"...if any woman appears to have so done [had an abortion], she will be a murderer of her child, by destroying a living creature, and diminishing humankind." (Josephus, Flavius, The Works of Josephus, Flavius Josephus Against Apion, Book II, 25) [edit: though Jewish and not Christian, this quote was shared for historical context.]
"The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder...You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child" (Didache 2:1)
"Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born." (Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, The Epistle of Barnabas, chap. XIX, The Way of Light)
"those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion" - Athenagoras
"In our case, a murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb...to hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in the seed" - Tertullian (Apology 9:8).
"Now we allow that life begins with conception because we contend that the soul also begins from conception; life taking its commencement at the same moment and place that the soul does" - Tertullian (Apology 27).
"Wherefore I beseech you, flee fornication . . . Why sow where the ground makes it its care to destroy the fruit?--where there are many efforts at abortion?--where there is murder before the birth?" - John Chrysostom
"I cannot bring myself to speak of the many virgins who daily fall...Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, and thus murder human beings almost before their conception. Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when, as often happens, they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder" - Jerome (Letters 22:13).
"Thou shalt not use magic. Thou shalt not use witchcraft...Thou shall not slay thy child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten; for "everything that is shaped, and has received a soul from God, if it be slain, shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed." (Apostolic Constitutions 7:3).
"Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4:15-17)
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SI Moderator - Brandy Gordon
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