The document discusses abortion from an Islamic perspective. It begins with a brief overview of the history of abortion and the pro-life and pro-choice debates. It then outlines the views of abortion in Islam, noting that the Quran condemns killing but does not explicitly mention abortion. Muslim scholars differ on when ensoulment occurs and whether abortion is permitted before or after that point. Generally, abortion is prohibited after ensoulment except to save the mother's life, and opinions vary on its permissibility before ensoulment. The document concludes with references.

1. Faculty of Medicine
Medical Ethics
ABORTION IN ISLAMIC VIEW
DR .Mustafa Abu Sway
Prepared By :
Diaa Mohammad Srahin .
March, 2015

2. Introduction
We live inaworldfull of opinions,everythingandeveryissueinourlife hasatleasttwoopinions,evenif
one of themisdominant,the otherone still demandstobe,leastways,heard.Similarly, controversies
resultfromdisagreementonone problemthatare typicallyprolonged,publicandheated.Forexample,
abortionisa major controversybylookingatitethically,politicallyandsocially.The reflectionof
thoughtscan leadto argumentsaboutwhat'srightand what'swrong to be done.Many considerations
are involvedinthis.
Abortionisthe deliberateterminationof ahumanpregnancy,mostoftenperformedduringthe first28
weeksof pregnancy.The abortionthatcausesa controversy isvoluntaryabortion,alsoknownas
inducedabortion,inwhichthe fetusiscausedtobe expelled.Inducedabortionisn'tthe same as
miscarriage orspontaneousabortion,wherethe embryoexpelledinvoluntarydue totraumaor disease.
Miscarriage isan eventthatresultsinthe lossof a fetusduringearlypregnancy.Alsocalledspontaneous
abortion.The cause of miscarriage variesfrompersontoperson,andinmanycases,the cause is
unknown.If the motherdidn'tgetthe rightneedsor supplyduringherpregnancy,miscarriage may
occur, and forothercauses suchas chromosomal problems,unhealthylifestyle (obesity,drugand
alcohol use),maternal age,trauma,untreatedthyroiddisease,diabetesandinfections.The othertype
of abortionisinducedabortion,the maindifference betweenthistype andmiscarriage isthat this
abortionisintentional,anditendsthe pregnancybefore the fetushasdevelopedproperly,
vacuumaspiration and/orcurettage orduringthe second trimesterbydilationandevacuation,
induction of labor, orhysterectomy - surgical operationtoremove all orpart of the uterus-.
History of Abortion
Abortion isn'tnew;abortionhasbeenwidelyusedinAmericasince itsearliestdays.Inthe 1950s,
estimatesof numbersof illegal,unsafe abortionsrangedwidely,from 200,000 to 1.2 million peryear.
The methodsusedwere oftenineffective anddangerous.Desperatewomenwere drivenintothe back
alley,where theyendureddangerandabuse,sometimessexual.in2008, half of pregnancies among
Americanwomenare unintended,andaboutfourin10 of these endinabortion,andthe overall U.S.
unintendedpregnancyrate increasedslightlybetween1994 and 2008, butunintendedpregnancy
increased55%among poor women,while decreasing24% among higher-income women.Overall,the
abortionrate decreased8%between2000 and 2008, but abortionincreased18% amongpoor women,
while decreasing28%amonghigher-incomewomen.
The debate on abortionhasstartedinthe early1970s, when Supreme Courtinthe unitedstates
deemedabortionafundamentalrightunderthe UnitedStatesConstitution.The courtissueditsdecision
on January22, 1973, witha 7-to-2 majorityvote infavorof Roe.It ruled7–2 that a right to privacyto a
woman’sdecisiontohave an abortion whether or not to terminate herpregnancy.Roe v.wade isone of the
famouslandmarkdecisionsinthe 20thcenturyinthe US. Theyusedthe trimestral rule,whichsaysthat
duringthe firsttrimester,whenthe procedureis saferthanchildbirth, the decisiontoabortmust be left
to the motherand herphysician. Because the fetusisdefinedAs“inviable”asbeing“potentiallynot

3. able to live outsidethe mother’swomb,albeitwithartificial aid”,addingthatviability“isusuallyplaced
at about sevenmonths".Andby this, theyrejectedafetal “righttolife".
The publicreacted;Ingeneral,doyoufavor or oppose thispartof the U.S. Supreme Courtdecision
makingabortionsupto three monthsof pregnancy
legal? Inreply,56 percentof respondentsindicated favorwhile 40percentindicatedopposition.A
Galluppoll conductedinMay 2009 indicatesthata minorityof Americans,37%,believethatabortion
shouldbe legal inanyor most circumstances,comparedto41% inMay 2008.
The statesalso reactedas followsobservingthe upcomingyears,Since2010 there hasbeenanincrease
instate restrictionsonabortion.

4. Pro-life VS Pro-Choice
Debatesaboutabortionfocusonpoliticsandthe law:is itnecessarytooutlaw abortionand treatedlike
a human personkilled,orremaina legal optionavailabletoall women?.There are two standpoints:
“pro-life”(abortionsare morallyimpermissible)or“pro-choice”( abortionsare morallypermissible ) .
Both sideshave importantmoral insights,evenif these insightsare outweighedbythe insightsof the
otherside.
Althoughpro-choicersaythatthere is a constitutional righttoabortion,the pro-lifer say abortionisnot
referencedatall inthe U.S. Constitution.Roe vs.Wade wasnot a judicial decisionasmuchas legislation
imposedfromthe Bench.
AlthoughAmericansare dividedonthe subjectof abortionbythese beliefs,mostdonotfall strictlyon
one side or the otherand ultimatelythe majorityfavorsrestrictedavailability.

5. Pro-Lifer consider that there are a lot of arguments to consider abortion is murder : it is
wrong to kill innocent human beings , fetuses are innocent human beings , therefore , it is
wrong to kill fetuses . In “Deciding Who Is Human,” Noonan argues for the classification of
fetuses with human beings by pointing to the presence of the full genetic code, and the
potential capacity for rational thought - has the potential for becoming human in the moral
sense- . All babies have great potential; a woman could possibly abort a fetus that could have
grown up to be of great importance to society or the world at large.
If mothers can’t accept a new responsibility to have a baby, they should take a precautions to
control the birth , although many religions do not endorse certain forms of birth control
because sexual intercourse is for procreation purposes only or because any children conceived
within a marriage are children of God. Terminating a child of God is a moral sin. If abortions are
unconditionally accepted by society and easily obtainable, people will use them as a regular
form of birth control!
in case of unwanted pregnancy in normal situation , the women is responsible for her
pregnancy ; she could have remained chaste, or taken her pills more faithfully or abstained on
dangerous days, and so on. Women do not have a right to abortion even in cases of rape,
because the child is innocent of any crime. Nobody should be killed for the crime of another
person. Abortion does not undo or mitigate the rape, and there is evidence that abortion
further compounds the harm that has already been done to her.
Even if the fetus was diagnosed that will be born with congenital anomalies, it is not
permissible for the mother to abort him; Nobody has the right to kill another person because
he perceives that the other person might have a low quality of life. Moreover, “The worry is
women are terminating without really knowing if [the initial test result] is true or not,” said
Athena Cherry, professor of pathology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, whose lab
examined the cells of the healthy aborted fetuses. As happened with Stacie Chapman, three
months pregnant, was told by her doctor that her unborn baby has Edwards syndrome, a
genetic condition associated with severe birth defects, and tests have proven that if she gives
birth to him, he will not live long. So, they've decided that it'd be better if she aborts the child.
However, she's decided to keep him no matter what. After a while, her doctor told her that the
tests were wrong and that her unborn child healthy!

6. Pro-Choicer believes that the fetus is not yet a human being because it cannot survive
outside the uterus on its own. Abortion should not be considered murder if the fetus is not self-
sustaining and requires the mother’s body and physical resources to survive. The body of first
priority is therefore the mother’s, and it should be her choice as to what she endures both
mentally and physically.
Andeventhe fetuseshave DNA ,Thisdoesnotmeanthat it ispossible toconsider themashuman
beings,because much of what we are, even physical traits like fingerprints, is not determined by
DNA. So , Environment counts for much of what we are.
The Human must have his own , independent life to have a right to live ; fetuses represent a
part of the mother’s body and fed from her circulatory system, so they have not an
independent life and have not a right to live . Moreover , they do not have the interest to live,
not until the necessary brain connections and activity exist, and that's not until several months
into a pregnancy. The preborn child doesn’t have enough size, ability to feel pain, viability, self-
awareness, etc. to be granted rights of personhood.
There are some cases where it is necessary to abortion such as a pregnant due to rape , in this
case the women kidnapped and is not responsible for her pregnancy. When a mother give birth
to a child after she has been raped, these kids, when they grow up they'll remember the pain
their mothers went through because she got raped and also it will affect on the mother’s
personality because she'll get depressed, and sometimes those mothers will not take care of
their babies for many reasons .
Abortion is generally safe procedure . Less than 1% of abortions before 21 weeks of pregnancy
lead to major complications such as bleeding or infection. If they announce abortion illegal,
certainly a lot of women will look for illegal places of abortion that lack of health and
Professional care. Illegal abortion caused the death of thousands of women throughout history
all over the world.
And finally , There isn’t enough farmland, fossil fuels, drinking water, etc., to care for
everybody. Abortion is one way to control the human population.

7. Abortion in ISLAM
in general, the Qur'an condemns killing of the human soul except in cases of self-defense and
capital punishment, did not mention abortion in the literal sense, so Muslim scholars differed in
views on the issue of abortion.
Origin in ruling on abortion: the ban and prevention; because Islamis considered the human
soul reserved, kept it, and make it one of the five imperatives. In Qur'an many texts which
prohibits abortion as the killing of the human soul God said: “Take not life which Allah has
made sacred” (Surah, Al-An' am,6:151).
The Qur'an says :"We created man from an essence of clay: then placed him, a living germ, In a
secure enclosure. The germ We made a leech; and the leech a lump of Flesh; and this We
fashioned into bones, then clothed the bones with flesh;Then We develop it into another
creation". (Surah Al-Mu'minoon, 23: 12-14)
But when ensoulment (after the soul enters into the fetus)? the Muslim scholars differed in that
on two opinions: -
The first opinion: ensoulment after 120 days // the Second Opinion: ensoulment after 40 days
According to Muslim scholars, after the stage of ensoulment (after the soul enters into the
fetus), abortion is prohibited completely except where it is imperative to save the mother's life
(This permission is based on the principle of the lesser of the two evils known in Islamic legal
terminology as the principle of al-ahamm wa 'l-muhimm 'the more important and the less
important').
In ruling on abortion before ensoulment ,there are different directions and multiple
statements, even in the same doctrine, some of them said by permissible at all, and some of
them said by permissible for a reason only, and some of them said, never forced, and some of
them said prohibition .The correct view, is to say is permissible, On condition that a necessity.
According to the Council of Senior Scholars:
"1. Do not permissible to abort pregnancy at various stages except for a legitimate reason
within very narrow limits.
2. If the pregnancy in the first phase, a period of forty days, and was dropping a legitimate
interest or pay damage is permissible to abort. As for aborting at this time for fear of hardship
in raising children, or out of fear of the inability of living and education costs or for their future,
or because the couple of the boys is not permissible .(Almighty God as each person livelihood
before he was born, this is not a reason to abort a child for poverty, but it does not prevent

8. parents from intervals between pregnancies) , "And do not kill your children for fear of poverty:
We give them sustenance and yourselves (too): surely to kill them is a great wrong." (al-Isra`
17:31).
As for the aborted deformed fetus, mother should avoid the factors that lead to deformity, and
treatment of malformations during pregnancy if possible
If not possible, abortion is permissible before ensoulment but prohipited after ensoulment (The
same applies to abort a pregnancy resulting from rape)
If abortion is done after ensoulment , God allowed his solve to dissolve their sins by expiation
(Atonement) , which ,for abortion, is fasting for two consecutive months and pay the blood
many (Deyyah) which is known "Algurah": It is equal to half of the tenth of the "perfect blood
money"( approximately equal to (4.25) kg of pure gold) or 5% of the blood money, which is
estimated by scholars as one thousand dinars, or ten thousand dirhams(equals 212.5 g of pure
gold) whether the fetus was a male or a female. While, if abortion was carried out before
ensoulment, then there is no expiation, but had to repent and seek forgiveness from God.
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References:
* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-a-grimes/the-bad-old-days-abortion_b_6324610.html
* http://www.emedicinehealth.com/abortion/page4_em.htm
* http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/induced+abortion
* http://www.islamawareness.net/FamilyPlanning/Abortion/abortion3.html
* http://www.jameataleman.org/main/articles.aspx?article_no=1367
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/islamethics/abortion_1.shtml
* http://wholeworldinhishands.com/world/pro_life_vs_pro-choice_arguments.html
* http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_PIMA.pdf
* LeVay, Simon, Janice Baldwin, and John Baldwin. Discovering Human Sexualiy. Sinauer
Associates, Inc., 2009