Ruling on aborting a deformed fetus
Question: 1978
If a fetus is found to have some defects (at about 4.5 months
of pregrancy), one which includes anencephaly:no brain, and
the doctors strongly suggest an abortion since the longest an
anencephalic born baby survived was 21 days and since most
of such pregnancies end up in miscarriages at a later and
riskier stage of pregnancies, or still born baby. what is a
muslim couple to do? especially since consulting two
knowledgeable islamic scholars each came up with a different
solution ie one suggesting abortion the other one suggesting
continuing with pregnancy. The couple had to make a decision
the soonest possible. what do the laws of islam say?
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.
If the fetus has reached the age of four months, then the soul has already
been breathed into it, so deliberately aborting it would be regarded as killing
a soul – which is a very grave major sin. The doctors’ opinion that it is
malformed is no excuse at all. If it is miscarried or stillborn, or it is born
alive and dies shortly thereafter, the parents will be rewarded for bearing the
calamity of their loss, and if it lives and has some kind of disability, they
will be rewarded for their patience in taking care of it. Everything that
happens to the believer is good for him, but wilfully destroying a soul is
nothing but evil and sin. We must also take into consideration the errors
that may occur in doctors’ reports, and that fact that the condition of the
fetus may change and improve.
And Allaah knows best.
Source:
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid
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