Abortion as “Moral Good”: A Feminist Theological Distortion of Biblical Ethics

By: Richard Graves

"My Body, My Choice," however; Christians are reminded that their bodies "are the temple of the Holy Ghost… and ye are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, KJV)

In a July 14, 2023 article published by The Washington Post, reporter Yonat Shimron quoted Presbyterian minister Rebecca Todd Peters as saying, “Abortion is a moral good. Abortion is an act of love. Abortion is an act of grace,” and finally, “Abortion is a blessing” (Shimron, 2023, para. 7). Peters’s statement epitomizes the fusion of Feminist Theology and Critical Theory, both rooted in Postmodern and Neo-Marxist frameworks that interpret moral, social, and religious norms as products of “patriarchal power.” Within this worldview, abortion becomes not a moral tragedy but an emancipatory act—a symbolic resistance against perceived systemic oppression.

Feminist theologians themselves frequently identify their method as a form of critical theory and ideology critique. Schüssler Fiorenza (2004, 2013) describes feminist theology as a “critical feminist theology of liberation,” using a hermeneutic that exposes ideology and challenges patriarchal power structures within Christianity. Cady (1992) similarly notes that feminist theologies treat gender hierarchy as a systemic distortion requiring critical deconstruction. Hewitt (1999) makes the connection explicit, arguing that feminist analysis of religion “extends the project of ideology critique inaugurated by the Frankfurt School,” directly situating feminist theology within Critical-Theory traditions. These scholarly observations confirm that Peters’s moral framework arises not from biblical exegesis but from a sociopolitical ideology that reinterprets faith through power analysis.

This intellectual lineage explains why Peters’s claims invert biblical categories. She pushes a politic masked as a theology, worse yet, a Christian one. The Gospels affirm the sanctity of life even within the womb. When Mary greeted her cousin Elisabeth, “the babe leaped in her womb” (Luke 1:41–44, King James Bible, 2017). Scripture identifies the unborn John as both living and responsive, an unmistakable sign that divine purpose exists before birth. Christ declared the worth of every child: “Whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones…it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck” (Matthew 18:5–6, KJV). Jesus thus identifies Himself with the innocent and condemns those who harm them. He also contrasts His mission to give life with the thief who “cometh…to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10, KJV). These passages destroy any theological basis for labeling abortion an act of love or grace.

The Epistles continue this moral logic. Paul condemns those who are “without natural affection” and who “not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Romans 1:31–32, KJV). Declaring abortion a moral good epitomizes the perversion of moral order Paul denounces. Believers are instructed to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11, KJV), a mandate that includes confronting doctrines that elevate personal autonomy above divine command.

The Critical Theorist Feminist world view is: "My Body, My Choice," however; Christians are reminded that their bodies “are the temple of the Holy Ghost… and ye are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, KJV). The body is therefore a sacred trust, not an arena for self-deification under the guise of liberation.

Paul’s warning in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 provides a prophetic framework for this theological inversion: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first…who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God” (KJV). The apostle foresees an age when deception masquerades as enlightenment and rebellion is sanctified as moral progress. The moral relativism and power analysis central to Critical Theory mirror this apostasy. As Schüssler Fiorenza (2013) explains, feminist theology “deconstructs the ideological foundations of androcentric religion” by re-centering human experience as the source of authority—a move that exemplifies the very rebellion Paul describes. By calling abortion “a blessing,” Peters advances a theology that replaces God’s moral sovereignty with self-referential autonomy.

Contemporary scholarship acknowledges this merger between feminist theology and critical theory. The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and Modern Theology continue to publish work explicitly linking feminist theology, liberation frameworks, and critical-theory praxis (Modern Theology, 2025). Hewitt (1995, 1999) identifies this development as part of a broader “critical theory of religion,” while Ferguson (1991) notes that critical feminist thought draws directly on Marxian and postmodern critiques of ideology and power. Within this paradigm, morality is no longer grounded in divine revelation but reconstructed through social struggle. Peters’s rhetoric therefore reflects not biblical Christianity but a syncretism of political ideology and theological language, that is not only anti-Biblical, but anti-Christ.

In contrast, the New Testament grounds love, grace, and blessing in obedience and life, not autonomy and death. Love protects the vulnerable, grace redeems the fallen, and blessing flows from submission to God’s will. Peters’s framework represents precisely the kind of doctrinal distortion that arises when theology is subsumed by ideological critique. What she presents as liberation is, biblically, rebellion—a manifestation of the “falling away”.

References

Cady, L. E. (1992). Theories of religion in feminist theologies. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 60(2), 255–277. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/LX.2.255

Ferguson, A. (1991). Book review: Critical feminist theory. Review of Radical Political Economics, 23(3–4), 297–299. https://doi.org/10.1177/048661349102300321

Hewitt, M. A. (1995). Critical theory of religion: A feminist analysis. Fortress.

Hewitt, M. A. (1999). Ideology critique, feminism, and the study of religion. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 11(3), 257–271. https://doi.org/10.1163/157006899X00061

King James Bible. (2017). King James Version. King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/

Modern Theology. (2025). Issue information. Modern Theology, 41(2), 203. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/modern_theology_41_2

Schüssler Fiorenza, E. (2004). Transforming vision: Explorations in feminist thelogy.* Fortress.

Schüssler Fiorenza, E. (2013). Changing horizons: Explorations in feminist interpretation. Fortress.

Shimron, Y. (2023, July 14). This Presbyterian minister wants churches to talk more about abortion. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2023/07/14/this-presbyterian-minister-wants-churches-talk-more-about-abortion/