Unit 3(H): Abortion Law and Ethics Other Potential Religious Factors "Body and Soul"

GOD'S POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP TO A FETUS—IN TANAKH

Some Christians draw upon references in Tanakh to God's relationship with a person even before birth, when they think about the ethics of abortion. Generally speaking, these passages do not carry legal weight in Judaism, and are not used in determining the Halakhah for specific cases. But on a spiritual level, such texts may contribute to an overall evaluation of fetal life for certain Jewish thinkers as well.

Study Questions on Jeremiah 1 and Psalms 139

1. If someone believes that the Bible is truly the word of God, how might passages like these impact their opinions about abortion? Explain fully, and include reflections on what the author of Psalm 139 is so thankful about and impressed by.

2. Can you think of a counterargument to someone who says, "But God knew Jeremiah and even appointed him to be a prophet when he was only in the womb—so how could abortion not be murder"?

"ENSOULMENT" ON EARTH, AND LIFE IN THE WORLD TO COME

On one level, the concept of "soul" would seem to be important for the abortion question. If a fetus has a soul, something divine and even immortal, you may think that a fetus has the same worth and legal protections as a born person. But the issue is complex for a number of reasons: First, as stated in the introduction to the earlier texts on this sheet, law and philosophy are considered two separate things in Rabbinic thought. There are no definitive rulings in Judaism on questions like, "What is the soul?"; "When does a person get a soul?"; "What exactly happens to the soul after death?" and so forth. Second, possessing a "soul" does not necessarily equal existing as a full human person entitled to life. Capital criminals have souls and yet may be put to death. According to beliefs about life after death in Judaism, often called the "World to Come," deceased souls are "alive" in some very real sense, but they are not human beings. Animals may have some type of soul, too.

Study Questions on Sanhedrin 91b and 110b

1. Looking at the first passage from Sanhedrin, although Rabbi concedes that the "soul" enters the body at conception, what kind of thing is this soul? Use the evidence and imagery in the text to assess this question as best you can.

2. How does the second passage prove that there are different meanings or dimensions to the concept of "soul"? (By the way, notice who Rabbi Shimon's father was.)

3. How does the second passage also prove that possessing a full human life is not necessarily the same thing as having an "immortal soul"?

4. If Ravina's opinion in Sanhedrin 110b is correct, how could that be interpreted to mean—paradoxically—that abortion is even more acceptable?

AN ABORTION BY GOD?

There is a strange ritual or ordeal recorded in the Torah which is prescribed for when a husband is overcome by jealousy toward his wife and he suspects her of adultery. The text in the book of Numbers makes it clear that this jealousy may or may not be justified; the woman might be guilty or innocent. In such situations, where there is no objective proof, a husband could bring his wife to the Sanctuary where she would be required to swear an oath and drink a potion composed of holy water, dirt from the Sanctuary floor, and ink from the written form of the oath she affirmed. This was called "the bitter water that curses." The Torah states that if she is guilty of adultery, something very bad will happen to her body and, in addition, everyone will know and refer to her terrible sin. But if she is innocent, she will remain unharmed, and will even be blessed with children.

This ritual is one-of-a-kind in the Torah and is quite mysterious. We do not learn about any other cases where a person's guilt or innocence is determined in a way that seems to rely on divine, supernatural intervention. Now, it may be possible to explain this ordeal in more psychological terms: Were they trying to scare a woman into admitting her guilt? Were they trying to pacify a suspicious husband and resolve his jealousy since, if nothing happened to his wife, she would be "proven" innocent? But the straightforward sense of the passage is that, through the priestly ritual, God would cause the "belly and thigh" of a guilty woman (which are likely to be biblical expressions for her sexual organs) to become distorted and sick. It seems reasonable to argue that the woman's punishment here for sleeping with another man would be losing any child she conceived, and perhaps the ability to have children altogether. According to the text, is God performing an "abortion" and/or a "hysterectomy" on this woman? Or is something else going on?

Small sections of this passage below (in the English) have been ellipsed in order to make it shorter and easier to understand the main narrative.

Study Question on Numbers 5

1. Many interpretations of this passage have been written. Based on your own close reading of the text, would you say that it involves God potentially performing an "abortion"? Or do you read the text differently? Clearly state what evidence you are using to reach your conclusion, whatever it may be.

WHOSE BODY IS IT ANYWAY?—IN LAW AND LITURGY

The last section of this unit has both legal (halachic) and theological (aggadic) aspects. We have seen the idea in our study of abortion that a fetus may be an integral part of a woman's physical body. And we often hear, in contemporary debates about the topic, that a person should be entitled to decide what to do with their own body: "My body, my choice."

In gaining a broad view of the Jewish perspective on abortion, it is important to be aware that there are some traditional, religious limits to the idea that we fully "own" our bodies and lives. As mentioned in 3(A), suicide is forbidden according to Jewish law. But there are other forms of self-harm that are similarly prohibited. In this sense, the "my body" argument is not a fully-winning one for the classical sources of Judaism, when taken all by itself. Many Jewish religious texts, including prayers, reinforce the teaching that ultimately, as God's creations, we belong to God. This does not mean that we have no personal autonomy according to Jewish tradition; it means that serious Jewish decisions necessarily take many important factors into consideration, including, but not limited to, our needs, wants, and desires.

Study Questions on Mishnah Bava Kamma and Machzor Yom Kippur

1. How does the Mishnah text above view different forms of unnecessary destruction?

2. How does the Mishnah indicate that your body does not belong to you in the same way that your property belongs to you? Look carefully.

3. The "Machzor" is the prayer book for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The prayer printed above is poetry, but try to restate it as a logical argument: Why should God forgive us and preserve us in the coming year?