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Laws, especially when made for moral reasons, should have unambiguous support in God's Word. But God's Word is far from unambiguous on this issue. The clearest passages addressing abortion (although the Bible uses other terms) all appear to lean toward it.

Job's Desire to Have Been Aborted

11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? 12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck? 13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, 14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves; 15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: 16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. 17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. (Job 3:11-17, KJV)

Solomon's Declaration

3 If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. 4 For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. 5 Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other. (Ecclesiastes 6:3-5, KJV)

David's Lament

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. 8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. 58:8 (Psalm 58:3,8, KJV)

Hosea's Prophecy

Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. (Hosea 13:16, KJV)

None of these passages declares that abortion is good; but none of them condemns it, either. In fact, they appear more favorable toward it overall. Given lack of clear condemnation for abortion, how can people push for legislation on the basis of their strongly held opinions, without respect for the right of others' individual conscience? Do we presume to think that it is a lesser evil to force others against their will, than to allow them to possibly make major mistakes with their free choice?

As Paul aptly states:

Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? (1 Corinthians 10:29, KJV)

On what basis, therefore, can the coercion of conscience be based, when the Bible seems so unclear on the issue?


Links to evidence that Evangelicals are pushing for abortion laws:

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Why are Evangelical Christians pushing to outlaw abortions without clear Biblical guidance on abortion?

I can find no sources that back up your statement that ”Evangelical Christians are pushing to outlaw abortions without clear Biblical guidance on abortion”.

Nor can I find any supportable references that this ”coercion of conscience be based, when the Bible seems so unclear on the issue”. Where is this coercion?

The Pew Research Center almost seems to imply the opposite, in the fact that most still favour legal abortion to be the norm.

More than four decades after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide, most Americans (57%) are supportive of legal abortion, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center Survey.

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By comparison, only 35% of those who are part of the mainline Protestant tradition say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, with 60% in support of keeping abortion legal. Members of the Episcopal Church (79%) and the United Church of Christ (72%) are especially likely to support legal abortion, while most members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the mainline Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (65%) also take this position.

Unitarian Universalists (90%) and American Jews (83%) in the 2014 survey were much more supportive of legal abortion than the general population. And most people who have no religious affiliation – particularly atheists and agnostics (87% each) – also support abortion rights.

Among those who do identify with a religion, the majority view about abortion among members of a particular group often mirrors that group’s official policy on abortion. This is the case with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church) and the Southern Baptist Convention – both churches oppose abortion, as do most members of those churches. And the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Unitarian Universalist Association, and Reform and Conservative Judaism, for example, all support abortion rights, in line with most of their adherents.- American religious groups vary widely in their views of abortion

The following question about the immorality of abortions is in fact quite closely related to this post, as it shows that there is at least some biblical references against the idea that abortion is a moral right: What is the biblical basis for the claim that abortion is immoral?

In the end there no support that Evangelical Christians are using some form of coercion of conscience in this domain. Coercion implies doing so by force:

the use of express or implied threats of violence or reprisal (as discharge from employment) or other intimidating behavior that puts a person in immediate fear of the consequences in order to compel that person to act against his or her will.

If someone can show me otherwise, I will modify this post.

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  • Is the right-most column in that chart showing the overall tendency of the group in question, e.g. Church of God leans/is "evangelical" whereas Anglican Church is "mainline"? If not, what is that right-side information telling us? ... And +1 for answering.
    – Biblasia
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 16:21

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