Anti-abortion proponents, can you help me answer this question about abortions ?

[Merrycracker678]

My religious views cause me to believe that NO abortion is appropriate, I know so many of you that read this may not agree, but I am looking for help from those who do agree with my views.
One lady on facebook said an abortion is OK if the mother might die, because it is better to lose one life( the baby) than to lose 2 lives. My opinion and strong belief is that it is all in God's hands and no abortion is correct. God will make all the decisions. How do I counter what she has said ?

[LHOOQ]

There is no god, but the fact that you value your imaginary friend over real human life speaks volumes.

Why remove tumors? Why take antibiotics? Why not leave everything in god's hands?

[Happyhome038]

the bible says life begins at birth: in Hebrew, "life" and "breath" are the same.

There’s nothing explicitly said in the Bible about induced abortion. Zero. The Jewish position begins with Exodus 21:22: “When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine.” So, only a fine; no punishment for homicide. On the basis of this passage, the rabbis argued in the Talmud that a fetus is not considered adam (human) and has no legal standing as a person. Killing a fetus is not murder and it is not treated that way. The mainstream Jewish position historically and today is that human life or personhood begins at birth, when we take our first breath. There are a number of biblical passages that have been cited by rabbis over the years as connecting the breath and human life, starting with the creation story in Genesis 2:7: “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”

This is not to say that Judaism doesn’t take the value of potential life in the womb very seriously, before and after the heart starts beating and brain activity begins. Historically, as required in Exodus, there have been fines for killing a fetus, and, in the words of the Conservative rabbinate, “the decision to abort should not be taken lightly.” Most Orthodox rabbis approve abortion only to protect the life or health of the mother. Conservative rabbis sanction abortion under a wider range of circumstances, but always thoughtfully and prayerfully. The Reform rabbinate leaves the decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy in the hands of a woman or her family, but recognizes how difficult that decision often is.

For most of the history of the Catholic Church, one did not become a human being or a person until well after conception. Saint Augustine in the fourth century adopted the Aristotelian belief that the human soul didn’t enter the fetus until forty to ninety days after conception. In roughly the same era Saint Jerome emphasized human shape: “The seed gradually takes shape in the uterus, and it [abortion] does not count as killing until the individual elements have acquired their external appearance and their limbs.” The Apostolic Constitutions of the late fourth century allowed abortion if it was done both before the human soul entered and before the fetus was of human shape. Saint Thomas Aquinas of the thirteenth century followed Augustine in not considering the abortion of a non-ensouled fetus to be murder. Pope Innocent III, earlier in the same century as Aquinas, emphasized that the soul enters the body at the time of quickening—when a prospective mother first feels movement of the fetus. When Pope Gregory XIV affirmed the quickening test for ensoulment in 1591, he set the time for it as 116 days into pregnancy, or the sixteenth week. The great reversal came with Pope Pius IX in 1869. He assumed ensoulment at conception, and by 1917 church canon law had been revised, dropping the prior distinction it had upheld between “animated” and “inanimated” fetuses. Pius’s position has been maintained by the Roman Catholic Church ever since.

[Bear]

murder an innocen child to save an adult life. yeah. makes sense to me.

[Crazy Cat Lady]

Don't take meds then, since it's all in God's hands..............

ok, ok ok, take meds, just to be hypocritical

[punyriddle863]

Tell her that a baby can still live if the mother dies, so only one life it lost.

[MaidinKent]

It is very simple. It is a woman's right to choose. If you don't want an abortion, you shouldn't have one. You may have strong beliefs but they oppose mine. Your views should not dictate how my decisions are made. That is all there is to it.

[charlotte g]

my option is that the only time abortion is correct is if the mother's life is at risk and it is better to lose one life( the baby) than to lose 2 lives -my counter to "it is all in God's hands" is that religion prohibits suicide and murder so if you continue with a pregnancy knowing full well that it could result in your death (suicide) and the death of the baby (murder) then this is twice as ''immoral' if not just as 'immoral' as abortion in the first place

[Ryan]

the pope said the same thing about the polio vaccine

[Serena]

Hi Lee
You were asking about abortion never being okay and wanted support for that viewpoint. Here are some thoughts.
- Even in serious cases such as AIDS, cancer, diabetes and heart or kidney disease women can usually continue the pregnancy while receiving appropriate treatment. Some treatments are being used that do not harm the fetus and there are some alternative treatments that do not harm the baby. In some cases it is also safe to delay treatment till after delivery. You can find out more on this in my book in "Reason #93 Abortion May Not Be Medically Necessary" (see http://www.101.girlsguide.com for the free e-book)
-In some cases such as pre-eclampsia where the mother may genuinely die if the pregnancy continues there is also the option of delivering the fetus instead of killing it. If it's after 20 something weeks there will be a possibility the baby will survive. Obviously the baby shouldn't be born until it is ready but if (and my current understanding leads me to believe that are a few cases where) the mother would die then I believe a premature birth is preferable, though not happy. I would see it more as an intervention than a deliberate abortion because if at all possible you will save the baby.
-Certainly as you mentioned, I would be putting it in the hands of God as well, and praying for the best outcome.