Abortion remains a polarizing, emotional topic that splits society into opposing groups. It’s tragic that a matter such as the life of a child in its mother’s womb, something that should bring people together, continues to cause dissension.

In 1973 the Supreme Court  in the US ruled in the landmark case Roe v. Wade that a woman’s legal right to privacy extended to her decision to have an abortion. This effectively legalized abortion in the United States and much of the world has followed suit. The result has been since 1980, an estimated 1.3 billion abortions have been carried out around the globe—a number equaling more than one sixth of the current world population. This is far greater than all those killed in all wars in recent centuries.

Controversy continues as to who has the right to judge whether abortion is right or wrong? If God’s Word, the Bible, is your foundation and starting point for understanding the answer becomes clear. In Exodus we find the Ten Commandments. The sixth declares, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).  

God took great care to show in His Word that human life must be protected, even in the womb. Notice this example: “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely … he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine” (Exodus 21:22). Exodus 21:23 continues, “But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life.” In other words, if the injury to the woman results in the death of the unborn, considered here a life, then it is called murder —with the penalty being a life for a life. The Bible considers the unborn in the mother’s womb to be a human life—nothing less. It’s considered murder to take an action that destroys that unborn life!

Another key reference in Scripture about life in the womb is found in the story of Jeremiah, one of the major prophets of the Bible. In Jeremiah 1:5 God tells him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). Consider also John the Baptist leaping for joy in his mother Elizabeth’s womb when her cousin Mary came near carrying Jesus in her womb (Luke 1:39-45).

There are enough references in the Bible to the life of an infant in the womb to give understanding that God considers the unborn child to be a human life. The argument that an unborn child is not human or not really life is one of the most insidious arguments used by abortion proponents. To be blunt, it’s an argument meant to remove any guilt that the decision to abort is the taking of innocent human life. God, the Creator of all life, sees all aspects of life within His creation. He considers the life of a child in the womb to be something known by Him even at that stage of development. If God knows the child in the womb, it’s a life that should be protected and cherished.