A Continued Examination Of Churches And Abortion

You Shall Not Murder - Exodus 20:13

In previous posts about different churches and their views on abortion I have found little evidence to prove that mainstream churches outwardly oppose abortion.  Many major Protestant denominations either are very muddled on the abortion issue or they don't even broach the subject. 

What do the Calvary Chapels, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Seventh-Day Adventists have to say about the issue?  I realize that many people have problems with some of these churches and will often proclaim them as cults.  But since millions in the United States follow these religions it is worthwhile to see what their views of abortion are. 

First, I examined the Evangelical Calvary Chapel churches.  Since they follow right through the Bible and study it closely one would assume that they are vociferously opposed to abortion.

While conducting a search of many of the hundreds of Calvary Chapel churches, I found little reference to abortion or a healing ministry for those who have had one.  If they do have these ministries they must hide them under some title that has nothing to do with abortion.   Of course, abortion may be mentioned occasionally at a few of the hundreds of Calvary Chapels, but it doesn't appear that there is any effort to highlight the horror of abortion or to reach out to those hurting from it.  On a personal note, I attended a Calvary Chapel in the mid-90s and early 2000s and listened to 150-200 messages, but I never heard abortion mentioned from the pulpit.   

One church that has a record of denouncing abortion is the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints, (LDS).  The official statement is as follows:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes in the sanctity of human life. Therefore, the Church opposes elective abortion for personal or social convenience, and counsels its members not to submit to, perform, encourage, pay for, or arrange for such abortions.

The Church allows for possible exceptions for its members when:

• Pregnancy results from rape or incest, or

• A competent physician determines that the life or health of the mother is in serious jeopardy, or

• A competent physician determines that the fetus has severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.


The Church teaches its members that even these rare exceptions do not justify abortion automatically. Abortion is a most serious matter and should be considered only after the persons involved have consulted with their local church leaders and feel through personal prayer that their decision is correct.

The Church has not favored or opposed legislative proposals or public demonstrations concerning abortion. 

The LDS site has 345 references where the abortion topic was discussed or written about.  There is not only a main statement by the Church, but it is reiterated many times over.

There are two ways to analyze the LDS view of abortion:  It's great that they have a policy statement and it's passed on to the members in either print or talks.  The other view shows that they really don't value the sanctity of life all of the time because they say it's fine to kill the unborn if a rape is involved.  There are many people alive today that were conceived because of a rape.  Do their lives mean less than someone who wasn't conceived by rape?  Also, there are countless stories where a doctor said the prognosis was grim for the unborn baby because of some defect, but its parents decide to give birth.  After the baby is born the situation is not as bad or they learn to cope with whatever the baby is afflicted with.  These babies have the same value as those who are born without any defects. 


Another religion examined is the Jehovah's Witnesses with over one million members in the United States.  Their views of abortion are a little difficult to find but they are informative.  Their official site called Watchtower has personal stories of abortion, an excellent look at how abortion affects women, and articles on when life begins: 

A 2004 research study of 331 Russian and 217 American women who had an induced abortion revealed that about half of both groups felt bad after the abortion. Nearly 50 percent of the Russians and almost 80 percent of the Americans felt “guilt” over the procedure. More than 60 percent of the American women were ‘unable to forgive themselves.’ Since guilt is such a pervasive problem—even among those who do not consider themselves religious—why do so many young women still have abortions?

They often come under intense pressure to have an abortion. Parents, a mate, or well-meaning friends may encourage abortion as a lesser of two evils. This can lead to a hasty, ill-informed decision. “However, after the stressfulness of the decision and the procedure have ended,” explained Dr. Priscilla Coleman, an expert on the mental-health risks of abortion, “women’s cognitive abilities return to normal, often ushering in feelings of pronounced guilt, sadness, and regret.”

This regret often centers on the question: Did the abortion terminate a life that already existed? A report by the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion concluded that many pregnant women considering an abortion “were misled into thinking that nothing but ‘tissue’ was being removed, and relate that they would not have had an abortion if they were told the truth.

After an evaluation of the “stunning and heart-wrenching testimony” of 1,940 women who had abortions, the study concluded: “Many of these women are angered by grief at the loss of a child they were told never existed.” It also stated that “the psychological harm of knowing she killed her child is often devastating.”

A Person Inside the Womb?

From the time of conception in the womb, the child is, not just another part of the mother’s tissue, but a separate person. Her body views it as a foreign object. It would be quickly rejected were it not for the “protected world” created in the mother’s womb. This new human life—separated from the mother by protective housing—is a person with a unique DNA fingerprint . . .

Some argue that a woman’s body spontaneously aborts many fertilized eggs because of abnormalities, so why shouldn't a doctor be able to abort a pregnancy? Yet, there is a big difference between spontaneous death and deliberate homicide. In one South American country, 71 out of 1,000 children die within their first year. But just because so many die prematurely, would it be acceptable to kill a child under the age of one? Of course not!


The Seventh-Day Adventists, with 16 million worldwide and approximately one million in the United States, has the following statements about abortion:

Prenatal human life is a magnificent gift of God. God's ideal for human beings affirms the sanctity of human life, in God's image, and requires respect for prenatal life. However, decisions about life must be made in the context of a fallen world. Abortion is never an action of little moral consequence. Thus prenatal life must not be thoughtlessly destroyed. Abortion should be performed only for the most serious reasons . . .

In other words, prenatal human life is a magnificent gift of God, but you can kill it if you put some thought to the decision

The Church does not serve as conscience for individuals; however, it should provide moral guidance. Abortions for reasons of birth control, gender selection, or convenience are not condoned by the Church. Women, at times however, may face exceptional circumstances that present serious moral or medical dilemmas, such as significant threats to the pregnant woman's life, serious jeopardy to her health, severe congenital defects carefully diagnosed in the fetus, and pregnancy resulting from rape or incest. The final decision whether to terminate the pregnancy or not should be made by the pregnant woman after appropriate consultation. She should be aided in her decision by accurate information, biblical principles, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, these decisions are best made within the context of healthy family relationships.

Their view on allowing exceptions for abortion is similar to what the Latter-day Saints have to say on the issue.  Also, I'm not sure what they mean by saying:  Moreover, these decisions are best made within the context of healthy family relationships.


As one can see there are a variety of responses from churches about the abortion issue, but in many of the churches I've examined here and in other posts, abortion is a topic that is sometimes buried or virtually non-existent.  At the most, it's lumped in with other social issues that the churches deem important, but those other issues aren't resulting in the death of over one million innocent lives a year.  Where is the outrage from the church leaders to abortion?  Where is the outrage from those sitting in the pews?

Special thanks to Wendy R. Martin for her assistance.