In Judaism, views on abortion draw primarily upon the legal and ethical teachings of the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the case-by-case decisions of responsa, and other rabbinic literature.
While most major Jewish religious movements discourage abortion, except to save the life of a pregnant woman, authorities differ on when and whether it is permitted in other cases.
The ancient Jewish historian Philo taught that the term "harm" refers exclusively to the child, and whether a fine is imposed or capital punishment depends on whether the fetus has sufficiently formed.
[4] To gain the status of human life, the Mishnah states that the head or a greater portion of the fetus must exit the birth canal.
[7] A pregnant woman who develops a ravenous hunger must be fed even on Yom Kippur to prevent loss of life;[8] later authorities debate whether the situation described involves danger to the fetus, mother, or both.
[17] Many Jewish traditions therefore state sitting shiva, holding a public burial, recognizing the yartzeit (anniversary of a death), or other mourning riguals do not apply in the case of aborted or miscarried fetuses.
[18] In recent years, a variety of new types of observances are arising to give individuals and families sacred paths to mourning and remembrance in accordance with halakah.
[23] According to Rashi, the reason behind this law is that a fetus is not a viable soul (lav nefesh hu) until it is born, and killing it to save the woman is permitted.
[24] Maimonides, though, justified the law not because the fetus is less than a nefesh (human being), as the Talmud held, but rather through the principle of the rodef or pursuer, "pursuing her to kill her."
Schiff argues that the Maimonidean view is "unprecedented" and "without doubt, this hitherto unexpressed insight had dramatic potential ramifications for the parameters of permissible abortion."
[33] Viewing Noahide law as a universalizing ethics, Sinclair states: "it is evident that the halakhah in the area of foeticide is shaped by a combination of legal doctrine and moral principle.
[36] In the standard code of Jewish law, the Shulchan Aruch, abortion in the case where it would be a risk to the woman is permitted; Maimonides's language, speaking of the fetus as pursuer, is included verbatim.
[38] Later authorities have differed as to how far one might go in defining the peril to the woman in order to justify abortion, and at what stage of gestation a fetus is considered as having a soul, at which point one life cannot take precedence over another.
In a key responsum, R. Yair Bacharach found it permissible to perform an abortion on a woman who became pregnant after an affair, causing the child resulting from this pregnancy to be classified as a mamzer.
For example, the Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg wrote that there is room for leniency if there is a danger to maternal health or severe pain, and permitted abortion of an abnormal fetus before quickening and within three months of conception.
[45] The Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has ruled that an abortion is justifiable if a continuation of pregnancy might cause the woman severe physical or psychological harm, or if the fetus is judged by competent medical opinion as severely defective; a fetus is a life in the process of development, and the decision to abort should never be taken lightly.
Before reaching her final decision, conservative Judaism holds that a woman should consult with the biological father, other members of her family, her physician, her Rabbi, and any other person who can help her in assessing the legal and moral issues involved.
"[46] The Reform Movement has actively opposed legislation to restrict the right of women to choose to abort a fetus, especially in situations in which the health of the woman is endangered by continued pregnancy.
In writing against a legal ban on so-called "partial birth abortion," Rabbi David Ellenson, president of the Reform Movement's Hebrew Union College, has written, "This law as it has been enacted unquestionably diminishes the inviolable status and worth that ought to be granted women as moral agents created in the image of God.
[citation needed] Catholic and Evangelical Christian theologies that promote the idea of the personhood of a fetus dominate political discussion of abortion in the US; however, this is not a concern in Judaism.