That Cosmic Slap in the Face

God's desire for His perfections to be reflected analogically in His creatures is no manifestation of divine hubris but the state of affairs as it must be in a universe with a Creator and the created—and a universe of another kind does not exist!

Meredith Kline on Abortion

"When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe" (Exodus 21:22-25).

The two sides of the abortion debate treat the passage above in quite distinct ways. Firstly, we must recognize two cases involved in the passage: The first being that no harm was caused (Case 1), and the second, that harm was indeed caused (Case 2).

The pro-abortionist sees both cases as involving a miscarriage, with Case 1 having only the fetus as dying and with Case 2 having both the fetus and the mother as experiencing the same fate. It is argued that since only a monetary compensation is prescribed for the loss of the fetus, Scripture does not treat it as already possessing the status of a full human, unlike Case 2, when the "Lex Talionis" principle is enforced for the death of the mother: