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==External links==
==External links==
*the BBC's [http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/abortion/ Ethics:Abortion] page
*the BBC's [http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/abortion/ Ethics:Abortion] page

===Religious organizations which oppose abortion===
===Religious organizations which oppose abortion===
* [http://www.bfl.org/ Baptists for Life]
* [http://www.bfl.org/ Baptists for Life]

Revision as of 00:41, 24 April 2009

Template:Abortion debate sidebar Many religious traditions have taken a stance on abortion, and these stances span a broad spectrum from acceptance to rejection.[1]

Buddhism

Main article: Buddhist ethics

There is no single Buddhist view concerning abortion.[2] Those practicing in Japan and the United States are said to be more tolerant of abortion than those who live elsewhere.[3] In Japan, women sometimes participate in Mizuko kuyo (水子供養 — lit.) after an induced abortion or an abortion as the result of a miscarriage. 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."[4]

Christianity

Main article: Christianity and abortion

There is no mention in the Christian Bible about abortion, and at different times Christians have held different beliefs about abortion.[5] For example, St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope Innocent III, and Pope Gregory XIV believed that a fetus does not have a soul until "quickening," or when a woman begins to feel her fetus kick and move.[6] However, they would condemn abortion before this stage as a particularly nasty form of contraception. However, Pope Stephen V and Pope Sixtus V opposed abortion at any stage of pregnancy.[7]

Historically, Fundamentalist (Evangelical) Protestant denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention supported abortion rights, according to professor Randall Herbert Balmer of Barnard College.[8] It was not until 1980 that fundamentalist Protestants began to organize in opposition to abortion.[9]

The Eastern Orthodox, Mormon, Fundamentalist Protestant, and Roman Catholic denominations are against abortion. However, some of these denominations make exceptions in their doctrine for abortion performed to save the life of the pregnant woman, and in cases of pregnancy as a result of rape or incest.[10][11] Roman Catholics make no exceptions for cases of rape and incest, arguing that the way conception occurs makes no bearing on the sin of abortion. [12] The Roman Catholic Church also does not make an exception for the life of the pregnant woman per se, but it does not condemn procedures intended to save the pregnant that result in the loss of the fetus as a "secondary effect."[12]

Some Mainline Protestants, such as Episcopalians, Methodists, United Reformed, Quakers, those in the United Church of Christ, and Presbyterians (mainly PCUSA) are generally pro-choice, as are Unitarian Universalists. Some groups within these denominations are members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.[13]

Hinduism

Hindus hold varying stances on abortion. Some Hindu theologians believe personhood begins at 3 and develops through to 5 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.[14] Other Hindus have found that abortion, especially the abortion pill, is a major step towards women's empowerment.[15]

According to the Hinduism Today website, "Several Hindu institutions have shared their positions on abortion recently. The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University does not take a formal unchanging political or religious stance on the issue of abortion. They advise that each case requires unique consideration... The Brahma Kumaris view the body as a physical vehicle for the immortal soul, and therefore the issue is not "pro-life" or "anti-life" but a choice between the amount of suffering caused to the souls of the parents and child in either course, abortion or motherhood."[16]

Other Hindu institutions oppose abortion,[17] and teach that abortion prevents a soul in its karmic progress toward God.[18] According to the British Broadcasting Corporation website, "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. Hinduism is therefore generally opposed to abortion except where it is necessary to save the woman's life... Many Hindus regard the production of offspring as a 'public duty', not simply an 'individual expression of personal choice' (see Lipner, "The classical Hindu view on abortion and the moral status of the unborn" 1989)."[19]

Islam

Among Muslims, abortion is Haram or forbidden in most cases but is acceptable depending on the circumstances around the pregnancy. In the case where the woman's life is threatened by the pregnancy, Muslim jurists agree that abortion is allowed based on the principle that "the greater evil [mother's death] should be warded off by the lesser evil [abortion]." In these cases the physician is considered a better judge than the scholar.[20]

Islamic scholars differ on when life begins. The medieval scholar Al-Ghazali writes that life occurs "when semen is injected into the womb where it merges with the ovum and becomes predisposed to receive life."[21] 120 days is often seen as the point at which a fetus becomes fully human. This has been described as an angel coming and "breathing life into the fetus." Before this time, the fetus lacks a human soul, and is considered on the same level as plants and animals.[22] Hanafi, Shafi and Zaydi schools of thought permit abortion before the fourth month.[22]

On the issue of the life of the woman, Muslims universally agree that her life takes precedence over the life of the fetus. This is because the woman is considered the "original source of life," while the fetus is only "potential" life.[23]

Some Muslim scholars also argue in favor of abortion in early pregnancy if the newborn might be sick in some way that would make its care exceptionally difficult for the parents (eg. deformities, mental retardation, etc). Some scholars argue that abortion is allowed for important reasons in the first 40 days. Sheikh Nasr Farid Wasil extends this period to 120 days.[24] Ikrima Sabri, the Grand Mufti of Palestine, gave a ruling that Muslim women raped by Serb men during the Kosovo War could take abortifacient medicine.[25][26]

Judaism

Main article: Judaism and abortion

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. In the modern period, moreover, Jewish thinking on abortion has responded both to liberal understandings of personal autonomy as well as Christian opposition to abortion.[27] Generally speaking, orthodox Jews oppose abortion, with a few mandatory health-related exceptions, and reform and conservative Jews tend to allow greater latitude for abortion.[28]

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was a leading opponent of abortion in the Orthodox Jewish tradition. [29] His views are largely echoed today by rabbi Yehuda Levin, who has stood with pro-lifers in other traditions. [30].

Sikhism

Although the Sikh code of conduct does not deal directly with abortion (or indeed many other bioethical issues), it is generally forbidden in Sikhism because it interferes in the creative work of God. [31]Despite this theoretical viewpoint, abortion is not uncommon among the Sikh community in India, and there is growing concern that female fetuses are being aborted because of the cultural preference for sons.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ BBC "Religion and Ethics" Be aware that these BBC pages do not cover all Protestant, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist beliefs.
  2. ^ "Abortion: Buddhism." BBC Religion & Ethics. Retrieved January 15, 2008.
  3. ^ Barnhart, Michael G. (1995). Buddhism and the Morality of Abortion. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 5. Retrieved August 10, 2006.
  4. ^ Dreifus, Claudia. (November 28, 1993). "The Dalai Lama." The New York Times
  5. ^ When Children Became People: the birth of childhood in early Christianity by Odd Magne Bakke
  6. ^ Religious Tolerance
  7. ^ ReligiousTolerance.org
  8. ^ They Kingdom Come pg. 15, a book by Randall Herbert Balmer, Professor of Religion and History at Barnard College.
  9. ^ Thy Kingdom Come pg. 12, a book by Randall Herbert Balmer, Professor of Religion and History at Barnard College.
  10. ^ Ny Times
  11. ^ Religious Tolerance
  12. ^ a b American Catholic.org
  13. ^ Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
  14. ^ Chapter 1: Dilemmas of Life and Death: Hindu Ethics in a North American Context | Date: 1995 | Author: Crawford, S. Cromwell
  15. ^ The Hindu: Online edition of India's National Newspaper
  16. ^ Hinduism Today "Hindus In America Speak out on Abortion Issues"
  17. ^ Hinduism Today
  18. ^ Feminism & Nonviolence Studies | Date: 9/22/1998 | Author: Derr, Mary Krane; Murti, Vasu
  19. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/hinduethics/abortion_1.shtml
  20. ^ BBC.co.uk
  21. ^ al-Ghazali. al-Islam 'aqida wa shari'a, 3d ed. (Cairo: Dar al-Qalam, n.d.), 211-13.
  22. ^ a b Musallam, B. (1990) "The Human Embryo in Arabic Scientific and Religious Thought" in G. R. Dunstan (ed.) The Human Embryo (Exeter : 1990)
  23. ^ Bowen (2003), pg. 61, who attributes this to: Ebrahim, Abortion, 19.
  24. ^ Chaim (2003), pg. 86
  25. ^ Ikrima Sabri. Fatwa shar'iyya hawla jarimat al-ightisab fi Kusuvu (Jerusalem: Publications of Majlis al-Fatwa al-Ala, 25 April 1999).
  26. ^ Quoted by: Chaim (2003), pg. 88
  27. ^ Jakobovits, Sinclair
  28. ^ Articles published by the Schlesinger institute on abortion in Judaism: articles in English and in Hebrew, and the entry on abortion from the Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics (Hebrew)
  29. ^ [1]
  30. ^ American Jewish Rabbis Show Solidarity with Vatican against Obama's Anti-Life Measures
  31. ^ a b BBC

Religious organizations which oppose abortion

Here is a partial list of religious groups that support legal abortion.

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