Wednesday, October 27, 2004
What the Bible says: We don't know how widely known this is, or how meaningful it is, but it's new to us. Regarding the status of the fetus, the Hebrew Bible treats its death as a property crime. From Exodus 21:22 ( NRSV) When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman's husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine. Now that's only one line and there is no ruling for the deliberate killing of a fetus, but when one reviews other rules found in Exodus, there is a clear distinction between acts that merit capital punishment and those which do not. For what it's worth, the fetus does not have the same status as that of an adult or child. We disagree with much of the rules found in Exodus (e.g. Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death.), but for those claim the Bible is their guide to policy positions, they have to admit that the scripture takes a position different from that proclaimed by various church spokesmen today.
posted by Quiddity at 10/27/2004 06:53:00 PM
3 comments
You know,it's bad enough that people from time immemorial have seen others as things to be owned, to the point that such barbarities are enshrined in sacred texts. Then we have to suffer these abominable modern translations that render the texts insufferably leaden and take away any poetry that might have heretofore existed.
Using most of the Old Testament as a guide for the intricacies of modern life is like trying to figure out what investments to make next year using a bag of knuckle bones. But if we have to have it thrust into our faces at every right-wing opportunity, can't we at least let it retain some artistic expression?
If you want to really dive into the Old Testament, the Jewish Talmud is the place to go. By all accounts first trimester abortions are a women's right, after that it gets a bit more dicey:
"The Talmud explains that the embryo is part of the mother’s body and has no identity of its own, since it is dependent for its life upon the body of the woman. However, as soon as it starts to move from the womb, it is considered an autonomous being (nefesh) and thus unaffected by the mother’s state. This concept of the embryo being considered part of the mother and not a separate being recurs throughout the Talmud and rabbinic writings."
from...
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/ideas_belief/bioethics/Overview_Abortion/Bioethics_Abortion_Fetus_Rosner.htm
For a fundamentalist, every word of the Bible is true, and provides God's instructions forevermore.
Even accidental homicides are to be punished by death, under the eye for an eye doctrine. If an aborted fetus merits a fine, instead of death, per the scriptures, ipso facto, the fetus is not a person, according to God's revealed word.
It's interesting if true that the Talmudic commentaries mark the beginning of the child's life as of 'quickening,' which is where traditional Christianity's teaching first placed the ensoulment of the fetus as well. That fine point is not contained within the Bible, however, and the Jewish religious tradition considered an infant under 9 months old not a full person for many purposes, including for the question of what is the punishment if they come to harm.
Yes, a more modern perspective would claim those rules were the result of an ancient time, and we know more now, and a fetus can survive out of the womb at 6 or 7 months. But a fundamentalist cannot take a modern perspective, but must honor the scriptures as true and the inerrant word of God. They're stuck with this.
sofla
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