The Middle Assyrian Laws, which date as far back as the early 11th century bc, specifically addressed abortion. In these laws—a collection of legal codes including decrees of the Assyrian kings and Amorite legal customs (Tetlow, Women, Crime, and Punishment, 126)—abortion was considered a serious offense against the state and was punishable by death….
J. Ryan Davidson, sv “Abortion in Antiquity,” The Lexham Bible Dictionary (2016).
It seems to be proper for me to think that any advocacy/defense of murder is tied to the violation of the commandment to not murder; if the church does have and should practice disciplinary power, it should do so with any and all advocates/defenders of murder.
So my question is this: is it proper for me to think that confessional Reformed churches, DO NOT regard abortion as murder, since I can point to examples of people who have been and are defenders of abortion to one degree or another that serve in the role of elder or professor at a Reformed seminary? If it can be said they do regard it as murder, then it seems a position to which they have evolved, not one which is intrinsic to the tradition. If people think I’m joking, I can assure them I’m not. Some examples that come to mind have taught at some of the most confessional institutions I know.
And related to this, I think it’s important to think of this in light of one particular denomination’s actions throughout the past decades. Without knowing all the details, I know this denomination ran out a particular person for his more supportive views of biological evolution, yet this same denomination had a fairly prominent defender of some abortion actions.