Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective Judaism does not categorically approve or disapprove of abortion. Jewish law does not consider a fetus to be a human being; thus it actually requires abortions when a pregnant woman’s life is in danger.

Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective Jewish authorities disagree on whether to extend the permissibility of abortion to situations where the pregnancy or birth is psychologically but not physically dangerous Those who allow for abortion in such cases disagree on how far to extend this permissibility

Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective Most of these authorities allow abortion in cases of incest or rape and cases where the fetus is affected with a terminal genetic disease such as Tay-Sachs

Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective Other authorities extend permissibility further and may include cases where the fetus has a non-terminal genetic defect or even situations where the mere fact of pregnancy and anticipated childbirth is a threat to the mother’s mental health

Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective Jewish law not only permits, but in some circumstances requires abortion

Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective Where the mother's life is in jeopardy because of the unborn child, abortion is mandatory

Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective An unborn child has the status of "potential human life" until the majority of the body has emerged from the mother

Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective Potential human life is valuable, and may not be terminated casually, but it does not have as much value as a life in existence

Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective The Talmud makes no bones about this: it says quite bluntly that if the fetus threatens the life of the mother, you cut it up within her body and remove it limb by limb if necessary, because its life is not as valuable as hers

Bioethics - Abortion from the Jewish Perspective But once the greater part of the body has emerged, you cannot take its life to save the mother's, because you cannot choose between one human life and another.