Explain two religious beliefs about abortion.

Refer to sacred writings or another source of religious belief and teaching in your answer. [6 Marks]

Christianity

The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is always a sin.

They point out that the Bible says ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you | and before you were born I consecrated you’ (Jeremiah 1. 5).

They argue that to end a pregnancy at any stage is morally the same as killing an adult human.

It is a mortal sin which can lead to damnation.

Islam

The Hanafi school of law teaches that abortion is sometimes allowable.

The Qur’an describes the course of a pregnancy.

Only after a foetus has undergone a period of development does Allah (swt) say of it ‘We brought it into being as a new creation’ (23. 14).

The Hanafis argue that abortion is never ideal, but if it takes place in the first 120 days of a pregnancy it is not the same as killing a human being, and is not a sin.

Buddhism

Many Buddhists believe abortion is an unskilful act.

The Buddha teaches ‘one should not kill, nor cause another to kill’ (Dhammapada 129); this includes abortion.

However, one unskilful act will not necessarily keep a person from becoming enlightened.

If a person has had an abortion at some point, they simply need to practise Buddhism more intensively afterwards.