Is there a Christian perspective on abortion? If so, what is it?

From earliest times, what we now call abortion, would now be considered infanticide. In Roman times, the most common form was known as “exposure,” allowing a newborn to die after birth in the elements. Romans would toss the newborn under a bridge in the Tiber River, or let wild dogs carry it off.

Among the earliest church documents is the Didache, which expressively forbids both abortion and infanticide. For those of us in the Catholic sect, these early teachings have not changed.

Early Christians, according to the apologist Steve Ray, waited in the shadows under the Roman bridges, and would take home these newborns, to raise as their own. In a society lacking charity, Romans were astonished at this strange practice.

Under Michigan Proposal 3, any such acts of charity would seem to be forbidden. Legally rendering aid to a newborn who survives an attempt at abortion, as some do, would be likely be prohibited. Proposal 3 would institute old, ancient, abhorrent practices. If you are a Christian or not, for the sake of humanity, I urge you to unapologetically vote no on Proposal 3.

JOHN TARATUTA,

Rogers City