The Early Pro-Life Movement

Many people think the anti-abortion movement only began about the time of Roe v. Wade, or perhaps a little earlier. This is far from accurate, though. Below is a list of quotes taken from the writings or speeches of early Church leaders and workers, on the horror and ungodliness of abortion. I gleaned these from the pages of a marvelous book, entitled Third Time Around: A History of the Pro-Life Movement from the First Century to the Present, by George Grant.

These words were backed by deeds--many great and remarkable deeds of selflessness--for the sake of the unborn.

She who has deliberately destroyed a fetus must bear the penalty for murder. Moreover those who aid her, who give abortifacients for the destruction of a child conceived in the womb are murderers themselves, along with those receiving the poisons.--Basil of Caesarea, 4th Century

There are two ways: the way of life and the way of death, and the difference between these two ways is great. Therefore, do not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant.--Didache, a collection of Apostolic moral teachings, end of the 1st Century

You shall love your neighbor more than your own life. You shall not slay a child by abortion. You shall not kill that which has already been generated.--Epistle of Barnabas, early 2nd Century

We say that women who induce abortions are murderers, and will have to give account of it to God. The fetus in the womb is a living being and therefore the object of God's care.--Athenagoras, in a letter to Marcus Aurelius, 2nd Century.

Our whole life can proceed according to God's perfect plan only if we gain dominion over our desires, practicing continence from the beginning instead of destroying through perverse and pernicious arts human offspring, who are given birth by Divine Providence. Those who use abortifacient medicines to hide their fornication cause not only the outright murder of the fetus but of the whole human race as well.--Clement of Alexandria, 3rd Century

Our faith declares life out of death. Therefore, murder is forbidden once and for all. We may not destroy even the fetus in the womb. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man killing. Thus it does not matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. In both instances, destruction is murder.--Tertullian, 3rd Century

They deny in their very womb their own progeny. By use of parricidal mixtures they snuff out the fruit of their wombs. In this way life is taken before it is given. Who except man himself has taught us ways of repudiating our own children.--Ambrose, 4th Century

They who drink potions to ensure sterility are guilty of rebuffing God's own blessings. Some, when they learn that the potions have failed and thus are with child through sin, practice abortion by use of still other potions. They are then guilty of three crimes: self-mutilation, adultery, and the murder of an unborn child.--Jerome, 4th & 5th Century

They provoke women to such extravagant methods as to use poisonous drugs to secure barrenness; or else, if unsuccessful in this, to murder the unborn child.--Augustine of Hippo, 4th & 5th Century

Many other examples exist, including the Bible's strong pro-child stance.

Notice a pattern in the above quotes? Each of these supposed primitives held crystal clarity in several key areas, in which many today find only ambiguity:

1. The unborn are living beings, not blobs of refuse in the womb.

2. The unborn are children.

3. Killing the unborn is synonymous with murdering a child.

Abortion and even infanticide were perfectly legal in many contemporary societies during the lives of the men I quoted, including that of much-vaunted Rome. Islands of compassion and godliness in seas of barbaric paganism, what drove these men (and in some cases, women) to reach these conclusions?

The love of Christ, and Christianity's subsequent outreach.

Is it possible to be a pagan or atheist and still be pro-life?

Sure.

Is it likely? Is it a historical norm? Will atheism or paganism lead one to crusade for the temporal--and eternal--salvation of the unborn, or for that of small children?

No. Any historical example would be an exception, rather than the rule.