No. Exodus 21 is sometimes cited as evidence that the Bible allows for abortion. Some say that Exodus 21 allows for abortion because it suggests that the life of the unborn child is of less value than the life of the mother. This passage deals with accidental injury to a pregnant woman, while abortion is the intentional killing of an unborn child. Exodus 21 actually teaches that the life of the mother and child are both protected by God’s laws.

Here is what Exodus 21:22-25 says: “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

Simply put, what the passage describes is a situation where men are fighting and during the fighting injure a pregnant woman [possibly an innocent bystander or one intervening to stop the fight]. If “her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow,” the man is fined, but “if any mischief follow,” then the more severe “life for life, eye for eye” punishment follows.

Some teach that “her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow” means that the mother has a miscarriage, and loses the child, which is punished with a fine. While “if any mischief follow” means that the woman herself dies or is severely injured. This explanation is not true to the text, or reason. Miscarriage is extremely traumatic to any mother.

What “her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow,” refers to is a premature birth, in which neither the mother or child suffers serious injury. How could the death of an unborn child be considered “no mischief”? The fine was imposed because of the threat to the life of the mother and child caused by the negligence of the fighting men. Some modern translators have inserted the word “miscarriage” in verse 22, the Hebrew word used in the text means birth, not miscarriage. [There is a different word for Hebrew word for miscarriage, which Moses used in Exodus 23:26, translated “cast their young” in the KJV]. Notice the clear meaning in the NIV: “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she give birth prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows” (Exodus 21:22).

The phrase “if any mischief follow” (Exodus 21:23) does not make any distinction between the mother and the unborn child. The “life for life, eye for eye” law applied equally. In fact, if any distinction is being made between the mother and the child, the more natural understanding is that “if any mischief follow” applies more directly to the child than the mother, because the focus of the passage is on what happens when “the fruit” departs from the mother. Significantly, the law of Exodus 21:22-25 applied as harshly to the accidental death or injury of the unborn child as it does to the intentional death or injury of any other innocent person. Exodus 21 upholds the value of innocent life. Abortion destroys innocent life.