Smith,Symone


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Symone Smith's 2010 History Project

Rough Draft

Intro: How does religion effect a woman’s choice of abortion? Certainly the abortion rate has increased substantially. It leaves us wonder what is there to stop women from having abortions. I came up with one potential reason,religion. I decided to research three different religions to consider their views and thoughts on abortion. The three religions I considered were, Christianity, Judaism,and Islam. Consider first Judaism religious views on abortion.

**Interpretation and Analysis**

**//Judaism//** In my research I found an interview with Rabbi Simmons who gave his viewpoint on abortion and the Jewish religion. One of Rabbi Simmons first statements was that a basic Jewish law was that God himself does the family planning. Hence it can be concluded that if a woman gets pregnant it is view as something from God, according to this statement. However the Rabbi also said that “Nobody disputes a woman’s “free choice” over her body”. On the other hand he also described that it was agreed that there are limits to a woman’s choice. The example given was murder. Rabbi Simmons brought out another Jewish law that could direct refer to abortion. this law brought out how a baby became a “full-fledged human being” after its birth. Before its birth, a fetus is considered a “partial life”.

After finishing reading this interview I furthered my research. Judaism's perspective can be summed up in one sentence. Abortion is not forbidden however it is not permitted on demand. Each case of a woman of the jewish religion is taken into the consideration of a rabbi “well-versed in Jewish law”. The ultimate reason to permit abortion would be if the pregnancy is putting the mother’s life in jeopardy. An example of this type of circumstances would be that the pregnancy would cause the mother to commit suicide. In cases like these the mothers life would be viewed as more important thus the abortion would be justified.If this is not the case in a situation where a woman is requesting an abortion, there are many other reason that no doubt might outweigh a woman’s reason for abortion. For example killing a fetus could be considered breaking God’s command to populate the world. Or killing a fetus can be viewed as destroying something “ made in God’s image”. A perfect instance of an insufficient reason for having an abortion would be the abnormality of the baby. Most rabbi’s would not give their consent for abortion. One rabbi by the name of Moshe Feinstein even took this situation as far as ruling out screening of embryos to check wither or not a baby has some kind of abnormality.

**//Islam//**

In the Islam religion, abortion is absolutely forbidden. Abortion is viewed as murder for people of this religion. In my research I found quotes from the Sura that determine this set principle. Sura 17:33 says,“You shall not kill any (Nafs) person- for God has made life sacred-except in the course of justice...”. Abortion is viewed as murder and since killing is something that goes against God, it is obvious that abortion is of no choice without a life or death circumstance. One reason a woman might have for getting an abortion is because she finds that she has no means to support a child. Sura 17:33 says, “ You shall not kill your children due to fear of poverty. We provide for them, as well as for you. Killing them is a gross offense.” What this Sura is saying is straight forward, fear of being poor is no excuse for killing. Murder, killing of any kind really, is taking very seriously in this religion. The consequence of killing in this religion goes beyond a human punishment. Sura 4:93 says,” If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (forever)”. All life is viewed as sacred. Muslim scholars would say that a fetus is protected by Islam as a human life.

There is one extreme exception for abortion. If carrying the baby will kill the mother, then abortion is permitted. Saving the mothers life is viewed as “lesser of two evils” when speaking of abortion. In other words the mother’s life is more valuable because she is the “originator of the fetus” and has more responsibilities than a baby. Plus, say if the pregnancy continued and the mother dies, the fetus would also die. Thus saving the mothers life by having an abortion would be okay. This is the only reason abortion would be expectable.