Seventh-day Adventists Pioneers Anti-abortion History

Six Important Points:
1. Adventist pioneers unanimously defined the unborn as living human children.
2. They loudly and publicly condemned abortion as child murder.
3. They publicly condemned other denominations for showing support for abortion.
4. They published anti-abortion sermons from non-Adventists in their own official church publications journals.
5. They showed open and unashamed support for anti-abortion legislation promoted by the American Medical Association. 
6. The Adventist Church was founded (1863) during a nationwide campaign of the American Medical Association to make abortion illegal (1857-1880) and yet not once does any Adventist leader express concern that such legislation was violating religious liberty or that it would lead to Sunday law.

J.N. Andrews called abortion a murder

J.N  Andrews, editor of the official magazine published by the SDA church, also first official missionary. In the Nov 30, 1869 Advent Review and Sabbath Herald here he made this public statement:

“One of the most shocking, and yet one of the most prevalent sins of this generation, is the murder of unborn infants. Let those who think this a small sin, read Ps. 139:16. They will see that even the unborn child is written in God’s book. And they may be well assured that God will not pass unnoticed the murder of such children."

Nov 30, 1869 Advent Review and Sabbath Herald

James White, founder of the SDA publishing work and president of the SDA church. In the book Solemn Appeal [1870 JW, SOAP 4.1, 100.2] he includes a medical doctor’s comments on abortion which said:

“Few are aware of the fearful extent to which this nefarious business, this worse than devilish practice, is carried on in all classes of society! Many a woman determines that she will not become a mother, and subjects herself to the vilest treatment, committing the basest crime to carry out her purpose. And many a man, although he may not always aid in the murder, is always accessory to it, in that he induces, and sometimes even forces upon the mother the condition which he knows will lead to the commission of the crime...”

James White called abortion murder.

What is interesting is that this book was edited by James White while he was General Conference president. Ellen White contributed several articles to the book, but the segment quoted was actually excerpted from the volume Exhausted Vitality, by E. P. Miller, M.D. (not an Adventist) You can read the entire quote in the text version here and see a color scanned copy here. 

Exhausted Vitality, by E. P. Miller, M.D.

Joseph Harvey Waggoner was the editor of the Pacific Health Journal and Temperance Advocate and in an article titled "Infanticide" (April 1, 1886) here he wrote: 

"Almost any mother would be shocked at the thought of putting her child to death after it was born. And it seems passing strange that the same women will feel little or no compunction of conscience in destroying or killing the little innocents BEFORE they are born., It is just as truly murder to take life in the one condition as in the other." 

Joseph Harvey Waggoner says abortion is murder

The fact that abortion was described as infanticide is undeniable evidence that Adventist pioneers saw the act of killing children in utero as extremely serious. The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald said "Feticide, or criminal abortion, is a crime which stands in the same category with infanticide." (October 18, 1892 here) 

Pacific Health Journal and Temperance Advocate April 1, 1886

Uriah Smith, the Editor of the official SDA magazine which on June 25, 1867 here published an article titled "Fashionable Murder" saying:  

“As to guilt, I want all to know that, in the sight of God, it is willful murder. “The willful killing of a human being at any stage of its existence, is murder…it is destroying what, in a few months or weeks, would bear God’s image: and if anyone thinks she can do it without the guilt of murder, she is greatly mistaken.”

This article above published by Uriah Smith is a very significant. During the mid 1800s in the United States there was a massive effort to enact statutory laws outlawing abortion. This was already a crime under common law but improved technology introduced two major changes. First, advances in medical technology made surgeries safer and this was especially true for abortion. Prior to the 1800s attempting abortion was tantamount to suicide. As abortions became safer it's use increased. Second, advances in technology also enabled scientists to better understand the beginning of life at conception. The concern for unborn children and the desire to protect them at all states of gestation motivated the efforts of what has come to be known as the "Physician’s Crusade Against Abortion." The American Medical Association had been formed and (pro-abortion) historian James Mohr writes “Physicians affiliated with the American Medical Association launched an aggressive campaign against abortion on the eve of the Civil War” (p. 147). This campaign by medical doctors became so successful that “every state in the union had an anti-abortion law of some kind on its books by 1900 except Kentucky where the state courts outlawed the practice anyway.”  As the physicians were seeking to influence social opinion about this issue they realized that they would need the help of religious leaders to speak out against abortion. They wanted the churches to get involved but for many reasons almost all the churches and leaders kept silent and said nothing about abortion. “Whatever the ministers’ motives, anti-abortion physicians bitterly resented the avoidance of their special issue by the nation’s religious spokesmen. The doctors had taken a moral stand in their crusade against abortion and they were openly disgusted when the established voices of moral authority refused to speak on their behalf." And here is where we learn about this article published by Uriah Smith. Mohr writes "Congregationalists lifted the unofficial silence first, The Reverend John Todd, perhaps the nation’s most famous moralizer publicly condemned abortion in an article entitled “Fashionable Murder” which the Boston Recorder, a prestigious journal published in 1867." This is the exact same article that was re-published by editor Uriah Smith in the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald June of that very same year. 

Uriah Smith publishes anti-abortion sermon by famous Congregationalist minister.

Notice two things, The Adventist Church was founded just four years earlier (1863) and despite the tremendous amount of issues and challenges they faced leaders immediately recognized the criminal nature and severity of murdering unborn children and the editor of the flagship journal wasted no time in openly publishing an anti-abortion article written by a very well known non Adventist. This would be equivalent to the Adventist Review today publishing an article against abortion by Jerry Falwell or James Dobson. This is because Adventist pioneers understood the grossly immoral nature of abortion and it's horrific effect upon society. Second, even though everyone was silent Adventists were not silent, they did not hesitate to take a public position against abortion and they joined what few voices there were in denouncing it in the strongest possible language.

Dr. Horatio Lay condemned other Protestant denominations who supported abortion

One of the reasons why other religious voices were silent was because “medical journals accused the religious journals of valuing abortifacient advertising revenue too highly to risk criticizing the practice, physicians condemned ministers as cowardly and hypocritical." Abortifacients were the poisons that were sold to attempt abortions and religious journals were making money by advertising them despite the reality is that these toxins were ineffective or highly dangerous. Even pro-abortion historian James Mohr stated "[t]he nineteenth century had no preparations capable of directly producing abortions, though contemporary physicians and the public believed otherwise." The Health Reformer was the Adventist monthly health journal and in August 1868 (editor: Horatio S. Lay) wrote here:  

“The religious papers are surely no exception. Child murder, both before and after birth, is a regular and (terrible to tell) vastly extensive business. And it is known to newspaper publishers that its advertising patronage pays far better than any other. And whole pages are sold at once by the largest and most popular religious newspapers in this city and country for such nefarious purposes...It is not in the Herald and Sunday Mercury alone that such advertisements are found. They are in the most orthodox and widely-read of the religious newspapers.”

Another quote comes from a Mr. Brevard Sinclair (not an Adventist) mentioned in both the Advent Review and Herald [October 18, 1892 here] and also in the Signs of the Times [December 24, 1896 here]:

"Let me say then to hypocritical Pharisees, that smoking a cigar may be a filthy habit, but that abortion is murder!" 

The crowning sin of the age: by Brevard Sinclair

Brevard Sinclair, a lawyer, was the author of the book "The Crowning Sin of the Age: The Perversion of Marriage" a book condemning and denouncing abortion. You can read that book here. Adventist publications (cited above) encouraged readers to buy his book:

"[Brevard Sinclair] deserves all encouragement and co-operation in his noble effort to expose and arrest this appalling evil which is sapping the very foundations of society itself. Every party to the marriage relation, present or prospective, should have a copy of this book, and be benefited by its sound instruction and solemn admonitions"  here

Advent Review and Sabbath Herald | October 18, 1892

E.J. Waggoner blasts abortion as "an enormous evil." Promotes anti-abortion book by non-Adventist.

Ellet J. Waggoner was the editor of the Signs of the Times which in December 24, 1896 here promoted Sinclair's book and called abortion "an enormous evil"

Signs of the Times | December 24, 1896

Said abortion is murder, criminal.

Of all Seventh-day Adventists Dr. John Harvey Kellogg has written the most against abortion. In his book “Ladies' guide in health and disease” there is an entire section dedicated to quote “Criminal Abortion” (page 351 here). He writes about abortion in several places. See also section on abortion in "Man the Masterpiece" (page 423 here) A few quotes:
“the most unnatural, the most inhuman, the most revolting of all crimes against human life.” ​
"the crime should be considered a just cause for church action to disfellowship....Physicians must warn women of the physical as well as the moral calamities which follow in the wake of this inhuman practice, and the certainty of retribution in this life, as well as the next" 
"an act which is seldom equaled in atrocity by the most heartless assassin or even the barbarian captor.”

Kellogg was the editor of 'The Health Reformer' which in February 1, 1878 here which stated:

"life begins before birth, and the mother is the cradle of the unborn child. The mother should be, as such, a sacred person, and her offspring protected by all skill and care, while all the diabolical arts of abortion and feticide should be made infamous and criminal."

Alonzo T. Jones was the editor of Signs of the Times and The American Sentinel. In an article written in February 1891 here AT Jones answers this question “Did  Aristotle, Socrates, and many other Greek philosophers teach morality? And if not did they teach immorality?”… Answer.—They taught what they called morality, but they taught and practiced what was really immorality…Plato taught both the expediency and the lawfulness of exposing children to die in particular cases, and Aristotle counselled abortion... In short, if the Greek philosophers could be set down in the United States to-day and should attempt to practice here what they both taught and practiced in Greece, and counted it morality too, the whole gang of them would be in the penitentiary inside of a week."

First female Adventist physician says abortion is murder

Dr. Kate Lindsay, first female Adventist physician. In her book The Sanitarium Medical Missionary School, Lectures (circa 1909),  "Causes of Diseases in Women" she says abortion is murder:

“Add to this the fact that the mother must gratify the perverted sexual passion of the husband all through pregnancy, and that she has spent her time planning to murder it before birth, for it is often an unwelcome child…”

Dr. Horatio Storer, the leader of the Physican’s Crusade  against abortion, even though he was not an Adventist and even though the efforts of the American Medical Association to lobby the government to make abortion illegal had nothing to do with the Adventist church yet the official Advent Review and Herald (June 25, 1867 here) published: 

 “the medical profession have taken a noble stand” and “society owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Horatio Storer of Boston.”

Dr. Horatio Storer campaigns to make abortion illegal, Adventists show public support

Stressed importance of positive prenatal care. Abortion is not positive care.

Facts about Ellen White:
1. Defined the unborn as living human children. (e.g. 2SM 428.1, RH, July 18, 1899, par. 1)
2. Described negligence resulting in harm towards the unborn child as murder:

"If the father would become acquainted with physical law, he might better understand his obligations, and his responsibilities. He would see that he had been guilty of almost murdering his children, by suffering so many burdens to come upon the mother, compelling her to labor beyond her strength before their birth" {2SM 429.3} {SA 119.1} {RH, July 18, 1899 par. 5}

 3. Specifically said that ingestion of harmful poisons WITHOUT intent to hurt the child is still a sin. (Abortion is the deliberate intentional act of killing the child.):
Every drop of strong drink taken by her to gratify appetite endangers the physical, mental, and moral health of her child, and is a direct sin against her Creator.  {MH 373.1}  

4. Displayed deep concern for the well-being of the unborn child and promoted the necessity of positive prenatal care. (e.g. Chapter 43 Adventist Home) A great question to ask Adventists is "How could violently attacking and dismembering a child be considered positive prenatal care?" That's a great question to ask.
5. Ellen White was surrounded by leaders publicly condemning abortion as a terrible sin yet not once did she ever rebuke them or tell them to stay silent. 

THOUGHT QUESTION:
How will God get His church back to the correct biblical position held by the pioneers? 
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