Professor John F Brug, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary

QUESTION: How would God feel about abortion in the case of rape? Personally, I am strongly against abortion, yet I feel that it would be acceptable in this instance. I want to know if the Bible would agree with that.

ANSWER: The Bible, of course, does not deal directly with this question since it does not deal directly with abortion. We are against abortion because of what Scripture says about the nature of the unborn child as a human being and the prohibition against the murder of any human being.

If the child that is conceived of rape is a human being who is in no way responsible for this tragic situation, on what Scriptural grounds could we justify killing the child? Both the unborn child and the woman are victims. This is a truly heartbreaking situation, but on what grounds could we justify killing one victim to decrease the suffering of the other? Wouldn’t it be an act of love on the part of the woman to preserve the life of the child? If she feels she could not give a child conceived in such circumstances the love and care it needs, it would be an act of love to entrust the child to the care of others through adoption. We should, of course, give the mother all the support and help we can.