re the bible and abortion james j lippard lippard skyblu ccit arizona edu wrote exodus and if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage yet there is no further injury he shall surely be fined as the woman s husband may demand of him and he shall pay as the judges decide but if there is any further injury then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burn for burn wound for wound bruise for bruise the most straightforward interpretation of these verses is that if men in a fight strike a woman and cause her to miscarry the penalty is only a fine if however the woman is injured or dies the lex talionis doctrine of an eye for an eye applies this is the jewish interpretation and is supported by jewish commentaries on these verses this is quite an embarrassment for pro lifer christians so there is of course an alternate explanation the alternative interprets the word miscarriage to mean premature birth i e the child is born alive and further injury to mean injury to either the woman or the fetus this is not a straightforward interpretation it is not so far as i know supported by any jewish commentaries and it does not appeared to be supported by any other part of the bible what if any historical reference do we have to abortion at this time did the ancient jew have appropriate reference to understand abortion i am truly asking not making a point veiled as a question if there is little understanding of the medical procedure we know as abortion it is not surprising the bible makes little reference to it as it makes little reference to nuclear power and contamination while your interpretation is a reasonable one i see no reason to reject the other out of hand the king jimmy translation says if there is no further mischief this does not necessarily imply to the woman i know if my wife we expecting and someone cause her to spontaneously abort we would feel that a life was truly taken not simply a process halted
