Religion and abortion

Numerous religious traditions have taken a stance on abortion but few are absolute. These stances span a broad spectrum, based on numerous teachings, deities, or religious print, and some of those views are highlighted below.<ref>BBC "Religion and Ethics" Be aware that these BBC pages do not cover all Protestant, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist beliefs.</ref><ref>Patheos Public Square Topic Template:Webarchive Including Buddhist, Muslim, Mormon, and Pagan perspectives in addition to Catholic, Evangelical, Protestant, and Jewish perspectives.</ref>

People of all faiths and religions use reproductive health care services.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Abortion is perceived as murder by many religious conservatives.<ref name=10.1177/0959353516685345>Template:Cite journal</ref> Anti-abortion advocates believe that legalized abortion is a threat to social, moral, and religious values.<ref name=10.1177/0959353516685345/> Religious people who advocate abortion rights generally believe that life starts later in the pregnancy, for instance at quickening, after the first trimester.<ref name="where" />

The religious influence over the population of the country tends to be one of the massive determining factors on the legality of abortion.

Baháʼí Faith

Abortion, merely for the purpose of eliminating an unwanted child, is strongly deprecated in the Baháʼí Faith, although medical reasons may warrant it. Among the possible reasons for terminating a pregnancy are rape, incest, lack of viability of the fetus, and health of the mother.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Though Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, considered the intentional termination of a pregnancy as the ending of a life, there are no specific teachings in the Bahá’í sacred texts addressing it; the Universal House of Justice has thus concluded that it is not quite the same as murder and therefore within the purview of the Universal House of Justice to legislate on it, at a future date, if it so decides.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> At present, Baháʼís are encouraged to decide based on their own conscience in light of general guidance found in Baháʼí writings and medical advice.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Buddhism

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} There is no single Buddhist view concerning abortion.<ref name="bbc">"Abortion: Buddhism." BBC Religion & Ethics. Retrieved January 15, 2008.</ref> Some traditional sources, including some Buddhist monastic codes, hold that life begins at conception, and that abortion, which would then involve the deliberate destruction of life, should be rejected.<ref name="Harvey">Harvey, Peter. Introduction to Buddhist Ethics (2000). Cambridge University Press. pg. 311–20</ref> Complicating the issue is the Buddhist belief that "life is a continuum with no discernible starting point".<ref>Buddhism and Abortion on Patheos Template:Webarchive</ref> Among Buddhists, there is no official or preferred viewpoint regarding abortion.<ref>Buddhism and abortion on BBC Religions</ref>

The Dalai Lama has said that abortion is "negative", but there are exceptions. He said, "I think abortion should be approved or disapproved according to each circumstance."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Inducing or otherwise causing an abortion is regarded as a serious matter in the monastic rules followed by both Theravada and Vajrayana monks; monks and nuns must be expelled for assisting a woman in procuring an abortion.<ref name="Harvey"/> Traditional sources do not recognize a distinction between early- and late-term abortion, but in Sri Lanka and Thailand the "moral stigma" associated with an abortion grows with the development of the foetus.<ref name="Harvey"/> While traditional sources do not seem to be aware of the possibility of abortion as relevant to the health of the mother, modern Buddhist teachers from many traditions – and abortion laws in many Buddhist countries – recognize a threat to the life or physical health of the mother as an acceptable justification for abortion as a practical matter, though it may still be seen as a deed with negative moral or karmic consequences.<ref name="Harvey"/>

Christianity

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} There is scholarly disagreement on how early Christians felt about abortion and whether explicit prohibitions of abortion exist in either the Old Testament or New Testament books of the Christian Bible. Abortion is not specifically mentioned anywhere in the Bible, nor is there any specific commandment against it.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Some scholars have concluded that early Christians took a nuanced stance on what is now called abortion and that at different times, and in separate places, early Christians have taken different stances.<ref name=autogenerated3>When Children Became People: the birth of childhood in early Christianity by Odd Magne Bakke</ref><ref>"Abortion and Catholic Thought: The Little-Told History" Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name=universityofcalifornia>Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood by Kristin Luker, University of California Press</ref> Other scholars have concluded that early Christians considered abortion a sin at all stages; although there is disagreement over their thoughts on what type of sin it was,<ref name="prejudices"/><ref>Ana S. Iltis, Mark J. Cherry, At the Roots of Christian Bioethics (M & M Scrivener Press 2010 Template:ISBN), p. 166</ref><ref name="Gorman">Michael J. Gorman, Abortion and the Early Church: Christian, Jewish, and Pagan Attitudes (InterVarsity Press 1982 Template:ISBN), p. 50</ref><ref name="Stemcells">Stem cells, human embryos and ethics: interdisciplinary perspectives: Lars Østnor, Springer 2008</ref> and how grave a sin it was held to be, it was seen as at least as grave as sexual immorality.<ref name="prejudices">Robert Nisbet, Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary (Harvard University Press 1982 Template:ISBN), p. 2</ref><ref name="Gorman"/> Some early Christians believed that the embryo did not have a soul from conception,<ref name="autogenerated3"/><ref name="harpercollins">McBrien, Richard P. The HarperCollins encyclopedia of Catholicism</ref><ref>The Oxford companion to Christian thought</ref><ref name=dictionaryethics>Dictionary of ethics, theology and society By Paul A. B. Clarke, Andrew Linzey</ref> and consequently, opinion was divided as to whether or not early abortion was murder or ethically equivalent to murder.<ref name="universityofcalifornia"/><ref name="Stemcells"/>

Early church councils punished women for abortions that were combined with other sexual crimes, as well as makers of abortifacient drugs,<ref name="universityofcalifornia"/> but, like some early Church Fathers such as Basil of Caesarea, did not make a distinction between "formed" and "unformed" foetuses.<ref>M. Therese Lysaught, Joseph Kotva, Stephen E. Lammers, Allen Verhey, On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives on Medical Ethics (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 2012 Template:ISBN), p. 676</ref><ref name="Goyens">Michèle Goyens, Pieter de Leemans, An Smets, Science Translated: Latin and Vernacular Translations of Scientific Treatises in Medieval Europe (Leuven University Press 2008 Template:ISBN), p. 384, 399</ref> While Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor held that human life already began at conception,<ref name="Goyens"/> Augustine of Hippo affirmed Aristotle's concepts of ensoulment occurring some time after conception, after which point abortion was to be considered a homicide,<ref>The Janus face of prenatal diagnostics</ref> while still maintaining the condemnation of abortion at any time from conception onward.<ref>Daniel Schiff, Abortion in Judaism (Cambridge University Press 2002 Template:ISBN), p. 40</ref> Aquinas reiterated Aristotle's views of successive souls: vegetative, animal, and rational. This would be the Catholic Church's position until 1869, when the limitation of automatic excommunication to abortion of a formed foetus was removed, a change that has been interpreted as an implicit declaration that conception was the moment of ensoulment.<ref name="harpercollins"/> Most early penitentials imposed equal penances for abortion whether early-term or late-term, but later penitentials in the Middle Ages normally distinguished between the two, imposing heavier penances for late-term abortions and a less severe penance was imposed for the sin of abortion "before [the foetus] has life".<ref>Michèle Goyens, Pieter de Leemans, An Smets (editors), Science Translated: Latin and Vernacular Translations of Scientific Treatises in Medieval Europe (Leuven University Press 2008 Template:ISBN), pp. 390-396</ref><ref>Patrick J. Geary, Readings in Medieval History (University of Toronto Press 2010 Template:ISBN), Vol. 1, p. 255</ref><ref>Karin E. Olsen, Antonina Harbus, Tette Hofstra, Germanic Texts and Latin Models (Peeters 2001 Template:ISBN), pp. 84-85</ref><ref>John Thomas McNeill, Helena M. Gamer, Medieval Handbooks of Penance (Hippocrene Books 1965 Template:ISBN)</ref>

Contemporary Christian denominations have nuanced positions, thoughts, and teachings about abortion, especially in extenuating circumstances.<ref name=pew>"Religious Groups’ Official Positions on Abortion" Pew Forum</ref><ref name=where>"Where does God stand on abortion?" USA Today</ref> The Catholic Church,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>The Catholic Teaching on Abortion, Allocution to Large Families, Nov. 26, 1951, Pope Pius XII</ref> the Eastern Orthodox Church,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Oriental Orthodoxy, and most Evangelical Protestants oppose deliberate abortion as immoral while allowing what is sometimes called indirect abortion, namely, an action that does not seek the death of the foetus as an end or a means, but that is followed by the death as a side effect.<ref>Christopher Robert Kaczor, The Ethics of Abortion (Taylor & Francis 2010 Template:ISBN), p. 187</ref> Evangelical Protestants have some of the most opposed views on the topic of abortion, especially compared to those of traditional religions. <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> More specifically, the religious philosophy of both the Catholic Church and many Evangelical Christians denominations is that life begins at conception, and both groups have strong moral prohibitions against abortion, equating it to murder. These two denominations are the primary participators in interest advocacy groups and are strongly associated with anti-abortion activities. This group behavior can include lobbying, activism, protesting, as well as education and campaign contributions.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However, states with a higher percentage of Catholics or a higher percentage of the population classified as fundamentalist or conservative Protestant are not more likely to have abortion restrictions in their state legislature.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> States or countries with a higher Catholic or Evangelical Christian presence than other denominations have more resources and votes in favor of restrictive abortion laws as well as influence over legislators' perception on the issue of abortion. <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Some mainline Protestant denominations such as the Methodist Church, Episcopal Church (United States),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> United Church of Christ, Presbyterian Church (USA),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, among others, are more permissive of abortion. More generally, some Christian denominations can be considered anti-abortion, while others may favor abortion rights. Additionally, there are sizable minorities in some denominations that disagree with their denomination's stance on abortion.<ref name="where" /> A national sample of American abortion patients found that the majority identified as Protestant.<ref name="c910">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The more religiously devout and those with more religious engagement tend to hold stronger opinions overall, especially on the abortion debate in regard to religions take on abortion's morality.Template:Citation needed An individual's religious conservatism has a higher likelihood to oppose abortion. However, members of a denomination can have deviating opinions from vocal religious leaders' beliefs.Template:Citation needed

Hinduism

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Most classical Hindu texts strongly condemn abortion, although the Sushruta Samhita recommends it if the fetus is defective.<ref name="Maguire 2003 p. 136">Template:Cite book</ref> The British Broadcasting Corporation writes, "When considering abortion, the Hindu way is to choose the action that will do least harm to all involved: the mother and father, the foetus and society." The BBC goes on to state, "In practice, however, abortion is practiced in India, because the religious ban on abortion is sometimes overruled by the cultural preference for sons. This can lead to abortion to prevent the birth of girl babies, which is called 'female foeticide'."<ref>BBC "Hinduism and abortion"</ref> Hindu scholars and women's rights advocates have supported bans on sex-selective abortions. Some Hindus support abortion in cases where the mother's life is at imminent risk or when the foetus has a life-threatening developmental anomaly.

Some Hindu theologians and Brahma Kumaris believe personhood begins at three months and develops through to five months of gestation, possibly implying permitting abortion up to the third month and considering any abortion past the third month to be destruction of the soul's current incarnate body.<ref>Chapter 1: Dilemmas of Life and Death: Hindu Ethics in a North American Context | Date: 1995 | Author: Crawford, S. Cromwell</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Islam

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Quran and Hadith describe God's creation of man in the womb and condemn infanticide.<ref name="Jackson 2014 p. 134">Template:Cite book</ref> A verse in the Quran refers to pregnant women who abort their pregnancies upon the day of judgment.<ref name="Greenberg Pati 2023 p. 316">Template:Cite book</ref> Each of the four Sunni Islam schools of thought—Hanafi, Shafi‘i, Hanbali and Maliki— have their own reservations on if and when abortions are permissible in Islam.<ref name="Weigl"/> The Maliki madhhab holds "that the fetus is ensouled at the moment of conception" and thus "most Malikis do not permit abortion at any point, seeing God's hand as actively forming the fetus at every stage of development."<ref name="Weigl">Template:Cite book</ref> On the other hand, some Hanafi scholars believe that abortion before the hundred twenty day period is over is permitted, though some Hanafi scholars teach that an abortion within 120 days is makruh (disapproved, i.e. discouraged).<ref name="Weigl"/> The other Islamic schools of thought agree abortion is recommended when the mother's life is in danger, because the mother's life is paramount.

Muslim scholars differ as to when fetus is given a soul: some say 40 days after conception, while others say 120 days.<ref name=bbcislam>Template:Cite news</ref> Nevertheless Muslim scholars also assert an embryo's right to be respected starting at conception, even if it is not yet regarded as human life.<ref name=bbcislam/> Before 120 days some scholars permit abortion in cases of "great" fetal deformity.<ref name=bbcislam/> Mauritania prohibits abortion under any circumstance.<ref name="Center for Reproductive Rights 2023">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Shia Islam, abortion is "forbidden after implantation of the fertilised ovum." The leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini declared that shari'a forbids abortion without any reason "even at the earliest possible stage".<ref name="auto">Template:Cite journal</ref> Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei permitted abortion at 10 weeks in cases of thalassemia.<ref name=bbcislam/> Abortion before 120 days was allowed in cases of rape during the Bosnian war.<ref name=bbcislam/>

After 120 days the fetus is believed to be human life, yet it is still permissible to abort it to save the life of the mother. This is because a fetus will die anyway if the mother dies, and the mother is part of a family and she has responsibilities.<ref name=bbcislam/>

Judaism

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Orthodox Jewish teaching allows abortion if necessary to safeguard the life of the pregnant woman.<ref>Judaism and Abortion, BBC (2005-02-08).</ref><ref>Bank, Richard. The Everything Judaism Book, page 186 (Everything Books, 2002).</ref> While the Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative movements openly advocate for the right to a safe and accessible abortion, the Orthodox movement is less unified on the issue.<ref name=PewForum>The Pew Forum. September 30, 2008. Religious Groups’ Official Positions on Abortion, Retrieved on April 29, 2009.</ref> Many Orthodox Jews oppose abortion, except when it is necessary to save a woman's life (or, according to some, the woman's health).

In Judaism, views on abortion draw primarily upon the legal and ethical teachings of the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the case-by-case decisions of responsa, and other rabbinic literature. Generally speaking, Orthodox Jews oppose abortion after the 40th day,<ref>Talmud, Yevomot 69a states that prior to the 40th day, a foetus is "considered to be mere water"</ref><ref>Grodzenski, Achiezer Vol. 3, 65:14</ref> with health-related exceptions, and reform Jews tend to allow greater latitude for abortion.<ref>Articles published by the Schlesinger institute on abortion in Judaism: articles in English Template:Webarchive and in Hebrew Template:Webarchive, and the entry on abortion Template:Webarchive from the Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics (Hebrew)</ref> There are rulings that often appear conflicting on the matter. The Talmud states that a foetus is not legally a person until it is delivered.<ref>Jewish Abortion perspective 1 on Patheos Template:Webarchive</ref> The Torah contains the law that, "When men fight, and one of them pushes a pregnant woman, and a miscarriage results, but no other misfortune, the one responsible shall be fined...but if other misfortune ensues, the penalty shall be life (nefesh) for life (nefesh)." (Template:Bibleverse). That is, causing a woman to miscarry is a crime, but not a capital crime, because the fetus is not considered a person.<ref>Jewish Abortion perspective 2 on Patheos Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Jeremiah 1:5 states that, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> For some, this verse, while talking specifically about Jeremiah, is an indication that God is aware of the identity of "developing unborn human beings even before they enter the womb",<ref>James D. Slack, Abortion, Execution, and the Consequences of Taking Life (Transaction Publishers 2011 Template:ISBN), p. 27</ref> or that for everyone, God has a plan that abortion might be seen as frustrating.<ref>Jon Mayled, Libby Ahluwalia, Philosophy and Ethics (Nelson Thornes 2003 Template:ISBN)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Others say that this interpretation is incorrect, and that the verse is not related to personhood or abortion, as Jeremiah is asserting his prophetic status as distinct and special.<ref>Rachels, James. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003.</ref>

The Hebrew Bible has a few references to abortion; Exodus 21:22-25 addresses miscarriage by way of another's actions, which it describes as a non-capital offense punishable through a fine.<ref>Template:Bibleref2</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible describes the Ordeal of the bitter water (sotah) to be administered by a priest to a wife whose husband thinks she was unfaithful. Some scholars interpret the text as involving an abortifacient potion or otherwise that induces a miscarriage if the woman is pregnant with another man's child.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Rabbinical scholar Arnold Ehrlich interprets the ordeal such that it ends either harmlessly if the woman is faithful, or with an induced abortion: "the embryo falls".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Sikhism

The Sikh Sikh Rehat Maryada (code of conduct) does not deal directly with abortion. However, it does explicitly prohibit the practice of 'kuri-mar',<ref name="SikhRehtMaryada">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Patel2007">Template:Cite book</ref> a Punjabi term which literally means "girl killing" but also encompasses female foeticide.<ref name="Patel2007"/><ref name="OldenburgTalwar2010">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="McLeod2009">Template:Cite book</ref>

The Guru Granth Sahib (primary scripture and source of Sikh religious guidance for Sikhs), does not provide any specific dictate on abortion. Many Sikhs will therefore interpret certain parts of texts and make a personal decision when confronted with a clearly abnormal fetus.<ref name="The British Medical Journal (BMJ)">Template:Cite journal</ref>

However, while there is no explicit prohibition in the Guru Granth Sahib or the Sikh Rehat Maryada, abortion is generally viewed by some Sikhs as forbidden because it is said to interfere with the creative work of God.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">BBC</ref> Despite this theoretical viewpoint, abortion is not uncommon among the Sikh community in India, and there is growing concern that female foetuses are being aborted because of the cultural preference for sons.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>

Unitarian Universalism

The Unitarian Universalist Church strongly supports abortion rights. In 1978, the Unitarian Universalist Association passed a resolution that declared, "...[the] right to choice on contraception and abortion are important aspects of the right of privacy, respect for human life, and freedom of conscience of women and their families".<ref>Right to Choose Template:Webarchive</ref> The Association had released earlier statements in 1963 and 1968 favoring the reform of restrictive abortion laws.

See also

• Abortion debate
• Abortion law
• Religious views on birth control
• Separation of church and state