A Philosophical Approach to Abortion
I do not think the bible has any verses that are clearly against abortion. However, I do think there is a philosophical case against abortion. There are two arguments that should incline a person to be against abortion. One reason is a simple pragmatic reason and the other reason is more complex.
The Pragmatic Case
The pragmatic example is from Calum Miller.[1] Assume the opponent is correct that we cannot establish whether or not the fetus is a person. It does not follow from this that one should be in favor of abortion. If there is an abandoned building about to be destroyed and it is known that homeless people sleep in the building, there is a duty to thoroughly check the building before destroying it.[2] Now, if it for some reason cannot be established if there is a person in there, then the right thing to do would be to wait until it can be established to a reasonable degree. By a reasonable degree, I merely mean that there is always some possibility a person could be wrong but if proper precautions were taken to full measure, then one would not be responsible if a person died. For example, if the there did a permitted check of every area and closed off every area after giving a thorough check, but it just so happens that a drunk person broke the caution tape and ignored the sirens warning the building is about to be destroyed, then it is no one fault but the drunk guy if he dies.
In the case of the fetus, the proponents for the permissibility of abortion must give a persuasive account on why we can conclusively think that the fetus is not a person. To the best of my knowledge, there is no such account. It is not even clear what such an account could look like. All this means is that normal ethical values show we should exercise pragmatic caution in these scenarios and pragmatic caution leads to the impermissibility of abortion.
The Abstract Case
In the above argument, we granted the opponent the claim that we do not know if the fetus is a person. In this following argument, I will attempt to establish to think the same morality that applies to a normal human adult should also apply to a fetus by borrowing and simplifying Alexander Pruss’ argument.[3]
I once was a fetus. If I was a fetus, then it is wrong to kill me as a fetus for the reasons it is wrong to kill me now. The reasons why a person gets an abortion are not valid reasons for killing a person. If this is all correct, then most abortions are immoral.
I once was a fetus is a strong claim. The reason we should believe this claim is because a fetus never died and a being which has never died, still exist. If this being still exists, then it must be somewhere, but I am the only thing it can be. (Note, that we are not calling the fetus a person or a human but a being. For clarification, God is one being, three persons and only one of those persons became human. A rudimentary way of understanding this is that a being is more fundamental than being a person or a human. Some thing can be a non-human person such as an angel, but angels are also beings.) Thus, the fetus is a being and I am that being.
The second premise still needs some support. Killing me now is wrong because it deprives me of the rest of my life. Exactly why this is not in need explanation for our purposes. It is clear that a major reason killing is wrong is the deprivation of life. If I was a fetus, killing me now or then would have the same victim. There is more loss of my life if killed when I was a fetus compared to now. Therefore, killing a fetus is just as wrong if not more wrong than killing me now. Thus, there is a philosophical case against abortion.
[1] https://calumsblog.com/2014/01/26/a-brief-case-against-abortion/
[2] Ibid.
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