What does Christianity say about abortion?

Most Christian traditions—Catholic, Orthodox, and most evangelical Protestant churches—teach that human life has real worth from very early in pregnancy, making abortion a serious moral matter, not a neutral private choice. This goes back to the earliest centuries of the church, not just modern politics.

It's a theological conclusion, not one Bible verse naming abortion directly: every human being is made in God's image (Genesis 1:27), and Scripture describes God knowing and forming people before birth (Psalm 139:13–16, Jeremiah 1:5). One of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament, the Didache, explicitly instructed believers not to end a pregnancy.

Christians differ on hard cases—danger to the mother's life, rape, severe fetal illness—and on what follows legally from this. Some traditions leave more room for individual conscience than others.

And if you've had an abortion, been involved in one, or are facing this decision now: Christianity's core message is grace, not condemnation. God's mercy reaches people in painful circumstances—this was never meant to be wielded as shame.