The bible on Abortion

[TomSlick]

3. See. Numbers 5:11.

The passage can be read as requiring the priest to administer a potential abortifacient as a test for an allegedly unfaithful wife.

To the contrary, I read the passage as imposing a presumption of innocence against an allegation of adultery (a capitol offense under Mosaic law) since dust from the floor is not an abortifacient. Unless God intervened to establish guilt, the accused wife is exonerated. Nevertheless, if God intervened, the result is an abortion.

I have searched for years for some biblical basis for a claim that abortion is forbidden by scripture. There simply is none. As the OP notes, any reasonable reading of what I refer to as the Old Testament requires the contrary conclusion. Again, as noted in the OP, there is no reference to Jesus speaking to the issue. Similarly, Paul (an apparent misogynist) felt compelled to write against many activities of which he disapproved, said nothing about abortion. The Church has opposed abortion for centuries but there is simply no biblical basis for the prohibition.

I take a lawyer's view: Nulla poena sine lege certa - there is to be no penalty without well-defined law. I.e., if God meant to prohibit abortion, she would have said so.