The Difference between Christian and Muslim Stances on Abortion

Since there appears to be a lot of discussion on abortion in recently, in light of the leak of US Supreme Court opinion on overturning Roe v Wade, a lot of people are saying the US is going to be a "sharia law" country. Comedians such as Trevor Noah made this joke, while a lot of Muslims are posting links to Ben Shapiro and using the same arguments that the Republican right uses in USA. What I wanted to emphasize is that US pro-life arguments come from their understanding of Christianity, which is different from the Muslim point of view, so using some of the Republican arguments is a non-starter.

1. Christianity believes life begins at conception. Thus their stance on abortion is tied to this belief. Abortion in Christianity is murder, plain and simple. If you are a believing Christian, you cannot reconcile support for abortion on a theological level, because you ARE killing a life.
   
   
2. Muslims believe by and large that the soul enters the fetus at 120 days after conception (majority opinion). Some minority scholars believe in 40 days. So almost unanimously, before 120 days the fetus is just a growing body of cells and tissue. Yes, it has the potential of becoming a living thing, but it is not LIFE yet.
   
   
3. Regardless, the Muslim stance on abortion is NOT based on when life begins, unlike Christianity (which is what Ben Shapiro, who coincidentally is a Jew, believes).
   
   
4. Can you terminate a pregnancy AFTER the first trimester (i.e. after 120 days, when it is now a living soul)? The unanimous verdict is that without a valid reason, NO. This is different from Christianity, which is a NO regardless of reason. In Islam, the life of the mother is held to be more valuable than the life of the fetus. Hence if the life of the mother is at risk, abortion at ANY MOMENT can be justified. The greater the concrete reason, the more lenient the verdict. It should be noted that nowadays, with modern science, you do not have to abort as we have lots of success with premature births.
   
   
5. What about before 120 days (i.e. the first trimester)? There is a valid difference of opinion. Some Hanafi scholars are very lenient, saying you don't need ANY valid reason. Other scholars from other madhabs are split on this. You can read more about it in the sources I will provide at the end of this article. Again, this is vastly different from Christianity, which is NO ABORTION AT ALL UNDER ANY CONDITIONS because it is MURDER. It is important to understand this distinction.

So if you are speaking from an Islamic point of view, and someone asks you what is the correct summary of Islamic position on abortion, this would be the correct answer:

1. In Islam, life begins at some point AFTER conception (120 days).
   
   
2. There is valid difference of opinion on the permissibility of abortion in the first trimester if done WITHOUT ANY VALID REASON.
   
   
3. There is unanimous consent that abortion is NOT ALLOWED after the first trimester UNLESS there is compelling valid reasons tied to the health of the mother.
   
   
4. At any point, the life of the mother is superior to the life of the fetus.
   
   
5. As a general point of note, abortion is not something that is the recommended option. Exceptional circumstances require specific judgements.

Thus you can see that the Shariah is actually more flexible, and more accommodating to concerns of society, the woman, the man, the family, the marital unit, the future child and keeps a good balance overall.

What about "my body, my choice" ?

In Islam, we are slaves of Allah. We submit to Him (hence the name Muslim). We do what He has commanded. We have the choice not to follow His rules, but then we will answer for it.

What about "only a woman should speak on abortion" ?

That is not the Islamic point of view. 

I hope this post can shed a light on some of the discussion where many people are bringing religious perspectives. Even if as a Muslim you believe in the strictest option in the first trimester, know that valid scholarly difference of opinion on this exists.

Sources:

1. What Does Sharia Really Say About Abortion in Islam
   
   
2. Islam and the Abortion Debate (Infographic)
   
   
3. Islam and the Abortion Debate (Article)

Why "My Body, My Choice" and Abortion is Infanticide

This is going to be a post about abortion, given the recent wave of laws being passed in the US. Even though my own position is that I would like the government to stay out of it, in the future if a Conservative government were to bring the legislation that abortion is to be banned except in case of rape / incest, health of the mother, or genetic defects of the fetus, I would be fine with it.

I am going to present some statistics that sometimes women (feminists) do not consider. Do you know, for example, that over 3000 children (viable, breathing, living children) are killed in the name of abortion every year? Please read on - this is the logical conclusion of "my body, my choice".

All Canadian data is from Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Where needed, US data is from CDC.

1. Canada has around 98,000 abortions / year (2016). This is down from 100,000+ abortions in 2014.
2. Approximately 1 in 5 (20%) of Canadian pregnancies end in an abortion.
3. The most common age for women having an abortion is 18-34 (76%). Breaking it down further, 27% of abortions are done for women aged 25-29.
4. 83% of abortions occur before the fetus is 12 weeks. 3.3% occur after 21 weeks.
5. Only 1.5% of abortions are for rape or incest reasons, and another 2% are for health reasons (mother and child).

These numbers do not include private hospitals who are not required to report data. Now take a look at the above data. What does this tell you?

The overwhelming number of abortions occur due to young women deciding they do not want a baby at this time. This is not rape, this is not incest, this is not health reasons - those are the extreme emotional cases the left wing feminists try to force into the discussion; but their numbers are negligible. The OVERWHELMING number of abortions in Canada are young women deciding nah, I don't want a child at THIS time of my life.

ISN'T that selfish? Isn't that putting your own ego and desires above the moral code of life? YOU chose to have sex; no one forced you - and then your night of pleasure ended in a pregnancy, and now you are decided to kill the baby because convenience. How is that morally ANY different from a farmer in India who decides his wife should get an abortion because the fetus is a girl? HOW?

Take a look at the extreme end of the abortions - the 3.3% occurring after 21 weeks. Science agrees a fetus is viable after 24 weeks. We all know it's a living being way before that. Most religions agree life begins way before that. Yet in Canada, even accounting for rape, health, genetic defects, about 3000 such lives are taken every year. At that far in pregnancy, surgical or chemical abortion is not viable - the lady is induced into labour, and then then child (no longer a fetus) is KILLED.

There is actually a legal debate happening now in the States - a bill that would FORCE doctors to provide care to these children (babies, really) as if they were real, living babies - WHICH THEY ARE! Think about it, if a woman normally went into labour at 24 weeks, the doctors would do everything in their power to save the premature child. Here, the woman is induced to labour, and the resulting baby is then killed. The US law is called "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act" , and the Democrats (and their feminist patrons) blocked it. This is why Trump will win again. On these moral issues, he is actually on the right side of it (pun intended).

This is the logical end of "my body, my choice" - actual INFANTICIDE that we are condoning when we say we are "pro-choice". As a society, we have already turned away from God. We now condone adultery (consensual sex, one night stands), we condone children out of wedlock (common law), we condone infanticide (abortion) and we are told religion should be personal. So is it any surprise that when the religious right wins elections, they are trying to bring back morality into the law? Yes, the religious right has lots of issues in North America, but on this particular issue, they appear to be on the right (pun, again intended).