Religion and abortion

From Abortion

Table of contents

1 Religious views of Abortion

2 Judaism

3 Christianity

4 Islam

5 Hinduism

6 Buddhism

1 Methods of performing abortion

Judaism holds that the fetus isn't yet a full human being, and thus killing a fetus isn't murder. Abortion - in restricted circumstances - has always been legal under Jewish law. Judaism prefers that such abortions, when necessary, take place before the first 40 days. Christians who agree with these Jewish views may refer to this idea as abortion before the "quickening" of the soul by God in the fetus.

The following position on abortion is the ruling of the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee of Jewish Law and Standards, and represents how Conservative Judaism understands Jewish law on this issue. While others would phrase it differently, this is also more or less how most other religious Jews understand the issue.

Jewish tradition is sensitive to the sanctity of life, and doesn't permit abortion on demand. However, it sanctions abortion under some circumstances because it doesn't regard the fetus as an autonomous person. This is based partly on the Bible (Exodus 21:22-23), which prescribes monetary damages when a person injures a pregnant woman, causing a miscarriage. The Mishnah (Ohalot 7:6) explicitly indicates that one is to abort a fetus if the continuation of pregnancy might imperil the life of the mother. Later authorities have differed as to how far we might go in defining the peril to the mother in order to justify abortion. The Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards takes the view that an abortion is justifiable if a continuation of pregnancy might cause the mother severe physical or psychological harm, or when the fetus is judged by competent medical opinion as severely defective. The fetus is a life in the process of development, and the decision to abort should never be taken lightly. Before reaching her final decision, the mother should consult with the father, other members of her family, her physician, her spiritual leader and any other person who can help her in assessing the many grave legal and moral issues involved.

Christianity

Early Christians lived under Roman law which permitted both, abortion and infanticide. Given the generally ineffective or dangerous methods of abortion available at the time, unwanted children were sometimes carried to term by Roman women, and abandoned to die of exposure. Unlike infanticide, to which the early Christians reacted with intervention and strongly opposed teaching, it is less certain how the earliest Christians regarded abortion. Some argue that writings against infanticide are sometimes mistaken for anti-abortion teaching. Others believe that these works provide evidence that early Christians saw no difference in principle, between abortion and infanticide. The four gospels offer no statements about abortion as such, and offer no new prohibitions. The Didache[?], which some scholars date between A.D. 70 - 170, comments on the commandment, "you shall do nothing to any man that you would not wish to be done to yourself", by saying,

... Commit no murder, adultery, sodomy, fornication, or theft. Practise no magic, sorcery, abortion, or infanticide. ...

By the third century, abortion is commonly listed among the crimes of men, but it is unclear whether Christians may have allowed exceptions to their teachings against it. In the Christian era after the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, there are no Christian writings specifically addressing the issue of when human life begins, until Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century, who wrote that Christians believe that there is one principle of life from embryo to adulthood (as opposed to two, as assumed in Roman law).

The view that life begins at conception is often, but not necessarily, based on religious belief. For example, the Roman Catholic Church--one of the most vocal opponents of abortion--holds that the soul enters the zygote at conception (or a soul is then created). This doctrine has been questioned. For example, there is the instance of a zygote splitting into two individual identical twins - when is the second soul created?

The official Catholic view (articulated in Humanae Vitae), shared by some other Christians, is that interference with the human reproductive process is sinful and therefore forbidden--when souls are to enter and exit the world is a matter for God to determine, not man. Abortion should never be used as a method of birth control, they say. In the more traditional religious view, an acceptable limited means of practicing birth control would be to abstain from intercourse outside of marriage; commonly, "natural family planning" and sterilization are advocated for those for whom other forms of birth control are forbidden by religion, although the Catholic Church also frowns on sterilization if its purpose is solely as contraception and not for other health reasons.

The views of Eastern Orthodox Christians and Protestant Christians should be described here.

Islam

Islam discourages abortion, but allows it as permissible under certain circumstances.

Hinduism

Hinduism teaches that abortion thwarts a soul in its progress towards God, like any other act of violence. It teaches that a fetus is a living, conscious person deserving of protection. Hinduism has traditionally taught that a soul is reincarnated and enters the embryo at the time the embryo is conceived.

Buddhism

Buddhism forbids the taking of any life, human or animal, and teaches that life begins with consciosness. Unborn fetuses are believed to have consciousness.

Methods of performing abortion

There are two methods of performing abortion:

Medical abortion is performed by means of giving medicine to terminate pregnancy. The procedure consists of giving either methotrexate[?] or mifepristone (RU-486) followed by administration of misoprostol[?].

(Note: "morning after" or "emergency" contraceptive drugs that are taken within 72 hours of sex interfere with the release of eggs from the ovary or with fertilization, and so are not generally considered abortion--even though they may also interfere with implantation of a zygote if taken later).

Surgical abortion
- Manual vacuum aspiration[?] (MVE) consists of emptying the uterus by suction using a manual syringe.
- Dilation and suction curettage[?] consists of emptying the uterus by suction using a special apparatus. Curettage[?] is cleaning the walls of uterus with a curette[?]. Dilation and curettage (D&C) is a standard gynaecological procedure performed for a variety of reasons.
- Dilation and evacuation[?] (D&E) consists of opening the cervix of the uterus and emptying it using surgical instruments and suction.
- Intrauterine Cranial Decompression, the especially controversial "partial-birth" procedure, is a "D&X" performed late in pregnancy, requiring the surgical decompression of the fetus's head before evacuation.