ON ABORTION

With all that's been going on in the abortion realm (the South Dakota Abortion Ban Law, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, and more recently indications that the state of Mississippi is also preparing to ban abortion as well), I decided to do some reading on the topic and familiarize myself further with the issues. So I can argue better - it goes without saying...

I came across some very interesting religious explanations in support of the pro-life movement. The rationale behind these explanations hold special interest for me. In my next posting, I will concern myself with pro-life arguments of a different nature, that is: non-religious.

As we all know, Christians (and in this group I am taking the liberty of including both the Catholic and the evangelical Christian churches) view abortion as murder; this view stems from their belief that life begins at conception, and it is also based on the premise that: 1, it is wrong to kill innocent human beings; 2, fetuses are innocent human beings; 3, hence, it is wrong to kill fetuses. This website has a bit more on the issue.

Buddhists are usually against abortion as well. They argue that the Pali Canon states that life begins at conception. And let's not forget that Buddhism is a religion that places life - any sort of life - above all else. More about this here.

In Islam, it is all about the woman's life. In the event the mother's life is endangered, abortion is permissible (the "lesser of two evils" argument). Also, it is interesting to note that although the Qu'ran condemns the killing of born and unborn children, most Muslim scholars agree that a fetus becomes human only after 120 days since conception. Therefore, most traditional Muslim jurists allow abortions performed during the first 120 days. The basis for this stance can be found in the Hadith (check number 9 at this link).

And finally we get to the Jewish approach to abortion. According to Judaism, the value of the fetus's life is below that of the woman's in cases of danger to the latter. The reasoning flows very much like a self-defense argument, one in which, in the event the mother's life is endangered by the fetus, there is a dispensation for the mother to exercise her right (and duty) to self-defense by aborting the fetus. The woman becomes the victim of a perpetrator, in this case her own fetus. The same applies during labor - if the physicians determine that childbirth would be life-threatening to the mother, the baby is to be aborted/sacrificed.

Still, if it is possible to save the mother's life by maiming the fetus, then abortion is not allowed (and please bear in mind this is orthodox Judaism we are talking about here). The origin of this position can be found in the Mishnah (Ohalot 7:6)

However - and here is the catch - once the baby's head emerges, personhood kicks in. Killing this newly born person then would be murder according to Jewish halacha, and obviously forbidden.

Of course, these views conform to the orthodoxy of the above mentioned religions. Within each of them, there are varying views depending on the degree of religiosity.

Needless to say, most of those who oppose abortion do so on religious grounds. Anti-abortionists also have specific attitudes relative to sexuality, feminism, and teenagers rights. I'll bite my tongue for now, except I must say that one thing I cannot stand in the pro-life movement is the pretense of self-righteousness and moral superiority - especially within the religious communities.

Let's see if the rest of the pro-life movement is any better.