Does Christianity condone abortion?

Mary, a staunch Christian and active member of a Pentecostal church in Blantyre, is battling for her life at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH).

She wanted to abort using traditional herbs sourced from a herbalist in Mulanje.

Mary fell pregnant outside wedlock despite many people looked up to her as an example of bonafide and dedicated believers.

Noting that she was in a tricky situation, she decided to use shortcuts to save her reputation from reproach.

Additionally, she was afraid that the pregnancy could earn her excommunication from her church.

She, thus, decided to end the life of the foetus to save herself the wrath of her pastor.

But this was at the expense of biblical and religious values. For it is written in Exodus 20:13 that man shall not murder.

Of course, in her desperate effort to justify her sin, Mary started to mull over stages where a foetus could be called a human being.

A God-fearing Naomi Chimutu believes abortion is not killing since the foetus is still at developing stages to become a human being.

Chimutu says there is no verse in the Bible, which says foetus is human, hence, she sees no problem with someone aborting a pregnancy.

“The Bible only emphasises that we should not kill. But it doesn’t bar us from aborting,” she justifies.

But another born-again Christian, Violet Gubudu, is of the opposite view on the topic.

Gubudu, who sells assorted phone airtime at Kapenga in Limbe, strongly believes a foetus is a critical stage at which human life starts.

She, therefore, thinks one would be guilty of murdering if she aborts.

“The moment a woman conceives, that is the beginning of life and that foetus should be regarded as a complete human being. We should also be mindful of the fact that we’re here today because our parents didn’t abort us,” she argues.

Gubudu, a Form Two dropout and victim of early and unwanted pregnancy, says she resisted intense pressure from her boyfriend and her parents to abort.

Pastor Pathengo Banda of Zambezi Evangelical Church (ZEC) in Balaka acknowledges that there is an increase in the number of abortion cases in the country both among believers as well as atheists.

But Banda, just like Gubudu, subscribes to the belief that children are born not of natural descent or human decision, but God’s will as quoted by John 1:13.

“Therefore, termination of the foetus amounts to murder. And there is no discussion about this,” says the pastor, adding ZEC does not condone abortion no matter the circumstances their member finds herself in.