Does the law in Exodus 21:22-25, where men cause an unborn child to be born prematurely, show that abortion is not murder?

⮜ Answered Questions

Short answer: No. In fact it affirms an equal value for the life of the unborn child.

The Biblical law referenced in the question is the following:

{{:Scriptblock|Exod 21:22-25)

This above scripture is often mistranslated in English, with the following Bible translations interpreting the Hebrew word וְיָצְא֣וּ as "miscarriage": NASB (1971-1994), RSV, NRSV, NEB. CEV, Douay-Rheims, NAB, Jerusalem Bible, Living Bible, Amplified Bible, Complete Jewish Bible, Artscroll Chumash English. Notice that the following English translations use a form of the translation: "the child comes out prematurely," which is literal: HCSB, KJV, NKJV, NASB (1995-), NIV, ESV, NET, ISV, WEB, YLT. This (mis)translation has been used against Christians to claim that Biblical law doesn't treat an unborn child as a legally protected person. [Note: I would be interested to know how translations in other languages than English handle this verse.] The argument is something like the following:

1. The verse implies that the unborn child is killed (based upon the translation "miscarriage").
2. But "no harm follows" (by inference, to the woman)
3. There is (apparently) only an unspecified monetary "fine" as a penalty; not the talion "life for life" judgment
4. Therefore, the unborn child does not merit the same protection under Biblical law as a regularly-born person.

Unfortunately, the translation "miscarriage" imports the idea that the woman's premature offspring died. But this is an unwarranted interpretive leap, given the original text says only: "her children come out" (Hebrew: יְלָדֶ֔יהָ וְיָצְא֣וּ). These same Hebrew words are used to describe the birth of living children in other parts of the scripture: Gen. 25:25-26, Gen. 38:28-29. There are actually two other words for miscarriage which Moses could have used, if he wanted to be more specific, but he chose not to. For a technical discussion of this verse, see H. Wayne House, "Miscarriage or Premature Birth", Westminster Theological Journal 41.1 (1978) 108-123.