Calvin on abortion

Calvin suggests that in a way abortion might be thought of as worse than infanticide:

“…the foetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being… If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a foetus in the womb before it has come to light.”


Calvin, J, Commentaries on the Last Four Books of Moses, vol 3, translated by Bingham, C W, Baker, Michigan, reprinted 1979, pages 41-42, quoted in Barnes, P, Open Your Mouth for the Dumb: Abortion and the Christian, Banner of Truth, 1986, page 17 

http://www.christian.org.uk/resources/theology/apologetics/the-sanctity-of-life/abortion/