|
Getting Abortion banned is not a thing one fights for in the Democratic party - although folks on both sides of the issue are in the Democratic party. Just for reference, below are some Bible facts the "pro-choice" folks of faith sometimes reference. The Bible references used by the anti-choice folks can and do fill books. But someone asked "what is quickening" so this post is provided to give some background info. peace :-)
On the pro-choice side:
Early on the RC church rule allowed that abortion was to be considered murder only if performed after the soul became rational or "animated." Initially, the time for animation was set at forty days after conception for a male fetus, and eighty or ninety days after conception for a female fetus. (There was no explanation how the sex of the fetus would be determined.) Later the Council at Vienne in 1312 stated that abortion was acceptable to Canonical Law as long as the fetus did not look human (this based on Genesis 9:6: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man.").
Jewish law at the time of Jesus was quite clear in its statement that an embryo is not reckoned a viable living thing (in Hebrew, bar kayama) until thirty days after its birth. One is not allowed to observe the Laws of Mourning for an expelled fetus. As a matter of fact, these Laws are not applicable for a child who does not survive until his thirtieth day.
Exodus 21:22-25 is of interest:
Exodus 21:22: "If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart , and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges ." (KJV) - two men struggling together who ACCIDENTALLY cause her to have a miscarriage, there will be a penalty. Harm was equal to "injury" - with the penalty a civil fine before quickening - and quickening was the point around 20 weeks that one feels independent movement of the fetus.
Note that to a pro-choice person of faith, Exodus 20:13: "Thou shalt not kill." (KJV) - often translated as "Thou shalt not commit murder" - is in the context of the Ten Commandments being an "index" to the Law of Moses which follows in the remainder of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Each of the ten commandments, from the rituals by which we show love of God and eschew idols or "other gods", defining taking the Name of the Lord in vain, or how we honor our parents, etc., is defined in more detail elsewhere in the Law. In the same way, "murder" is carefully defined elsewhere in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy as to details regarding relationships and situations (but not methods) and including the specific penalty for each class of murder . Some might say that since the Bible neither promotes nor discourages abortion, the intentional omission of prohibitions against abortion obviously means God intended that to be left to personal choice, unless you believe God made a mistake.
Indeed perhaps Hosea 13:16 is"pro-choice". In Hosea 13:16, the Samaritans' punishment for guilt includes having their pregnant women ripped open and their little ones dashed in pieces. (One might understand the need to punish responsible adults, but to kill the unborn who have done nothing except get conceived by the wrong parents clearly seems to condone, nay mandate, abortion to correct errors of an undesirable conception.)
But Exodus 21:22-25 remains the main Roe v Wade justification -"If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury , the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury , you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot…" where the traditional interpretation of this text, which even rabbinical scholars accepted for thousands of years, is this: if a man hurts a woman enough to cause a miscarriage, he reciprocates according to how much injury he caused her, i.e., an eye for an eye, etc. However, if the miscarriage resulted in no injury to the woman, then all the assailant had to pay was a monetary fine - The fact that the Bible does not equate the assailant's life with the stillborn's life is proof that the Bible does not count the fetus as a person - with later rabbinical thought discussing the quickening (indeed the early versions of the KJV used the word quickening).
The text actually turns out to be ambiguous - It does not say who exactly suffers the "mischief" or harm; it could be the fetus as well as the mother. In that case, a miscarriage resulting in a live birth was punishable by a monetary fine, but a miscarriage resulting in fetal injury or death would call for the same from the assailant - hence the quickening idea -miscarriages in ancient times almost always resulted in stillbirths; saving premature babies is an achievement of modern science.
In Numbers 5, where the Lord appears to give a curse that causes abortions in unfaithful wives, the Lord instructed Moses that a husband who suspected his wife of sleeping with another man could take her to the priest for a test that would either confirm or deny his suspicions. The test involved his wife drinking a cup of "bitter water," which consisted of holy water mixed with the dust of the tabernacle floor. If the woman were innocent, then no harm would come to her by drinking it. But if she were guilty, then she would be cursed with "bitter suffering;" namely, "she will have barrenness and a miscarrying womb." Is God in this text endorsing the practice of abortion? Numbers 5 verse 27 has a number of translations - KJV "her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot." -New International Version "her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away," but adds in the footnotes that an alternate translation is "she will have barrenness and a miscarrying womb.", and New Revised Standard Version,"her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop…," which more clearly indicates an abortion procedure. Now does this passage establish a precedent: God does not desire children to be raised in sinful environments? When Jehovah gave monetary equivalents to the value of people of certain age groups in Leviticus 27:1-7, the lowest values were given to children between the ages of one month and five years. Boy babies were worth five shekels, and girls were worth three. Below the age of one month, they did not even merit a price. For census purposes in Numbers 3:15, only male babies older than one month were to be counted. Below this age, they were not considered persons to be counted.
Now all of the above proves little - pro-choice, and anti-choice are matters of faith. And the Democratic Party includes folks of faith with different views on this.
But some folks on DU did ask about "quickening"!
peace
:-)
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
