Editing Islamic sexual jurisprudence (section)

== Abortion ==
{{main|Islam and abortion}}

Islamic schools of law have differing opinions on abortion, though it is prohibited or discouraged by most.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sachedina |first=Zulie |title=Islam, Procreation and the Law |journal=International Family Planning Perspectives |year=1990 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=111}}</ref> However, abortion is allowed under certain circumstances, such as if the mother's health is [seriously] threatened. If the abortion is necessary to save the woman's life, Muslims universally agree that her life takes precedence over the life of the fetus.<ref>{{cite book |first=Donna Lee |last=Bowen |chapter=Contemporary Muslim Ethics of Abortion |editor-first=Jonathan E. |editor-last=Brockopp |title=Islamic ethics of life: abortion, war, and euthanasia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/?id=agqtUUoOgQoC |year=2003 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001185028/https://books.google.com/books?id=agqtUUoOgQoC&PA=88 |archivedate=2015-10-01 |isbn=9781570034718 }}</ref> Muslim jurists allow abortion in this context based on the principle that what is considered the greater evil{{spaced ndash}}the woman's death{{spaced ndash}}should be warded off by accepting the lesser evil of abortion. In these cases, the physician is considered a better judge than the scholar. Abortions of pregnancies that are merely unplanned or unwanted are generally ''haram'' (forbidden). The Qur'an forbids the abortion of a fetus for fear of poverty:

{{quote|...kill not your children on a plea of want; We provide sustenance for you and for them|{{cite quran|6|151|s=ns}}}}
{{quote|Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you: verily the killing of them is a great sin.|{{cite quran|17|31|s=ns}}}}

Muslim views on abortion are also shaped by the [[Hadith]] as well as by the opinions of legal and religious scholars and commentators. In Islam, the fetus is believed to become a living soul after four months of gestation,<ref>"''(The matter of the Creation of) a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days, and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write four things...then the soul is breathed into him''"<br>{{Hadith-usc|bukhari|usc=yes|4|54|430}}</ref> and abortion after that point is generally viewed as impermissible. Many Islamic thinkers recognize exceptions to this rule for certain circumstances; indeed, [[Azizah Y. al-Hibri]] notes that "the majority of Muslim scholars permit abortion, although they differ on the stage of fetal development beyond which it becomes prohibited."<ref name="USAToday">{{Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-08-13-forum-abortion_x.htm |work=[[USA Today]] |title=Where does God stand on abortion? |first=Tom |last=Ehrich |date=August 13, 2006 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627035106/http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-08-13-forum-abortion_x.htm |archivedate=June 27, 2012 }}</ref>

Most Muslim scholars hold that the child of rape is a legitimate human being and therefore subject to the same laws of abortion (i.e. its abortion is permitted only if the fetus is less than four months old, or if it endangers the life of its mother<ref name="iqap">{{cite web | url=http://islamqa.info/en/131275 | title=Her foetus died after 66 days gestation and was miscarried after 100 days. Is her bleeding nifaas? | publisher=Islamqa.info | accessdate=24 July 2015 | url-status=live | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724210816/http://islamqa.info/en/131275 | archivedate=24 July 2015 }}</ref>). Some scholars disagree with this position. Some Muslim scholars{{who|date=October 2016}} also argue that abortion is permitted if the newborn might be sick in some way that would make its care exceptionally difficult for the parents (e.g. deformities, mental retardation, etc.).<ref name="VRC">{{cite book |first=Vardit |last=Rispler-Chaim |chapter=The Right Not To Be Born: Abortion of the Disadvantaged Fetus in Contemporary Fatwas |editor-first=Jonathan E. |editor-last=Brockopp |title=Islamic ethics of life: abortion, war, and euthanasia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/?id=agqtUUoOgQoC |year=2003 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |pages=87–88 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001185028/https://books.google.com/books?id=agqtUUoOgQoC&PA=88 |archivedate=2015-10-01 |isbn=9781570034718 }}</ref>{{dubious|date=October 2016}}{{clarify|date=October 2016}}