Religion and Abortion

• They wrongly claim abortion causes breast cancer; ^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5
  1} Medical Groups Recognizing Link, links to other proLifers who still claims abortion causes breast cancer;
  ² Abortion, Miscarriage, and Breast Cancer Risk, National Cancer Institute, cancer.gov says abortion does NOT increase risk of breast cancer;
  ³ Induced Abortion and the Risk of Breast Cancer, by Mads Melbye, M.D., Jan Wohlfahrt, M.Sc., Jørgen H. Olsen, M.D., Morten Frisch, M.D., Tine Westergaard, M.D., Karin Helweg-Larsen, M.D., and Per Kragh Andersen, Ph.D., N Engl J Med 1997; 336:81-85. This is the famous Swedish study talked about;
  ⁴ Induced Abortion as an Independent Risk Factor for Breast Cancer: A Critical Review of Recent Studies Based on Prospective Data, Joel Brind, PhD, leading anti-abortion advocate of an abortion-breast cancer link, Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Vol 10, No. 4, Winter 2005;
  ⁵ Other, more detailed, breast cancer (non-)debate articles;
  

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• They wrongly claim abortion causes post-abortion-stress syndrome (PAS or PASS) which does not exist; ^{6, 7, 8, 9
  1} postabortionsyndrome.org One proLifer who claims it exist;.
  ² Abortion under Attack by Cynthia Cooper, Ms. Magazine, August-Septmeber 2001;
  ³ Abortion and Mental Health: Myths and Realities by Susan A. Cohen, Guttmacher Institute;
  ⁴ The Myth of Abortion Trauma Syndrome: Update, 2007 by Nada Stotland, M.D., psychiatryonline.com;
  

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• They wrongly claim abortion causes emotional scarring and relationship problems (similar to PAS), future infertility (untrue) and and other claims, none of which are caused by abortion;^{1, 2, 3, 4
  1} Women Risk Passing Infertility to Children If They Delay Motherhood, physiciansforlife.org;
  ² Fertility after contraception or abortion, Huggins GR, Cullins VE, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Francis Scott Key Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, Fertil Steril. 1990 Oct;54(4):559-73;
  ³ Could an abortion increase the risk of problems in a subsequent pregnancy?, Roger W. Harms, M.D., Mayo Clinic, Minnesota
  ⁴ How Operation Rescue and National Right to Life Spin Abortion Research, Rachel Walden, MLIS, Women's Health News, August 19, 2007;
  

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• They wrongly claim fetal heartbeats somehow equates to abortion immorality. Fetal animals have early heartbeats also, but is irrelevant. This is why proLifers push sonogram and heartbeat monitor laws, and all the Right To Know laws: It is revived ancient ritual public shamings. Recent proposed lawswant to ban abortions after heartbeat is detected. We can detect a heartbeat at 5weeks LMP and the fetus is too small to do a regular surgical abortion before this. So basically these proposed laws would ban all abortions;

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• They wrongly claim fetal pain (untrue and irrelevant) from abortion is reason enough prohibit abortion. They claim the poor mother's anguish is irrelevant, and deserved because of her sin, that if Jesus were in her life and if she were married, she wouldn't have any problems;^{1, 2, 3, 4
  1} Fetal Pain, by Bill West, MD, National Abortion Federation member, 2004. Fetal pain is untrue, and the women's suffering is more important anyway;
  ² Maternal & Early Environmental Influences on Emotional, Sexual, and Neurological Development, Part IV, by Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D., Reprinted from Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology,Clinical Neuroscience, 3rd Edition (University Press). The amygdala of the brain is also very instrumental in pain perception, and although begins formation at 9 weeks, does not fully mature until well after birth with physical contact as part of the maturation process. Lack of touch causes autism and pathological social withdrawal, 1999;
  ³Consciousness and the brainstem, Parvizi J, Damasio A, Department of Neurology, Division of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Iowa College of Medicine, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, Iowa, 2000;
  ⁴ Fetal Pain, A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review of the Evidence, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 294 No. 8, August 24/31, 2005.
  

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• Related to the previous argument, they wrongly claim the fetus wants to live because it reacts to painful stimuli, that the fetus supposedly feels pain. This implies thoughts which the fetus cannot have until sometime after 29 weeks when the folded grey matter of the brain starts developing, in my opinion, NOR could we read those thoughts. Many non-sentient organisms express self-protective behaviour. A one-celled amoeba in water on a microscope glass slide moves away from acid on the far side of the microscope slide. Yet, we have few problems taking antibiotics to kill same bacteria, nor harvesting cattle, fish, and poultry who evade capture, nor lethal testing on chimpanzees who are more sentient than the fetus;^{1, 2, 3
  1} Chemotaxis, Single-celled and multi-cellular organisms move towards or away from chemicals;
  ² Dictyostelium discoideum, A seemingly sentient amoeba moves, eats, seeks company of other amoebas;
  ³ Chimpanzees in Research — History, pro-chimpanzee, Project Release & Restitution;
  

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• They avoid discussing that full-term (birth, the abortion alternative) post-partum depression ("Baby Blues") has a higher severity and likelihood when carried full-term;^{1, 2, 3, 4
  1} Postpartum depression, A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia, Reviewed by: David B. Merrill, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc., U.S. National Library of Medicine;
  ² Depression during and after pregnancy fact sheet, womenshealth.gov;
  ³ Postpartum Depression, Journal of the American Medical Association, October 2010;
  ⁴ Progesterone receptor antagonist CDB-4124 increases depression-like behavior in mice without affecting locomotor ability, (Withdrawl from pregnancy-induced high progesterone levels hypothesized-cause of postpartum depression), Beckley EH, Scibelli AC, Finn DA, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, PubMed.gov, 2011;
  

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• They avoid discussing Infertility from sexually transmitted disease scarring of the fallopian tubes causing ectopic pregnancies, fibroids, multiple abdominal surgeries like C-sections, endometriosis, and other common causes. proLifers say abortion causes infertility;^{1, 2
  1} What Causes Female Infertility? How Decisions Are Made About Health Research and Health Policy, Stanford in Washington Seminar and Tutorial, Robert Cook-Deegan, M.D, Stanford University;
  ² Female infertility, Mayo Clinic, Minnesota;

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• They avoid discussing the 18% who will get gestational (pregnancy-induced) diabetes. I know second-hand of a woman diagnosed with gestational diabetes, continued pregnancy against doctor's advice, the gestational diabetes damaged her kidneys, went onto dialysis, died a year later. Her new-born was adopted by an older sister;^{1, 2
  1} Gestational diabetes: Glucose intolerance during pregnancy, A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia, Reviewed by: Susan Storck, MD, FACOG, Chief, Eastside Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, Redmond, Washington; Clinical Teaching Faculty, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc, U.S. National Library of Medicine, PubMed.gov
  ² What is Gestational Diabetes?, American Diabetes Association;

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• They avoid discussing pregnancy-induced pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure and proteinuria) kidney failure leading to possibly renal failure;^{1, 2
  1} Preeclampsia, gestational hypertension and intrauterine growth restriction, related or independent conditions?, by Villar J, Carroli G, Wojdyla D, Abalos E, Giordano D, Ba'aqeel H, Farnot U, Bergsjø P, Bakketeig L, Lumbiganon P, Campodónico L, Al-Mazrou Y, Lindheimer M, Kramer M; World Health Organization Antenatal Care Trial Research Group, United Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund/World Health Organization/World Bank Special Program of Research, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Apr;194(4):921-31;
  ² About pre-eclampsia, Preeclampsia Foundation;

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• They avoid discussing that relationship problems are harder to solve when adding emotional and financial stress from unwanted childen;

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• That non-hispanic blacks are those at most risk of dying (31 per 100,000 births), whereas wealthier non-hispanic white women with good health care are least at risk of dying (8 per 100,000 births) , the U.S. national average being 12 deaths per 100,000 births. Hopefully national healthcare will improve health and fewer poor women will die needlessly. proLifers refuse to accept that abortions cause less than 1 (0.6) death per 100,000 abortions. They will use semantics (word games) that one-third of those who go into the clinic will die, and in small letters, because the fetus died and didn't come back out. It is ironic that those who are opposed to national healthcare also want poor women to pay their own childcare expenses and want to stop Medicaid and Foodstamps, basic opposition to government interference and subsidies, yet want to ban abortion; ^{1, 2
  1} CDC Abortion Surveillance --- United States, 2000,Elam-Evans LD, Ph.D., Strauss LT, M.A., Herndon J, M.S., Parker WY, Bowens SV, M.S., Zane S, D.V.M., Berg CJ, M.D., Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control, 2003. Abortion safety results;
  ² Maternal Mortality and Related Concepts, Vital and Health Statistics, February 2007, Centers for Disease Control;
  

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• They claim the fetus is without sin therefore we cannot kill it. Fetus causes immune suppression to prevent maternal rejection. This immune suppression is what enhances other diseases during pregnancy. The fetus is subversive and is NOT without sin.^{1, 2, 3
  1} Alpha-fetoprotein triggers hepatoma cells escaping from immune surveillance through altering the expression of Fas/FasL and tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis-inducing ligand and itsreceptor of lymphocytes and liver cancer cells, Meng-Sen Li, Qiu-Ling Ma, Qian Chen, Department of Biochemistry, Hainan Medical College, Haikou 571101, Hainan Province, China; Xin-Hua Liu, Ping-Feng Li, Guo-Guang Du, Gang Li, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100083, China; Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2004.
  ² Evidence that immunosuppression is an intrinsic property of the alpha-fetoprotein molecule, Semeniuk DJ, Boismenu R, Tam J, Weissenhofer W, Murgita RA, McGill University, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montreal, Canada, 1995.
  ³ Cancer and pregnancy: parallels in growth, invasion, and immune modulation and implications for cancer therapeutic agents, Holtan SG, Creedon DJ, Haluska P, Markovic SN, Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, Mayo Clin Proc. 2009 Nov;84(11):985-1000.
  

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• ProLifer's circulate the claim that rape cannot produce a pregnancy because the women's trauma (mental and physical injury) from the rape will inhibit ovulation, which is insulting and not true. I believe this is because misogynists (women-haters) want rape to not be punishable, "If she's pregnant then it MUST HAVE been consensual, and therefore not rape, and therefore not punishable," is their twisted logic;^{1, 2, 3
  1} What About Rape and Incest?, Stats & FAQ, Oregon Right To Life, borrowed from "Abortion: The Hard Cases;” brochure produced by the NRL Education Trust Fund, Washington, D.C.
  ² Is abortion okay in the case of Rape & Incest? Question #3. Why is pregnancy from rape so rare?,Queensland Right to Life, Australia;
  ³ Missouri Representative Todd Akins telling Fox (Faux/false) News (August 19th, 2012) that legitimate rape does not cause pregnancy! Typical woman-hating Republicans. proLife Dr. Dobson of Focus on the Family supports Akins' viewpoint. This wrong viewpoint has been around since Mideval history.
  
  

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• proLifers wrongly claim God hates abortion. God has little opinion of abortion. Also, Evil Bible is pretty funny on more than just abortion;
  
  Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" Okay. Control your destiny.
  
  Exodus 21:22-25, ²²"When men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows [the woman is not dead], the one who hurt her shall be fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. If any harm follows [to the woman], then you shall give life for life, ²⁴ eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." The proLifers do not much like this Biblical verse, claiming that this only applies to an UNintentional act, not the INtentional act of an abortion. It does not matter. If the fetus were a 'person', either the agressor must be put to death if INtentional or the agressor must flee if UNintentional. Exodus 21:12-13, ¹² "Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. ¹³ But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.Neither of those options were present in verse 22, thus the fetus is only property damaged and not a person.
  
  Deuteronomy 28:1-4, 11, ¹ "And if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you this day, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. "Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock."... ¹¹And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, within the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. This is a positive offer of successful husbandry, not a negative commandment.
  
  Deuteronomy 30:9-10, "The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground; for the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, ¹⁰ if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." God wants to reward us for following him. This is not a negative commandment. This is a positive offer. I may grow cattle but I am not required to grow cattle, nor am I required to grow fruit trees, nor bear hundreds of children. Good husbandry requires common sense, for example, by not allowing cattle breed too early, nor allow a tree to bear more fruit than it's branches can bear, nor burden our wife with more children than she can manage.
  
  Deuteronomy 30:19-20, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life," and conveniently forget, "... that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." It sure is nice that God gave us the right to choose which may live and accept his bountiful gifts that he promised to give us. It is a positive offer, not a negative command;
  
  Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you," and conveniently forget the rest of the verse, "...and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you [Jeremiah] a prophet to the nations." This applies to Jeremiah the prophet, not the rest of us non-prophets; And it says that powerful God knows everything. It is a positive offer of knowledge, not a negative prohibition.
  
  Isaiah 49:14-15, They skip the context of Isaiah's lamentations, ¹⁴"But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me." and only quote this, ¹⁵"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Isaiah is commenting about how he will not forget God like some desparate women have done. They forget the rest of that verse "...Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you." The mother may have responsibilities to other hungry children. This is not a condemnation, just a comparison, that even in a terrible situation such as her's (allowing her newborn to die of starvation), he would not forget God. Okay;
  
  Psalms 127:3-5, ³"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. ⁴Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. ⁵Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." This is a positive commandment. Rewards may be declined. Good husbandry requires common sense.
  
  Psalms 139:13-16, Song of David. Often partially quoted, ¹³"For you did form my inward parts, you did knit me together in my mother's womb. David was grateful to be alive, and believed in a fate (everything was written in God's book before it even happened), if you will, that everything was pre-destined. Pre-destiny does NOT exclude an abortion. The abortion may be written in his book as well. ¹⁴I praise you, for you are great and wonderful. Wonderful are your works! You know me right well; ¹⁵ my frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Even the days right before the abortion.
  
  Haggai 1:5, "Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider how you have fared." And just how does this help anything? This chapter was about being grateful for what you have and setting aside resources to build a temple up on the hill even though you may not feel like you have alot to give. Don't read too hard into this.
  
  Luke 1:36 & 41-42, ³⁶"And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren." and ⁴¹"And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴² and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" This is nothing more than fetal movement of a sixth month pregnancy (~27^th week from conception), responding to outside voices. This is normal and does not imply anything else. Sorry.
  
  Ecclesiastes 6:3, "If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but he does not enjoy life's good things, and also has no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better off than he." Hmmm, a miscarry/abortion could be better than birth!
  
  Isaiah 13:1, 9, 15-18, ¹The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. ..⁹Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. ¹⁵Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. ¹⁶Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. ¹⁷Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. ¹⁸Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children. Hmm, God doesn't mind killing innocent unborn fetuses when it suits God. And God uses men to do this killing.
  
  2 Esdras (4 Ezra 2):40-42, ⁴⁰"Take again your full number, O Zion, and conclude the list of your people who are clothed in white, who have fulfilled the law of the Lord. ⁴¹The number of your children, whom you desired, is full; beseech the Lord's power that your people, who have been called from the beginning, may be made holy. ⁴² I, Ezra, saw on Mount Zion a great multitude, which I could not number, and they all were praising the Lord with songs." Hmmm, this indicates moderation in husbandry, desiring a limited number of children, not an endless number.
  
  2 Esdras (4 Ezera 5):41-49, ⁴¹"And I said, "Yet behold, O Lord, thou dost have charge of those who are alive at the end, but what will those do who were before us, or we, or those who come after us? ⁴²He said to me, ‘I shall liken my judgment to a circle; just as for those who are last there is no slowness, so for those who are first there is no haste.' ⁴³Then I answered and said, ‘Couldst thou not have created at one time those who have been and those who are and those who will be, that thou mightest show thy judgment the sooner?' ⁴⁴He replied to me and said, ‘The creation cannot make more haste than the Creator, neither can the world hold at one time those who have been created in it.' ⁴⁵And I said, ‘How hast thou said to thy servant that thou wilt certainly give life at one time to thy creation? If therefore all creatures will live at one time and the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time.' ⁴⁶He said to me, ‘Ask a woman's womb, and say to it, `If you bear ten children, why one after another?' Request it therefore to produce ten at one time.' ⁴⁷I said, "Of course it cannot, but only each in its own time.' ⁴⁸He said to me, "Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those who from time to time are sown in it. ⁴⁹For as an infant does not bring forth [give birth], and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, so have I organized the world which I created.' This is more common sense husbandry.
  
  Wisdom of Sirach 16:1-3, ¹Do not desire a multitude of useless children, nor rejoice in ungodly sons. ²If they multiply, do not rejoice in them, unless the fear of the Lord is in them. ³Do not trust in their survival, and do not rely on their multitude; for one is better than a thousand, and to die childless is better than to have ungodly children. This seems like a bit of husbandry advice. More children is not always better. Hmmm.
  
  Wisdom of Sirach 16:24-30, ²⁴Listen to me, my son, and acquire knowledge, and pay close attention to my words. ²⁵I will impart instruction by weight, and declare knowledge accurately. ²⁶The works of the Lord have existed from the beginning by his creation, and when he made them, he determined their divisions. ²⁷He arranged his works in an eternal order, and their dominion for all generations; they neither hunger nor grow weary, and they do not cease from their labors. ²⁸They do not crowd one another aside, and they will never disobey his word. ²⁹After this the Lord looked upon the earth, and filled it with his good things; ³⁰with all kinds of living beings he covered its surface, and to it they return.The rules of science control everything, and God created science.
  
  Deuteronomy 27:25, "Cursed be he who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.' And all the people shall say, `Amen.'" Moses was telling the Israelites to follow the Ten Commandments, and various interpetations of those Commandments. The fetus is not a person according to Judaic law until is takes its first breath (nefesh).
  

  • Genesis 2:7, "...then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being;"
  • Job 12:10, "In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.";
  • Job 32:8, "But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.", Sounds like breath is a soul to me;
  • Job 33:4, "The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.";
  • Solomon 2:17, "Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle, or a young stag upon rugged mountains.";
  • Isaiah 57:16, "For I will not contend for ever, nor will I always be angry; for from me proceeds the spirit, and I have made the breath of life.";
  • Jeremiah 10:14,"Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his images are false, and thereis no breath in them.
  Ezekiel 37:1-10, ¹"The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; it was full of bones. ²And he led me round among them; and behold, there were very many upon the valley; and lo, they were very dry. ³And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, thou knowest." ⁴Again he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. ⁵ Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD." ⁷¹So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸And as I looked, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." ¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host. ",

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• Under Judaic law, below the written Torah is the oral Torah (Mishna/Mishneh Torah) as interpreted by the great rabbis, and within the Mishneh Torah there are six books, of which Sefer Nezikin (The Book of Damages) is the fifth book. Within this book are five Halachots, of which the fifth is Hilchot Rotzeach Ush'mirat Nefesh (The Laws of Murder and the Protection of Life). Mizvots (laws) one, six, and seven and their halachas (explanations) are

  Mizvot 6) To save a person who is being pursued, by killing the pursuer; Chapter One, Halacha 6 When does the above apply? When the person has already transgressed and performed the transgression for which he is liable to be executed by the court. When, however, a person is pursuing a colleague with the intention of killing him - even if the pursuer is a minor - every Jewish person is commanded to attempt to save the person being pursued, even if it is necessary to kill the pursuer.

  
  

  Mizvot 7) Not to have mercy on the pursuer; Chapter One, Halacha 7) What is implied? If the rodef was warned and continues to pursue his intended victim, even though he did not acknowledge the warning, since he continues his pursuit he should be killed. If it is possible to save the pursued by damaging one of the limbs of the rodef, one should. Thus, if one can strike him with an arrow, a stone or a sword, and cut off his hand, break his leg, blind him or in another way prevent him from achieving his objective, one should do so. If there is no way to be precise in one's aim and save the person being pursued without killing the rodef, one should kill him, even though he has not yet killed his victim. This is implied by Deuteronomy 25:11-12, which states: "If a man is fighting with his brother, and the wife of one... grabs the attacker by his private parts, you must cut off her hand; you may not show pity."

  Chapter One, Halacha 9) This, indeed, is one of the negative mitzvot - not to take pity on the life of a rodef. On this basis, our Sages ruled that when complications arise and a pregnant woman cannot give birth, it is permitted to abort the fetus in her womb, whether with a knife or with drugs. For the fetus is considered a rodef of its mother. If the head of the fetus emerges, it should not be touched, because one life should not be sacrificed for another. Although the mother may die, this is the nature of the world.

  Mizvot 1) Chapter Two, Halacha 6)

  Whether a person kills an adult or an infant that is one day old, a male or a female, he should be executed if he killed him intentionally, or exiled if he killed him unintentionally.With regard to an infant, the above applies provided it was born after a full term pregnancy. If, however, it was born before nine months passed, it is considered to be an inviable birth until it lives for 30 days. If it is killed within those 30 days, the killer should not be executed.

  
  I would conclude that abortion was not murder under Judaic law. Please read "Is The Fetus a Person? The Bible's View," by Dr. Roy Bowen Ward, Professor of Religion, and affiliate in Women's Studies, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and adapted with permission by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, (1986) article on when the soul of man enters and why abortion is not murder.
  
  

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  Islamic beliefs about abortion (Wikipedia), An abortion before 4 months (120 days from conception) from conception is tolerated because the soul enters sometime after this.
  
  The Book of the Laws of Inheritance, Hadeeth No. 6317 - Narrated Abu Huraira: "Allah's Apostle gave the judgment that a male or female slave should be given in Qisas for an abortion case of a woman from the tribe of Bani Lihyan (as blood money for the fetus) but the lady on whom the penalty had been imposed died, so the Prophets ordered that her property be inherited by her offspring and her husband and that the penalty be paid by her Asaba."
  The Book of Holding Fast to the Book and the Sunnah, No. 6847 - Narrated Al-Mughira bin Shu'ba:"Umar bin Al-Khattab asked (the people) about the Imlas of a woman, i.e., a woman who has an abortion because of having been beaten on her abdomen, saying, "Who among you has heard anything about it from the Prophet?" I said, "I did.'' He said, "What is that?" I said, "I heard the Prophet saying, "Its Diya (blood money) is either a male or a female slave.' " 'Umar said, "Do not leave till you present witness in support of your statement." So I went out, and found Muhammad bin Maslama. I brought him, and he bore witness with me that he had heard the Prophet saying, "Its Diya (blood money) is either a male slave or a female slave."
  Al Mawrid, A Foundation for Islamic Research and Education, Abortion:
  

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  Biblical moralists from today sound just like the Biblical moralists from the 1860's and were saying the same thing: many children are good, birth control is bad, pornography is bad, and alcohol is bad. His name was Anthony Comstock, from a librian who put away smutty books and was repulsed with this Free Speech expression, pushed for and got legislation against immorality, he became a Postal Inspector, having people arrested for buying pornography of that era, for buying condoms from Europe, and for those placing advertisements for sexual aids. Dejá vu. There is a theory that this Morality push was actually a reaction to the population explosion of the lower class, in contrast to the upper class females who were delaying their fertility so they could live a life other than as breeding stock despite upper class male voices for more heirs.^{1
  1} Comstock Law of 1873, The Free Dictionary
  
  

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• Typical guilt-driven anti-abortion fire-and-brimestone baptist rhetoric, this time in spanish, 180theMovie.com and the secular (and funny) rebuttal to it at Heathen's Guide to debunking "180º the Movie".

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