Just wondering: Is there anything in the bible that discourages abortions?

[bklyncowgirl]

34. Many ancient people believed that a child was all the father's doing--the mother just an incubator.

I do agree that Onan was punished for disobedience--still it may also have also been considered an abomination to waste seed. The same prohibition could explain prohibitions against homosexuality. Wasting seed, preventing life from forming could bring bad fortune.

Many ancient people--even some pretty sophisticated ones like the Egyptians--did not have a complete understanding of the mechanics of conception. When they talked about 'seed' they meant that literally there was a tiny, complete human in a man's semen. The mother was just a vessel, essential to nourish the growing child but contributing nothing of its essence. This belief continued well into the Middle Ages and beyond.

If a woman did not become pregnant, the Egyptians tended to put the blame on the father--a guy whose wife did not have kids was something less than a man--though they realized that sometimes it was the woman's fault. Other cultures, like the ancient Hebrews, put the blame squarely on the woman. If a woman did not become pregnant, it meant to the ancient Hebrews that she was barren, like earth in which seeds would not sprout.

We can see the lasting effects of this superstition to this day in Roman Catholic prohibitions against any form of birth control, even barrier methods which clearly do not destroy an actual fetus.