Katherine+Hunt

 **Is Abortion Excluded in Popular Religions?**


media type="file" key="Happy Birthday.mp3" width="432" height="36"

Title: Happy Birthday Musician(s): Flipsyde Album: We Are The People. Genre(s): Rap/ R & B Date Released: December 27, 2005 Relevance: This song speaks about abortion and the affects it has within society.

**__Intro on Three Main Religions-__ ** Three main religions that are very common within America are known to be Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity religions. Since these three religions are relatively different in terms of belief, but also similar it was somet_hing that was interest striking. It was very fascinating to know that these three religions do not support abortion, but use different scriptures. To my knowledge abortion is known to be strictly forbidden, but why? Are there any exceptions. media type="file" key="Abortion_in_the_United_States.mov" align="center" width="378" height="378"

As a whole these are the statistics that include religion on abortions each year in the United States.

**Islam** Abortion is not a topic that is even really considered within the Islamic religion. It is morally wrong in every way according to Muslims. Within this religion there is only one exception as to why a mother would have an abortion. // **The only exception of abortion is when a mother is in danger. In order to save the mother’s life abortion is taken into consideration.** // Abortion is regarded as a lesser evil in this case because:  The mother is the 'originator' of the fetus   The mother's life is well-established   The mother has with duties and responsibilities   The mother is part of a family

The mother is never terminated because of the fact that if the mother is killed, then the fetus will immediately be terminated as well. Having an abortion ends the life of only one person, while the killing of the mother would be two murders. Within the Muslim Scripture, the Qur'an it doesn't really touch base on the topic of abortion. Within the Qur'an it does talk about murders and guidance in similar situations though.

//** Whosoever has spared the life of a soul; it is as though he has spared the life of all people. Whosoever has killed a soul, it is as though he has murdered all of mankind. - Qur'an 5:32 ** //

Since abortion is considered to be a murder, and life is important to this religion that is why abortion is a large factor. Killing a child is not accepted as ethical or referred to as helping the child in a rough time.

**//Kill not your offspring for fear of poverty; it is we who provide for them and for you. Surely, killing them is a great sin.//** -**Qur'an 17:32**

A person should come to the conclusion as to whether they think abortion is okay or morally wrong. There aren’t really any set regulations within this religion. Although, most people are non-acceptant of abortion as a subject at whole, which is why it is a norm that is expected from others in this religion. media type="file" key="25__Abortion___THE_EASY_WAY_OUT_ISLAM_FORBIDS_ABORTION.mov" width="363" height="363" align="center"

//Within this video a Leader speaks of abortion with their religion.//

**Buddhism** For the most part, Buddhist don't advocate in abortions.Traditional Buddhism don’t believe in abortion because it has to do with the termination of dear life. With that in mind, abortion is considered as an option as long at it is because there has been a death that is deliberate or by negligence. Furthermore, all of this controversy is present within this religion because the Tipitaka (the Buddhist religious scripture) doesn't mention anything of abortion. So, it is up to the person to determine in the predicament to decide whether abortion is murder, termination of life or if this is morally correct. It all depends as to how a person defines abortion and the circumstances.

According to the teachings of Buddha, there are five conditions that must be present to constitute an act of killing.These acts are listed below: media type="file" key="Buddhic_Annihilation____Don_Juan_Matus____Another_Story.mov" align="right" width="270" height="270"
 * 1) The thing killed must be a living being
 * 2) You, the killer, must know or be aware that it is a living being
 * 3) You must have the intention to kill it
 * 4) There must be an effort to kill
 * 5) The being must be killed as the result

Another instance where abortion is accepted is to save a mother's life.Buddhist seem to face difficult in terms to save a life and in medical conditions as this because people try their best to save the child, but if it were up for decision they would probably save the mother. This is because women are very valued throughout this religion.Sometimes abortion for the sake of the baby can also be considered. If a child will be born with medical conditions that will make it suffer an option could be plagued as abortion. If much thought is put into the abortion and it is thought of as compassionate the action with be considered less morally wrong because even though it is wrong there are good intentions involved.

//This video to the upper right. speaks of how thoughts are questioned and bad things go away with patience and meditation.//

**Christianity ** Christianity is the number one known religion in America and is widely spread throughout the world. Within this religion abortion is known to be controversial. Most Christians though don't encourage that a child is aborted because it is considered murdered. The justification as to why this is murder is founded throughout the Christian scripture, is otherwise known as the Bible. This practice of non-aborting is due to the New Testament as well as the Old Testament because it is known to be forbidden. The controversy starts considering that liberal faith groups tend to see the Scriptures as either saying nothing about abortion, or allowing it. **How can this all possibly make sense?** Well, in the fourth century abortion was excepted if it was early abortion. Later abortion wasn’t excepted because it was considered as murder. Meanwhile, early abortion was excepted because the fetus hasn’t yet gotten to the gestation phase meaning it has no heart.
 * 4th Century B.C. to the 1st Century. – Abortion was ok. **
 * 2nd Century- 4th Century. ** ** – **** Abortion was equal to murder **

. media type="file" key="Abortion_in_religion.mov" width="270" height="270" align="left" Many Christian hospitals don’t even make or consider the termination of a child to be an option. This portrays that throughout time, the belief of Christians changed concerning abortion. Abortion was once advocated back in the 4th Century B.C. to the 1st Century. In this current day and age it is considered to be murder if an abortion is fulfilled. This is due to the research that have been done within hospitals. In the first century abortion was excepted if it was early because of gestation, but since newer technology that shows how fetuses develop have been invented more people disapprove of termination in general. //This video addresses abortion viewed in Islam &Christianity.//  //**Skip to 4:25 to hear about Christianity.**//
 * 1)  In fact below are the facts as the limits and exceptions of abortion.: 82% do not provide EC, even for rape victims.
 * 2) 9% had no policy on EC,
 * 3) 9% supply EC to some rape victims.

**__Connection-__** Now the question remains:** //Is Abortion Excluded in Popular Religions?// **

No, in the three popular religions Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity each religion had controversy. Throughout many these religions and texts they were similar because of what they said. The analyzation of all three religions said that abortion was considered to be murder. Whether abortion was explicitly referenced to or not each and every one of these religions referenced to murders in their sacred text.. It gave a sense in each religion that abortions were excepted in certain instances and had to do with the person who is getting the abortion. Since murder is not a rightful act, most these religions found exceptions as to when it was "okay" or made it better to have an abortion. This argument still remains as controversial due to the different ways that people interpret different sacred texts and the examination of personal opinion as well as morals.


 * //Bibliographical information and url (Author, title, publishing info)://**

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McKinley, Brian. //Why abortion is biblical.// N.p., 2005. Web. 10 Feb 2012. .

Robinson, B.A.. "Abortion access." // Religious Tolerance //. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, n.d. Web. 10 Feb 2012. .

Robinson, B.A. "Abortion and Roman Catholic Hospital Mergers." //Religious Tolerance//. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb 2012. .