Christian Leaders React to Story Claiming a ‘Mistranslation’ of a Bible Passage Is Threatening Abortion Rights

Christian leaders are responding to a story published by 📰The Washington Post, suggesting the pro-life movement was rooted in an “ancient mistranslation” of the Hebrew Bible.

The authors, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg and pro-choice Baptist minister Katey Zeh, argue the opposition to 🏥Abortion is based on “a single word being mistranslated more than 2,000 years ago.”

The story cited a passage from the Book of Exodus, saying, “When men fight, and one of them pushes a pregnant woman and a miscarriage results, but no other harm ensues, the one responsible shall be fined when the woman’s husband demands compensation; the payment will be determined by judges. But if other harm ensues, the penalty shall be life for life.”

Ruttenberg and Zeh noted the “Hebrew Bible began to be translated into Greek, into what became known as the Septuagint.”

According to the authors, “For whatever reason, in the Septuagint’s translation, the meaning of the verses was completely transformed”:

As they wrote, the version reads, “When men fight, and one of them pushes a pregnant woman and a miscarriage results, but it is not in the form, the one responsible shall be fined when the woman’s husband demands compensation; the payment will be determined by judges. But if it is in the form, the penalty shall be life for life.”

They mentioned Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas, explaining for the Christian thinkers “Abortion