Scripture teaches that life begins with breath, not before. It also does not present abortion as equivalent to murder, nor does it instruct us to regard a fetus in the same way as a living person.
In Genesis 2:7, the Lord gave life by breathing into Adam — breath is what brings life, and a child becomes a living person when it takes its first breath.
And formed God the man, dust from the earth, and breathed into his face breath of life and became the man into a living being.
Exodus 21:22–25 makes it clear a fetus is not a living person. The first understanding is the punishment for murder was death.
“If any should strike any and he should die, to death let him be put to death.”
Yet when someone struck a pregnant woman and caused her to lose her fetus, the penalty was only a fine. This shows that, in the Law, in God’s eyes, the life of a fetus was not regarded the same way as the life of a living person.
If a pregnant woman was injured in a fight and lost her fetus, the attacker only had to pay a fine. But if the attack brought about the death of a living person — the child who had been born and begun to breathe — then the penalty was death, because that was murder. And if the child suffered some lesser injury after birth, such as the loss of an eye, then the penalty matched the injury — an eye for an eye.
ἐὰν δὲ μάχωνται δύο ἄνδρες καὶ πατάξωσιν γυναῖκα ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσαν καὶ ἐξέλθῃ τὸ παιδίον αὐτῆς μὴ ἐξεικονισμένον ἐπιζήμιον ζημιωθήσεται καθότι ἂν ἐπιβάλῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ τῆς γυναικός δώσει μετὰ ἀξιώματος ἐὰν δὲ ἐξεικονισμένον ἦν δώσει ψυχὴν ἀντὶ ψυχῆς
But if two men fight and strike a woman who is with child, and her child comes out not fully formed, he shall surely be fined, according to what the husband of the woman imposes; and he shall give as the judges determine. But if it was formed, then he shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Masoretic text Exodus 21:22-25
If men fight and they strike a pregnant woman, and her children come out, but no harm follows, he shall surely be fined, as the husband of the woman imposes, and he shall pay by order of the judges. But if harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
The Law was so clear, Sprinkle noted:
The penalty paid is assessed on the basis of the stage of the development of the dead fetus. The rationale for this view is that the later the stage of pregnancy, the more time has been lost to the woman, the greater the grief for the loss of a child, and the more difficult. This may have been the view of the LXX, which paraphrases אָס֑וֹןיִהְיֶ֖ה וְלֹ֥א as “imperfectly formed child” and translates בִּפְלִלִֽים׃ “with valuation.”
Furthermore, Speiser’s view gains credibility in that penalties for miscarriage actually do vary with the age of the dead fetus in the parallel ancient Hittite Law §17, which states, “If anyone causes a free woman to miscarry—if (it is) the 10th month, he shall give ten shekels of silver, if (it is) the 5th month, he shall give five shekels of silver and pledge his state as security.”
— The Septuagint has the Correct Translation of Exodus 21:22-23, Thomas F. McDaniel, Ph.D. (2012), p. 7.. Thomas F. McDaniel, Ph.D. (2012)
God’s Word is consistent and clear. The Lord has not instructed us to view a fetus as a living being or to equate abortion with murder. If abortion were considered murder in His eyes, it would have been treated that way here in Scripture.