Ethical Dilemma of Abortion in Francine Rivers’ Novel 'The Atonement Child'

Abstract

Francine Rivers’s a 1997 realistic novel “The Atonement Child” presents ethical dilemma of abortion in a Western Christian society. When a young girl gets pregnant due to rape, aborting the baby seems to be the right thing to do for the good of the girl and her family, but they cannot easily do so as Christian ethics suggests against abortion in all situations. Conflict and confusion arise from this ethical dilemma of abortion, which the novelist has tried to resolve finally by adhering to Christian ethics and having the baby born beautiful and healthy and the whole family again coming to terms. When analyzed this ethical dilemma of abortion by subjecting it to the opposing principles of Consequentialism and Christianity as explained by Michael Banner in his book Christian Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems, it is found that the resolution provided by the novelist is not a resolution in a truly practical sense; the ambiguity surrounding the wellbeing of the mother, child, and the entire family continues to exist.