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20110925

Abortion in Jewish Sources
B. Gesundheit MD PhD
Department of Jewish Philosophy,
Hebrew University, Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Teaching
Medical Ethics

www.jewishmedicalethics.org
b.gesund@gmail.com

Clinical & Ethical Considerations

Historical, Cultural & legal Background

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Statistics
Age of Abortion (2006-7)

"The problem is the unwanted

pregnancy. Sex education and the
widespread availability of contraception
have done nothing to prevent this trend."
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Reasons For Abortion (1988)

2008 19,638 .
98.6% " .
89.5% ( .)12

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Ethical Considerations

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Killing,
Child Abuse

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Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1792 - 1750 BC), Babylon

209-210: If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he
shall pay ten shekels for her loss. If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death.
211-212. If a woman of the free class lose her child by a blow, he shall pay five shekels
in money. - If this woman die, he shall pay half a mina.
213-214. If he strike the maid-servant of a man, and she lose her child, he shall pay
two shekels in money. If this maid-servant die, he shall pay one-third of a mina.
Death penalty (free class) or money (servants)
Bible: All have the same rights for individual financial claims, but NO death penalty.

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discussions of a doctor's liability based on his legal license (from court).
H.E. Sigerist The History of Medical Licensure, Journal of the American
Medical Association, 14 (1935), p. 1057ff.


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ALEXANDRIA

Ancient Library and Medical School in Alexandria:

Anatomy, dissection of human body by the physicians
Herophilus (335-280 BC) & Erasistratus (304 BC 250 BC)

They dissected these criminals alive, and "while they were still breathing they
observed parts which nature had formerly concealed, and examined their position,
colour, shape, size, arrangement, hardness, softness, smoothness, connection. 24

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It is not only the honor of God which obligates us, regardless

of the cost, to avoid what is prohibited and to obey the
commands of the Almighty that are expressed in this Halakha.
It is also the honor of man in Halakha, the humane and ethical element
which insists on the preservation of human dignity and concern for
human welfare, that rises up in indignation against the torrent of
abortions. let us remember, paraphrasing the famous words of
Byron, that Halakha loved not the parents less, but the child more.
Rav Dr.A.Lichtenstein Abortion: A Halakhic Perspective. Tradition 25:4, Summer 1991 27

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Hexosaminidase A deficiency => CNS damage
progressive deterioration from 6 mo, death 4 years

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Other Maternal & Neonatal Indications
Maternal diseases, Mother with Tumor,

depression etc
chemotherapy

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STORCH = Selective
Neonatal embryocide
Infections

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Anencephalus

Down Syndrome

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The question of abortion involves areas in which the halakhic details
are not clearly fleshed out in the Talmud and Rishonim, and in addition
the personal circumstances are often complex and perplexing. In such
areas there is room and, in my opinion, an obligation for a measure of
flexibility. (Rav A. Lichtenstein)
33

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reich Warren T. (ed) Encyclopedia of Bioethics, 1995, 5 vol.

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Feldman David M Birth control in Jewish law; marital relations,
contraception, and abortion as set forth in the classic texts of Jewish
law New York, New York University Press, 1968.

Jakobovits Immanuel, Jewish Medical Ethics - A Comparative and

Historical Study of the Jewish Religious Attitude to Medicine and its
Practice, N.Y., Bloch Publishing Company, 1975 (Hebrew: Jerusalem,
Mossad Ha-Rav Kook,1979).
Lichtenstein Aharon Abortion: A Halakhic Perspective Tradition 1991;
25:4 (on-line) (Hebrew version: Beriut ha-Tzibur 17:4)
.93-99 , "
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http://www.medethics.org.il/db/showQ.asp?ID=1137
http://www.medethics.org.il/articles/ASSIA/ASSIA77-78/ASSIA77-78.03.asp

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