A great deal of discussion on the abortion issue has centred around the question of religious attitudes and interpretations. In this respect. New Zealanders are familiar with the stands taken by the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches, but little acquainted with Orthodox Judaism's view. To appreciate the latter it is necessary to turn to the Bible, to Rabbinical interpretation and to the Halacha (the entire body of Jewish law). This article draws heavily on David Feldman's book "Marital Relations, Birth Control and Abortion in Jewish Law" which uses the above-listed sources in order to explicate and clarify for Jews and non-Jews Judaism's stand on abortion.

As there is no direct injunction in the Bible against abortion, its biblical status must be inferred from the following question: is foeticide (ie. abortion) equal to homicide? The first consideration is whether the foetus is a human being. The Talmud (the Jewish oral law) clearly states that a foetus, prior to birth, is regarded as being like the "thigh of his mother (¹) and is therefore not considered viable until 30 days after its birth. However this does not negate the chance for the foetus to attain viability.

The foetus's status is more definitely established in Exodus (21:22) "If men strive and wound a pregnant woman so that her fruit be expelled, but no harm befall (her) then he shall be fined as her husband shall assess....but if harm befall (her) then you shall give life for life". This passage clearly indicates that foeticide is not sufficient grounds for capital punishment.

In contrast to Exodus the Septuagint (the oldest Greek version of the Old Testament), either as the result of a variant text or mistranslation makes a distinction between the foetus unformed and formed when it states: "If men strive.....if there is no form to it he shall be fined,...but if there is form to it you shall give life for life".

The Christian translation is based upon this version and thus maintains that there was a Biblical argument for equating foeticide with homicide, at least when the foetus is formed. From this point on however, Christianity and Judaism take separate paths. Judaism looks to the Halacha for further interpretation.