Abortion is a sensitive topic when it comes to religion. Many religions consider abortion to be a crime, a killing of a sacred human life, and an unruly murder. Abortion was made legal in the U.S. on January 22nd, 1873, in the UK, 1967. Women seeking abortions could now do that procedure safely and legally, but not so much morally. Many religious texts like the Bible, the Hebrew Bible, and Qu’ran feature scripts that are anti-abortion. In the Didache, a Catholic document written in the 2nd century, states “You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.” (BBC, 2009) Because of such statements, many women who are religious are put in an uncomfortable place between their own health and their morals. Most religions …show more content…
The Catholic religion claims that “deliberately causing an abortion is a grave moral wrong.” (BBC, 2009) Many of the Catholic religious officials stand behind this statement, Pope John II stating in his encyclical that “I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.” While the Catholic religion has negative views on abortion, according to a research survey conducted by the Guttmacher Institute shows that 28% of women obtaining abortions identify as Catholics. (Guttmacher Institute, 2009) On September 1st, Pope Francis announced that all Catholic priests would be empowered to offer absolution for the “sin of abortion” during the church’s Holy Year of Mercy. (The New York Times, 2015) Pope Francis states that “I have met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this antagonizing and painful decision, what has happened is profoundly unjust; yet only understanding the truth of it can enable one not to lose hope.” (The New York Times, 2015) Although Pope Francis is allowing religious acceptance of abortion for the Holy Year of Mercy, the Vatican states that Pope Francis is not changing his views on abortion …show more content…
Overall, abortion is seen as forbidden in the Muslim community but like the Catholics, there are exceptions. While the Qu’ran does not mention the forbiddance of abortion directly, it does mention similar situations that could be applied to abortion. In the Qu’ran it states “Whoever destroys one life is as if he destroyed a whole world, and whoever preserves a life is as if he preserved the whole world.”(BBC, 2015) This could be used to reference abortion, telling the followers of the Islamic religion that destroying a life is a direct comparison to destroying a whole world. While the Islamic religion as a whole has not been very official on where they stand on the topic of abortion, there is a well-known idea that is spread in the Islamic religion. On December 5th, 2012 a Nation of Islam leader warned Dominican audiences about abortion. He states “The act of abortion should never be an option.” (Dominica News Online, 2012) He began to tell the students of the Dominica State college that while the age of consent is 16, that these students should be very careful when considering partners and the end result of the choice of sexual activity. Louis Farrakhan continues to tell students that despite the fact they have options, that they should reconsider the act of abortion because that child could be the next person to significantly change the world. (Dominica News Online, 2012) His exact words were, “Once you get pregnant, this womb of
Abortion has been a political, social, and personal topic for many years now. The woman’s right to choose has become a law that is still debated, argued and fought over, even though it has been passed. This paper will examine a specific example where abortion is encouraged, identify the Christian world views beliefs and resolution as well as the consequences of such, and compare them with another option.
On Thursday May 7th Pope Francis and the Catholic Church had announced that they would forgive anyone how has had aborted. However still sticking to the belief that abortion is a sin Pope Francis and the Vatican bid on this to catch up with modern times. He would be sending out his Missionaries of mercy to pardon any women how have aborted a child. In addition to that he would also be reaching out to the doctors and the nurses who help perform abortions. Which will start in the so called Holy Year of Mercy which will be acknowledged on December 8, 2015 through November 20,215. However some think doing this would cause misperception among the Catholic community. But, others like Italy’s Cardinal Velasio de Paolis has said he’s the pope of mercy
The relentless support of abortion is always contradicting the moral and good teachings of the Church. Through passed laws, pro-choice supporters have made it possible for many women to have abortions. In some countries, including the United States, there does not have to be a reason for a woman to have an abortion early in the pregnancy. The Supreme Court in the United States ruled that the fetus’s ability to live was between about twenty four weeks to twenty-six weeks (Glendon 22). These laws show that supporters of abortion do not believe that life begins at conception. This is contrary to the teachings of the Church. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). God knew us before we were conceived. He made us accord...
Since the Darwinian Revolution of the 19th century our society has turned upside down. Everything under the sun had become questionable, the origin of life, how we came to be, where are we headed and what to do in the here all became questions in life. But one of the greatest impacts of this new age thinking is its effect on our Old World values. Western societies values, morals and ethics became debatable, with some people striving for change and others clinging for stability. Battle lines had been drawn and the Liberals and Conservatives were ready to duke it out on a number of issues. One of these debates centers on a woman?s right to have and abortion. According to the Webster?s dictionary and abortion is defined as a miscarry, something misshapen or unnatural. An abortion is a procedure in which an embryo or fetus is prohibited from developing by artificial means. One could argue that this is next to murder. How can we as a society sanction the murdering of developing babies? Also it can equally be stated that abortion is unnatural and a health hazard to women who have undergone the procedure. Whatever the case, abortion should be outlawed because it is immoral and mothers should face the responsibilities of their actions. Many arguments can be used in order to put an end to abortion or at least in order to establish dialogue. One of the oldest arguments against abortion is the religious standpoint. Western society (Canada & U.S.A.) is historically a Judeo-Christian culture with Judeo-Christian values. Although in recent times we have become an increasingly pluristic society the Old World thinking is still at the heart of our social relations and laws. The Bible says ?Thou shalt not kill? thus prohibiting people from harming others or themselves. Abortion and its advocates violate this law. They seek to change one of the most fundamental values of our society. Pro-choice under this stance is equated with murder and ?playing God?. One may raise the question, how can a minority inflict its views of the majority? According to Francis X. Meenan, this is a false assumption. He goes on to claim that those who favor abortion on demand are the real minority (Bender & Leone, 97). He also claims that the issue of abortion is a moral debate and cannot be settled by numbers. So even if pro-choice advocates outnumbered pro-life advocates, this would prove or...
In her article, “The Pope’s Unforgiving Message of Forgiveness on Abortion,” Jill Filipovic argued that the Pope’s announcement that women who have aborted fetuses will be given forgiveness during the churches Holy Year of Mercy is actually an act of cruelty rather than mercy. Although Jill Filipovic presented sufficient evidence to support her position, she did have biases and other aspects of her writing that also weakened her argument. Throughout the article Filipovic employed emotional appeals, logical appeals, and emotionally charged diction to strengthen her argument. On the other hand Filipovic also displayed clear
Abortion, which is defined as a deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, is one of the most controversial issues in society. Many people believe that abortion is unethical and morally wrong, while others believe that it is a woman’s right to decide what to do with her body. According to www.census.gov, “the number of abortions performed annually in the U.S. has leveled off at 1.2 million a year” (1). This statistic supports how many women are choosing abortion. Although abortion is legal in the United States, many people continue to voice their opinions on how it is a human rights violation and should be illegal everywhere.
Abortion is one of the most debated topics, some people believe it is immoral while others support this issue. Abortion is define as termination of pregnancy before birth. This article was published by Dennis Prager, who wrote a story that was titled, “Jews and Abortion”. I decided to review this article because most of the world religions are anti-abortion but some religions do allow it. For example, Judaism does not prohibit abortion, it’s one of the many religions that does not perceive abortion as murder, and rather they see it as a need if the mother's life becomes at risk due to the pregnancy. In Judaism an abortion can only be perform only if the child will directly cause the mother to die if it is not aborted.
As one knows, some unwanted pregnancies could often be harmful and distressing for a woman. Women should have the right over their body to choose to sustain the fetus or not. In the past decades, women did not have their freedom of abortion in many countries of the world. There have always been controversies going on about abortion. Each individual has dissimilar views on the legality of abortion. Some people are against abortion for personal religious purposes and beliefs. For those who don’t believe in abortion, it is because they see it as killing a fetus, which is a human being. Others support abortion because they believe in women’s rights. Laws of abortion vary in each country, and abortion is not legal all over the world. It is illegal under any conditions but only permitted to save woman’s life if in countries such as Brazil, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, and Ireland. However, abortion is legal without any restrictions in countries like Canada, Albania, and Italy. It the past decades Abortion was considered as criminal act in Canada. “If an abortion was carried out without such approval, the woman was liable for imprisonment for 2 years, an...
Abortion is a voluminous topic today all around the world. Differing viewpoints on abortion are recognized in politics, religion, and throughout the general population. There is a small amount of people who are nonchalant on the subject. Women have abortions for many different reasons and according to certain groups these reasons are either justified or not. Everyone tends to have their own articulated opinion, and many vocalize tenaciously what they believe. Pro-life individuals along with religion are sanguine that abortion is ethically and morally erroneous. Whereas those who are pro-choice say that abortion is inconsequential and the mother’s choice is more important than the fetus. Reasons to not get an abortion include risks involved in receiving an abortion. In some cases death can occur. However, there are other alternatives to abortion. For example, raising the child and adoption.
Abortion, defined as the intentional termination of a pregnancy, is one of the most highly debated liberties of all time. Approximately one to three million abortions are performed each year. Women receive abortions for reasons such as rape, teen pregnancy, and health concerns. Unfortunately, it is a liberty that some still wish to eradicate due to religious beliefs and misconceptions. Abortion should remain a legal option for women because illegal abortions result in far more fatalities, religion does not serve as grounds for a law, and most importantly, there is no conclusive evidence that a fetus is equal to a human being.
In the mainstream Christianity, abortions are not considered in the bible, but it is not viewed as something good. However, the Catholic and Orthodox Church oppose late-term abortion in almost any situations. Hinduism has many varied views towards it, but the original and traditional text condemns elective abortions. In the Islamic faith, late-term abortion is not permissible because it is over four months of pregnancy. Sikhism interdicts late-term abortion because it states that people shall not interfere in the...
Throughout this paper I hope women realize that abortions in any aspect is wrong. I also hope that I persuaded people in saying that abortions are against the Bible and that abortion is morally
For many years, the morality of abortion has been questioned by two perspectives: pro-choice and pro-life. While modern culture explains that abortion is a woman’s free choice if she does not want the unborn baby, the Catholic Church teaches the world that from the moment of conception there is a child with a soul within the womb, and to abort it would be to murder an innocent being.
When the topic of abortion comes up people refer to the bible’s sixth commandment “thou shall not kill” and they feel that having an abortion is killing a baby no matter what stage of the pregnancy it is in. People feel that abortion should not be legal. Professor of law at the University of Colorado, Paul Campos said, “Whether or not abortion should be legal turns on the answer to the question of whether and at what point a fetus is a person. This is a question that cannot be answered logically or empirically. The concept of parenthood is neither logical nor empirical. It is essentially, or quasi-religious idea, based on one’s fundamental (and therefore unverifiable) assumptions about the nature of the world.” People have different views on abortion, when it’s acceptable, when its not and some just think that no matter what the circumstances it is never okay. There are people that believe that abortion is only acceptable under certain conditions such as the woman was raped or she got pregnant due to incest. Some people feel that an abortion acceptable when the woman is in danger. People who are more about the choice of the woman feel that abortion is okay when it is done in the first trimester.
In addition, the Bible doesn’t mention anything that explicitly condemns abortion. Abortion will not stop. Limiting female access to legal procedures or adequate public health service, will only cause death of females. If abortion becomes illegal or is restriction, it may result in back-alley abortions or unsafe procedures will then, not only threatens the mother 's life, but also her unborn child. Unwanted children are severely abused and often are abandoned, which then will cause a strain on society as a hold. Mishell, Jr., MD, say that, before abortion was legalized in the 1970’s, women would frequently try to induce abortions by using coat hangers, knitting needles, or radiator flush. By restricting proper abortion procedures, put women in