AP

In western society the slippery slope of abortion has now passed well beyond children in first, second and third trimesters into the cold, hard light of day. In September 2026 a Dutch medical committee reported that physicians had indeed strictly adhered to due-care requirements in the euthanasia (also known as a termination, post-birth abortion or unaliving) of a two-year old child who lived with cerebral palsy and epilepsy.[1]

The normalisation of killing people under the guise of compassion is a real danger to the mind and heart of the Church. Christians must continue to think biblically about the sanctity of human life. We must grieve for what God grieves. Sadly, abortion is now celebrated as a woman’s right in Australia. Between 2015-2019, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) subsidized a total of 91,643 MS-2 Step prescriptions for medical abortions (roughly 22000 per year).[2] In the same years the Guttmacher Institute believes 93,800 abortions and 290,000 live births occurred each year.[3] We also must grieve that Australia allows late-term abortions and refuses healthcare to those that survive the “procedure”. And we must grieve the apathy of church leaders who remain silent while so many children are killed. The church must state an emphatic ‘No!’ to abortion.

Scripture is clear that the intentional taking of life in the womb is murder. A child killed in utero has the normal retributive rights to justice (Ex.21:22-25). If two men are fighting and they injure a pregnant woman so that her child is born prematurely but alive, there is a financial penalty. But if the child incurs injury or dies, the wrongdoer is to pay eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life. Examining the Hebrew in verse 22, Umberto Cassuto and John Piper provide good biblical support that the ‘child’ (yeled) ‘going forth’ ‘(yatsa) means a premature, but alive child.[4] However, if the child in utero is injured or killed, the lex talionis right to retributive justice applies (verse 23). The taking of a child’s life in utero is manslaughter if accidental and murder if intentional. The church must say “no!” to abortion.

Yet such killings are considered a reasonable solution for an unplanned pregnancy. The Guttmacher Institute believes that 43% of unplanned pregnancies in Australia now end in abortion.[5] This means that if Jesus was conceived today, (an unplanned pregnancy from the human perspective) it would be a coin toss as to whether he was born at all.

A consequence of the sexual revolution is that there are now a lot of unplanned pregnancies. My own birth was the result of an unplanned pregnancy. My teenage father got my teenage mother pregnant in the 1970’s. When he asked my mum if she wanted an abortion, she thankfully said no! God bless her. I’m very grateful. As is often the case my father then disappeared, leaving my mum with the incredibly hard task of being a single parent. Thankfully my mother was part of a Church, and a Christian family and she met a Christian man, all of whom showed grace despite her sin. My mother said ‘No!’ to abortion, and her family, the church and future husband said ‘yes!’ to us both.

The gospel means we must loudly say “no!” to abortion, but we must also say “yes!” to all the teenagers, single mums and the dads fighting to keep their babies. Both the “no!” and the “yes!” of the Christian gospel bring a cross that we must carry in love.  

In 2020, a pregnant woman came to speak to me about having an abortion. Her situation was dire. She was struggling with addiction. She had an AVO against her partner and she was living on government benefits. She believed abortion was her only option. As a Christian, I explained the sanctity of life and she heard me say a clear “no!” to abortion. She then became angry and departed with some choice words about where I could stick my opinion.  

Several weeks later she came back and explained that she decided to keep her baby. I applauded the decision and encouraged her to get into drug and alcohol rehabilitation for the sake of her child. To her credit she did. As a Christian I celebrated the pro-life win but lost contact with her. About three months later she called me from the hospital to tell me she had a little boy. She then explained that Department of Communities and Justice had found her an unfit mother and was going to put her son into foster care. In tears she then asked: “Will you raise my son?” My wife and I were in our late 40’s. This was not on our bucket-list. Yet, we said, “yes!”. How do you say “no!” to a child fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, when Jesus paid a much higher price to save wretched children, like us?  We must say ‘yes!’

We must say “no!” to abortion because of the sanctity of life. We must say “no!” to abortion because some mums respond by keeping their babies. We must also say “no!” to the culture of death despite being threatened with hate speech. Love compels us. But we must also say “yes” to the sexually immoral teenager, “yes” to the father who is now broken because his voice was ignored in abortion, “yes” to the single mother who is doing her best and “yes” to all the children we claim are precious in God’s sight. Love compels us. We have all sinned. Some through abortion. Some through failing to love the orphan and the widow (or single mums). Some through self-righteous judgement. Some church leaders sin in their silence, apathy and cowardice. All of it is a lack of love, a trying to avoid the suffering of the cross.

The penalty for such sin is death. This is what our actions still deserve. But Jesus loved us so much that he took the penalty of sin, even for those who have committed murder so that through repentance and faith we may be saved from God’s wrath. Jesus did this because he loves us and he calls us to take up our cross and follow him. The gospel remains a clear “no!” to sin and yet a clear “yes!” to sinners. Saying “no!” to abortion and saying “yes” to those saved from abortion both come at a cost. Yet, there is no avoiding the cross if we are truly following Christ.

– Anonymous

[1] https://thecatholicherald.com/article/netherlands-euthanised-two-year-old-in-first-case-involving-a-non-infant-child

[2] https://academic.oup.com/ijpp/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ijpp/riag037/8555567

[3] https://www.guttmacher.org/regions/oceania/australia; https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/births-australia/latest-release

[4] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-misuse-of-exodus-21-22-25-by-pro-choice-advocates

[5] https://www.guttmacher.org/regions/oceania/australia