http://rcrc.org/jewish/
Tldr: it is complicated, but generally abortion is allowed whenever the mother's life is in danger.
This makes sense actually. The idea that life begins with breathing has a biblical precedent. God literally breathes life into the first humans.
It's legal ONLY if the mothers life is in danger and if there is absolutely no way to save both mother and child... getting pregnant because you let your tinder hookup raw you doesn't count.
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· 4 years ago
So here's the actual summary:
"For Judaism, the evidence in matters of abortion, then, is reasonably clear. The legal codes and rabbinic teachings tend to depict the fetus as simply a part of a woman’s body. Just as one may not wantonly mutilate one’s own body, so, too, a woman is not permitted to obtain an abortion merely for reasons of convenience. But just as she is permitted to sacrifice a portion of her body for her greater good, so, too, may she obtain permission for an abortion in order to assure her overall well-being. The fetus is not a person; it has no rights. Questions of ensoulment, while interesting, are essentially irrelevant. Thus, abortion becomes permissible, according to the vast majority of authorities, under a wide variety of circumstances."
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· 4 years ago
So "convenient" abortions are prohibited, but abortion for the sake of the woman's health is allowed.
This comes from a fairly biased source, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. It's completely fair to assume that they will suffer from confirmation bias in their arguments.
It's also important to point out that this is the opinion of some rabbis, as Judaism doesn't have a president/figurehead to make sweeping decisions or interpretations for the whole religion.
That website is hardly a non-biased source. In the actual testament written in hebrew, in Exodus 21:22, they refer to an unborn child as a 'yeled', which means child, son, boy or youth. When describing miscarriage it states "yase û ye ladêhâ" which literally means "the child comes forth". Now look I'm not taking either a pro-choice or pro-life stance on this, but I am saying that the 'perspective' of a pro-choice advocacy group website is likely biased and I'm also saying the gymnastics they're trying to pull with Jewish law isnt lining up.
"We see the embryo as part of the mother's body..." Well, nowadays we understand genetics, and the embryo has a different genetic makeup as the mother.
Seriously, before you bad mouth Christianity, understand that the prolife people are against convenience abortions, not ones necessary to save the mothers life. The book I read had an interview with a doctor, who said he had never experienced that situation, so it's not occurring every day.
Tldr: it is complicated, but generally abortion is allowed whenever the mother's life is in danger.
This makes sense actually. The idea that life begins with breathing has a biblical precedent. God literally breathes life into the first humans.
"For Judaism, the evidence in matters of abortion, then, is reasonably clear. The legal codes and rabbinic teachings tend to depict the fetus as simply a part of a woman’s body. Just as one may not wantonly mutilate one’s own body, so, too, a woman is not permitted to obtain an abortion merely for reasons of convenience. But just as she is permitted to sacrifice a portion of her body for her greater good, so, too, may she obtain permission for an abortion in order to assure her overall well-being. The fetus is not a person; it has no rights. Questions of ensoulment, while interesting, are essentially irrelevant. Thus, abortion becomes permissible, according to the vast majority of authorities, under a wide variety of circumstances."
This comes from a fairly biased source, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. It's completely fair to assume that they will suffer from confirmation bias in their arguments.
It's also important to point out that this is the opinion of some rabbis, as Judaism doesn't have a president/figurehead to make sweeping decisions or interpretations for the whole religion.
Seriously, before you bad mouth Christianity, understand that the prolife people are against convenience abortions, not ones necessary to save the mothers life. The book I read had an interview with a doctor, who said he had never experienced that situation, so it's not occurring every day.