Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy. As a medical term, this can cover both deliberate miscarriage and natural miscarriage. For the sake of this post, I will be using the term to mean a deliberate or induced miscarriage.
Iconoclasm is the destruction of icons or religious images.
It occurred to me earlier today that abortion is a sort of iconoclasm.
Christians believe that humanity is created in the image and likeness of God. The Church, science and common sense tell us that a baby (child, fetus...) is a human regardless of which stage of development it exists in. The DNA is all the same. Saying a fetus is less human than a newborn is something like saying a 5 year old is less human than a teenager.
An abortion destroys the image and likeness of God. To me, that sounds like iconoclasm.
The Catholic Church is, along with the Orthodox Church, about the only institution which has consistently condemned abortion. Interestingly, it has been a notable victim of iconoclasm at various periods. During the "Reformation" religious artwork and statuary was destroyed. In the era following the Second Vatican Council, many Catholic churches were stripped of their religious artwork and statuary by "progressive" Catholics. It is interesting to me that followers of both movements tend to be quite liberal in their views on abortion.
Religious artwork can lift the soul and remind those earth-bound of heavenly things, but even so does not possess anything like the value of a human being.
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