- Family and Society
- General Questions
757
Question
My daughter and her husband have four children and are busy operating an orthodontic clinic in Florida, USA.
They have just found out, to their distress, that my daughter is pregnant(by accident). They are considering an abortion.
Please comment on moral and halachic grounds.
Answer
It is forbidden to have an abortion for economic or social reasons even early on in the pregnancy. The fetus, although not considered a fully living human being, is the beginning of a new life and is protected by the halacha (even were he considered just a limb of the mother, she would be forbidden to amputate an arm or a leg for social considerations). In Israel there are Jewish organizations that counsel parents and assist them so as to prevent abortions for other than medical reasons. I suggest you contact
www.jewsforlife.org They might be able to refer you to counselors in the USA.

Abortion in surrogacy
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Elul 18, 5777

To have children or not?
Various Rabbis | 5 Tishrei 5766
Bathing in Mikvah in 9th Month
Rabbi Gideon Weitzman | 24 Cheshvan 5765

wait, jews are not pro life?
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Adar II 8, 5782

Follow up to "outdated Mitzvot", Sanhedrin, morality etc.
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Nisan 18, 5785

Blessing for non jew
Rabbi Yoel Lieberman | Nisan 23, 5785
