This is going to be a tough chapter. This subject is extremely controversial and I have a feeling I might make some people mad.

To preface this: I used to be pro life. I used to never be able to understand why a woman would ever want to kill their baby when adoption was an option. Then Roe V. Wade was overturned. So many women protested and spoke about their experiences. I heard several older women talk about their horrifying experiences with back alley abortions before Roe V. Wade. I heard of women killing themselves or being killed by their partners because they were pregnant. And then I understood.

I did a deep dive into research and now I consider myself to be pro choice. It's quite frankly none of my business what other women are doing with their bodies. And I'd rather a woman not have a child than be stuck with one she never wanted. That wouldn't be good for the mother or the child in that situation.

Next, it shouldn't matter what the Bible says about abortion because there is a separation between church and state. It should stay that way. Not everyone in this country is a Christian and they shouldn't be forced to live under laws created based on Christian theology.

Before I go any further I just want to list some verses Christian use to defend their view that abortion shouldn't be allowed.

"You shall not murder." Exodus 20:13

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139: 13-16

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

And here are some verses that might argue God isn't so pro life after all.

"If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: when she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse." Numbers 5:27

"Here the priest is to put the woman under this curse- 'may the lord cause you to become a curse among your people when He makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell." Numbers 5:21

Let me explain these 2 verses. If a man on the Old Testament suspected his wife had cheated on him and had doubts about the unborn child's parentage, he could go to a priest and formally accuse her of adultery.

The priest will then preform a ritual and if she was guilty, the bitter water she was forced to drink would have dire consequences. But if she was innocent than the water would have no effect.

https://answersingenesis.org/sanctity-of-life/numbers-5-and-abortion/

This website above says that the woman in this story isn't actually pregnant and that it's a simple error in translation. The author of this article says that the woman is only being disfigured (which is still horrible. No one deserves that).

Which doesn't make any sense to me since Christians say the Bible has no errors and has never been mistranslated. My church always taught that what the Bible says is exactly true word for word. No mistakes.

If she isn't pregnant what exactly is the miscarrying? Why is the word miscarry used here if they meant something else?

If Christians wanted people to read the Bible and understand it and love it, I feel as though it should have been made a little less confusing. Other versions don't even use the word miscarry, they say that the womb shrivels. If I had read that instead I would have an entirely different idea of what is happening here.

If the verse truly does mean a woman is miscarrying due to some ritual performed by a priest, I would say God isn't pro life.

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"Ephraim is struck down; their roots are withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs. My God will reject them because they have not listened to him." Hosea 9:16-17

For some background information, Hosea is a book of prophecies. Hosea is telling what will happen to these people who have rejected the Christian God.

God is angry with the people because they are disobeying him by worshipping idols and he is threatening them with the destruction of everything they love, including their children. He is going to allow this to happen. To innocent babies.

"Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their children will be bashed to pieces and their pregnant women ripped open." Hosea 13:16

Brutal. Jeez. Why do the babies deserve to die because of the sins of their parents?

Again, yes this is a prophecy so at this point it hasn't happened yet but according to Hosea it WILL happen and God is going to let it. I have heard the argument that God isn't doing this killing himself and that he's only allowing it. This did make me think so I went back and studied the chapter. I would like to bring up a passage I discovered while reading this chapter again.

"I have been the Lord your God ever since the land of Egypt: you know no God but me, and no savior exists besides me. I knew you in the wilderness in the land of drought. When they had pasture, they became satisfied; they were satisfied and their hearts became proud. Therefore they forgot me. So I will be like a lion to them; I will lurk like a leopard on the path. I will attack them like a bear robbed of her Cubs and tear open the rib cage over their hearts. I will devour them there like a lioness, like a wild beast that would rip them open. I will destroy you Israel. You have no help but me." Hosea 9:7-9

God is speaking here, stating that he is punishing them. HE is causing all of this pain and suffering. HE will destroy them. Including children and the unborn.

But let's say he isn't actually doing the destroying, he's only just allowing it to happen. That isn't any better!

For example, if a woman is abusing her child and her husband sits idly by and watches the abuse, he is complicit. He may not be abusing the child himself but he is involved by watching and doing nothing to save the child from harm. Both parents would go to jail for child abuse and neglect. The father, even though he didn't lay a hand on the child, would be shunned by society. People would hate him for not helping and caring for his child.

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The last point I want to bring up is the entirety of the flood story. Humanity is sinful and God basically decides to start over, with the exception of Noah's family. Everyone else dies, even the children.

The only defense I've heard for this is that the babies died and went to heaven, so we should be happy. But in that case when a woman gets an abortion her baby will go to heaven and we should be happy.

I have also heard that we cannot judge God because he is perfect. Either way I thought killing babies was bad according to God? The whole thou shalt not murder thing. Yet he's responsible for the deaths of these children.