The deeply contested question of the moral standing of abortion implicates a number of crosscutting issues:

1. (a) When, if ever, is it morally justified for a woman to decide to have an abortion or for a third person, assisting or consulting with her, to act so as to facilitate or carry out that decision?

2. (b) What are the religious, what are the secular, bases for holding one view or another on that moral question?

3. (c) More specifically, what effect do the Scriptures have on one's understanding of that question?

4. (d) What should be the legal status of undergoing an abortion or assisting in it, or of a legal rule or practice that facilitates or discourages resort to it?

I believe that it breeds confusion to move back and forth too quickly between this last question and the preceding ones. Chapter 13 will address the question of the bases and extent of a link between moral and legal condemnations in several contexts (including abortion). The present chapter is focused on the moral issue.

The works of the first four authors, all written by a denominational Christian legislative body or an ordained Christian clergyman, manifest a diversity of religiously grounded opinions that might surprise some readers. Pay particular attention to the varying perceptions of the content of the biblical witness on the subject and to the manner in which that content is discerned.