If the some of the religiouses could explain this to me...

[Lief 🗽]

In the bible, there seems to be a lot of scripture that flies in the face of the Christian anti-abortion position. Now, certainly there is also scripture emphasizing the importance of life, and all that, but from my vantage point, the issue seems to be a lot more nuanced, even in the Bible, that those opposed to abortion on religious grounds seem to admit.

Notice two things reading the Bible. First, it's clear that a child has no value unless it is more than one month old (which would presumably include the time from conception through birth):

Exodus 21:22-23
"If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she has a miscarriage but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life."

Numbers 3:15-16
"'Count the Levites by their families and clans. Count every male a month old or more.' So Moses counted them, as he was commanded by the word of the LORD."

Leviticus 21:1-7
"The LORD said to Moses, 'Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate persons to the LORD by giving equivalent values, set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel; and if it is a female, set her value at thirty shekels. If it is a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels and of a female at ten shekels. If it is a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels of silver and that of a female at three shekels of silver. If it is a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels and of a female at ten shekels.'"

Secondly, God seems to approve of abortions:

Numbers 5:20-21
"But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband"- here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath-"may the LORD cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell."

Numbers 5:27-28
"If she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then when she is made to drink the water that brings a curse, it will go into her and cause bitter suffering; her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away, and she will become accursed among her people. If, however, the woman has not defiled herself and is free from impurity, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children."

I don't profess to be some sort of biblical expert, and maybe different translations or the original Hebrew or Greek would lead to different conclusions.

[Yamor]

The reason for the need for a child to be one month old for various laws is simply because in those days it was unfortunately all too common for small babies to not survive. Upon reaching one month, they were far more likely to survive.
Therefore, for laws like counting the number of Levites, they were not included. Also for punishment, there had to be iron-clad proof that the violator was the cause of death, which wasn't possible less then a month old.
Concerning your last quotation, I don't see the relevance. Those verses are not dealing with a pregnant woman at all. The talk about swelling up etc. is just her punishment if she committed adultery.

[tik 🪀✨]

Augh. Firefox really needs to save contents in forms if you accidentally navigate away from a page within the same tab. What I was writing was that those second passages do seem to indicate a possible abortion if a woman became pregnant illegitimately, but it's debatable and I'm no scholar. I also got the impression the first few passages dealt with infant mortality (just as I consider anti-homosexual laws to be at least in part rooted with the need for fertility to be as active and encouraged as possible).

But I had some other thoughts of my own considering some other verses that deal with the fate of a child who dies before their consciousness is raised (that is to say in a Biblical sense, can differentiate between good and evil)..

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Matthew 18:6
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Romans 9:11
(For [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

Disclaimer: I know this is an offensive twisting of scripture. But the Bible leads one to believe that unborn babies and those too young to wilfully sin will go to heaven. Therefore, abortion gives babies eternal life.

This is, of course, abhorrent, and no Christian believes it justifies what they see as murder. I bring it up to exemplify how scripture can be distorted to justify atrocities. But perhaps the knowledge that an aborted fetus is destined for Heaven could show them that on a certain level, God is always merciful to them. I could go even further and say they should see another positive in never having to experience this oh so wicked godless world but not tonight.

[JSojourner]

Lief, you have hit on one of the primary reasons I switched from being in favor of criminalizing abortion to supporting free choice.  That, in addition to the practical reality that abortion is something that simply cannot be successfully outlawed.  I hate it, but would rather have it be safe, legal and rare that have women thrown in jail and doctors executed or jailed...and then still have tens of thousands of unsafe, backalley abortions going on.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Lief, you have hit on one of the primary reasons I switched from being in favor of criminalizing abortion to supporting free choice.  That, in addition to the practical reality that abortion is something that simply cannot be successfully outlawed.  I hate it, but would rather have it be safe, legal and rare that have women thrown in jail and doctors executed or jailed...and then still have tens of thousands of unsafe, backalley abortions going on.

That's why I am one of the rare anti-abortion/pro-Roe v. Wade people out there.  Its for the safety of the mothers that I support Roe.  I wish it had never been needed, and I am reassured that there will come a day when all abortions will cease and all abortioners will be judged same with all other sin.