," but neither does it ever use the word "Trinity." The Bible teaches that killing people is wrong, and it teaches that all children are people, even the small, slimy, underdeveloped, needy ones.
