These stances span a broad spectrum, based on numerous teachings, deities, or religious print, and some of those views are highlighted below.
[4] Religious people who advocate abortion rights generally believe that life starts later in the pregnancy, for instance at quickening, after the first trimester.
[5] The religious influence over the population of the country tends to be one of the massive determining factors on the legality of abortion.
Abortion, merely for the purpose of eliminating an unwanted child, is strongly deprecated in the Baháʼí Faith, although medical reasons may warrant it.
[6] Though Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, considered the intentional termination of a pregnancy as the ending of a life, there are no specific teachings in the Bahá’í sacred texts addressing it; the Universal House of Justice has thus concluded that it is not quite the same as murder and therefore within the purview of the Universal House of Justice to legislate on it, at a future date, if it so decides.
This would be the Catholic Church's position until 1869, when the limitation of automatic excommunication to abortion of a formed foetus was removed, a change that has been interpreted as an implicit declaration that conception was the moment of ensoulment.
[39] More specifically, the religious philosophy of both the Catholic Church and many Evangelical Christians denominations is that life begins at conception, and both groups have strong moral prohibitions against abortion, equating it to murder.
Most classical Hindu texts strongly condemn abortion, although the Sushruta Samhita recommends it if the fetus is defective.
[47] The British Broadcasting Corporation writes, "When considering abortion, the Hindu way is to choose the action that will do least harm to all involved: the mother and father, the foetus and society."
Some Hindus support abortion in cases where the mother's life is at imminent risk or when the foetus has a life-threatening developmental anomaly.
[54] Nevertheless Muslim scholars also assert an embryo's right to be respected starting at conception, even if it is not yet regarded as human life.
The leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini declared that shari'a forbids abortion without any reason "even at the earliest possible stage".
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.
[68][69] Others say that this interpretation is incorrect, and that the verse is not related to personhood or abortion, as Jeremiah is asserting his prophetic status as distinct and special.
[70] The Hebrew Bible has a few references to abortion; Exodus 21:22-25 addresses miscarriage by way of another's actions, which it describes as a non-capital offense punishable through a fine.
[71][72] The Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible describes the Ordeal of the bitter water (sotah) to be administered by a priest to a wife whose husband thinks she was unfaithful.
Some scholars interpret the text as involving an abortifacient potion or otherwise that induces a miscarriage if the woman is pregnant with another man's child.
[73][74][75][76] Rabbinical scholar Arnold Ehrlich interprets the ordeal such that it ends either harmlessly if the woman is faithful, or with an induced abortion: "the embryo falls".
However, it does explicitly prohibit the practice of 'kuri-mar',[78][79] a Punjabi term which literally means "girl killing" but also encompasses female foeticide.