Abortion in Historical Perspective
More Than Two Sides: Abortion in Historical Perspective
From the Conclusion:
The Christian tradition on abortion has been characterized by one feature: ambiguity. Anyone who reads the tradition as one-sidedly "pro-life" or "pro-choice" is ignoring the balancing or offsetting views in every era, from early Christianity to the present. In every period of Christian history, there have been both hard-line and tolerant perspectives. Very little has changed in recent times except for the emerging equality of women, both in churches and in the larger society. But women also have ambivalent and ambiguous beliefs about abortion. There are many women today who would not personally choose to have an abortion, even though they oppose stringent legal restrictions on abortion for other women.
The Bible is remarkably silent on abortion and on most issues relating to sexuality, contrary to those conservatives today who have taken passages out of context and made them seem central, which they are not. Anyone who reads the Bible with a preconceived notion of what they will find will surely find some support for almost any idea. But the relevant units of the Bible are not rules, but stories, and stories invariably reveal complexity of motives and moral ambiguity about what it means to be faithful. The Bible would not have survived for over two millennia if it were merely a rule book.
In the United States, the biggest change in reproductive morality in the 19th century came about because of the activism of doctors via the American Medical Association. Although their motives were heavily tinged with self-interest, the mostly Protestant doctors persuaded a number of states to adopt anti-abortion laws that stayed on the books for a century. With these efforts, the AMA managed to put some of its competitors out of business, restrict the public role of women in bourgeois society, and strengthen the control of conventional male doctors over the field of medicine. In a very real sense, the medical profession transformed abortion from a moral issue into a medical procedure and imposed the authority of physicians over it. The Church gave up its authority over abortion and never regained it.
In the 20th century, laws in the United States were gradually liberalized, first for contraception, then for abortion. These changes took place with the tacit consent of some Protestant denominations, which may have helped in gaining credibility. The most important shift that took place was the growth of a social theology among Protestants. The result was that reproductive issues came to be viewed in terms of larger social consequences, not just the effects on the families directly involved.
Religious views on abortion entered American politics in a big way in the 1980s as a result of pressures from conservative political organizers on evangelicals to take a strong stand against abortion. Prior to that, the churches that came to be known as the "Religious Right" had remained quiet on the subject of abortion. The fact that the impetus for their action came from a political source, not primarily a theological concern, should come as no surprise.
Even if abortion is deemed a graver issue by some Christians than others, that should not preclude a dialogue that could enable us to understand the views of those who differ. There is also an important basis for working together, since all Christians agree that reducing unwanted pregnancy is desirable.
Source:
The American Journal of Economics and Sociology (JSTOR)
Ignacio Castuera
Vol. 76, No. 1, January 2017. pp121 - 227.
More Than Two Sides: Abortion in Historical Perspective
AKA: A Social History of Christian Thought on Abortion: Ambiguity vs. Certainty in Moral Debate
Published By: Wiley