Abortion, Islam, and the 1994 Cairo Population Conference
Author(s): Donna Lee Bowen
Source: International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2 (May, 1997), pp. 161-184
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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Int. J. Middle East Stud. 29 (1997), 161-184. Printed in the United States of America
Donna Lee Bowen
ABORTION,
ISLAM, AND THE
POPULATION
CONFERENCE
1994
CAIRO
The InternationalConference on Population and Development held in Cairo in September 1994 focused world attention on the interplay of religion, family-planning
methods, and women's status. The most hotly debated topic of the conference was
abortion.Before the conference convened, newspapers in the West and in the Middle
East reported "a growing religious furor"that spurredan alliance between Muslim
nations and the Vatican based on a common belief in the prohibitionof abortion and
concern for Westernsexual mores. At the conference, Muslim delegations abandoned
their slogans and moved away from the Vatican position by denouncing abortion as
a method of family planning but leaving open its use under specific circumstances.2
Although a majority of Muslims worldwide agree with the stance taken at the population conference, and most would state that Islam forbids abortion,the Muslim theological position on abortiondoes not approximatethe Roman Catholic condemnation
of the practice. A full prohibition of abortion represents neither the sophisticated
Muslim jurisprudence literature on abortion nor current practices of some Muslim
women. Discussion with Muslim women and Muslim religious scholars (Culamad)
about the intricacies of the issues that abortionraises tells us that the question is not
simple, consensus is far from being reached,and political concerns furthercomplicate
understandingof the paradoxical issues involved.
The major contribution of the population conference was to link explicitly questions of women's status to population and family planning. The Muslim delegations
continuously emphasized that population issues, including abortion,should be linked
to the family unit. The discussion of abortion in the sharicahas concentratedon the
rights of the unbornchild; it only marginally deals with the rights of the mother. In
the latter 20th century, discussions of abortionalso implicitly entail questions of social order.The position of women and men in Islam and their relations to each other,
to their children, and to society are debated passionately today in Muslim religious,
academic, and policy-making circles. Because the maritalrelationshipgives birthnot
only to children and family but also to social cohesion, stability, and order, issues of
control over fertility and premaritalchastity are central to this debate. In her speech
at the conference, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan struck at the heart of
the dilemma, stating that "There is little compromise on Islam's emphasis on the
Donna Lee Bowen is Associate Professor, Departmentof Political Science, Brigham Young University,
Provo, Utah 84602, USA.
? 1997 Cambridge University Press 0020-7438/97 $7.50 + .10
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162
Donna Lee Bowen
family unit. The traditional family is the basic unit on which any society rests. It
is the anchor on which the individual relies as he embarks upon the journey of life.
Islam aims at harmoniouslives built upon a bedrock of conjugal fidelity and parental
responsibility. Many suspect that the disintegrationof the traditionalfamily has contributed to moral decay. Let me state categorically that the traditionalfamily is the
union sanctified by marriage."3
As the issue of abortion symbolized to many Muslims the most extreme attack on
their religious principles and values-notably, their emphasis on the family unitit became the focal point of their defense of Muslim values in the press and in the
early proceedings of the conference. Bhutto stated: "This conference must not be
viewed by the teeming masses of the world as a universal social charter seeking to
impose adultery,abortion,sex education, and other such matterson individuals, societies, and religions which have their own social ethos."4Yet as the conference continued and the Muslim delegations presentedtheir views, it became evident that there
was a greaterdegree of latitude in the Muslim religious position than was originally
representedby articles in the press and statementsby ultraconservativeMuslim groups
that linked the Muslim and Vatican positions. The final report took a moderate position: "Governments should take appropriatesteps to help women avoid abortion,
which in no case should be promotedas a method of family planning, and in all cases
provide for the humane treatmentand counseling of women who have had recourse
to abortion."5This wording was ultimately endorsed by the Muslim delegations. The
moderation of the final report was at odds with more radical reports in the press
before the conference and during its opening stages, which adamantly insisted that
Islam forbids abortion. The discrepancy between the inflammatorylanguage at the
beginning of the conference and the temperatestatements at the end raises questions
as to how Muslims interpretwhat Islam says about abortion and the genesis of policies that govern the use of abortion in Muslim nations.
The debate at the population conference emphasized two subjects that often have
been dismissed as peripheralto issues of population growth: religion and women's
status. Both of these questions are crucial components in any discussion of abortion.
In this article, I present data gleaned from a variety of sources, ranging from jurisprudence literatureto statutes of law and interviews with Muslim women. I take up
four major topics. The first is the theological and juridical reasoning gleaned from
the classicalfiqh (Islamic jurisprudence)texts of the 9th-15th centuries and contemporary articles and statements by ulama on abortion. This material provides the Islamic reasoning and thoughtthat is the basis of Muslim recommendationsfor current
practice as regardsabortion.These views cover a wide spectrum. Second, I will take
up the religious, political, and social contexts of attitudes toward abortion and the
practice of abortionin the late 20th century.This materialtends to move the abortion
debate from a purely theological vantage point to one that is largely political. Currently, the decision on the legality of abortion rests with the state. Other actors are
the religious leaders who rule on the religious permissibility of the practice and the
physicians who determine whether an abortion is necessary. Nowhere is the woman
herself given a voice in deciding the suitability of abortion to her needs. This is the
topic of the third section: the actions and attitudes of women as they confront the
possibility of abortion. Finally, I will survey the stances of Muslim countries as delineated in reports from the population conference.
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Abortion and Islam
ABORTION
IN SHARICA
163
LAW
The patriarchaltraditions of the pre-Islamic Arab tribes carried over into the new
Muslim community, formed early in the 7th century. Islamic law delineated family
order and the roles, duties, responsibilities, and rights of Muslim men and women.
The revelations of Islam bettered the conditions of women by abolishing female infanticide, by restricting men's freedom to unlimited polygyny, by requiring men to
definitively divorce a wife following three repudiations,and by recognizing women's
right to own property,to enter into contracts, and to inherit. But Islamic law also
followed pre-Islamic customs by grantingultimate decision-making responsibility in
most areas to the senior men of the family. The customs and habits that the Arabs
brought with them as they converted to Islam colored the precepts of the new religion, as well, and reinforced traditionalpatriarchalvalues. However, a number of
family and maritalmatters-such as contraceptionand abortion-were discussed explicitly in Islamic jurisprudencein an attemptto reconcile community interests with
those of the wife and husband. Islam, like the other great monotheistic traditions,
fervently encourages procreation, with the goal of enlarging and strengthening its
community. Yet, sharica law recognized situations in which the individual rights of
the husband and wife took precedence over the community interest in procreation.
These discussions about abortion and contraceptionnot only lay out the position of
the schools of law on these issues, but also give a sense of the streamof logic applied
in medieval debates about maritaland family responsibilities. For contemporaryMuslims struggling to deal with questions of the religious permissibility of IUDs and in
vitro fertilization, these writings provide guidance for reasoning through Muslim
approachesto thorny social issues unthought-of in the 9th century when Islamic law
was in its formative period.
In a moving passage, the Qur'an condemns the pre-Islamic practice of female infanticide by exposure to the elements. This practice was common enough to have
been given a name, wa'd. In sura (chapter)81, al-Takwir,the Qur'an refers to a chilling question that will be posed on JudgmentDay: "When the infant girl, buried alive,
is asked for what crime she was slain."6This was taken as a complete prohibition of
wa9dspecifically, but it also led scholars to question practices such as abortion(ijhdd)
that could be taken to be murder-in other words, the killing of a soul. The question
of whether the fetus had legal status as a person was importantin a numberof legal
contexts among the Arabs, as well: to questions about blood money paid if a pregnant woman was injured and miscarried; to questions about inheritance (could the
fetus benefit from inheritancealthough yet unborn?);to questions of personal status
(if a slave aborted a "formed" fetus, would she ultimately gain freedom as umm
walad?7); and to questions of burial for the fetus if miscarried or stillborn.
All ulama concur in stating that abortionis universally forbidden when it involves
the killing of a soul. The intricacies of the argumentas delineated infiqh-and as debated today-turns on two factors: the point of creation or ensoulment of the fetus
and the health of the mother.
The arguments over abortion reflect some sleight of hand with semantics in deciding when to call terminating a pregnancy abortion. Ever since this debate was
opened in the jurisprudence literature of the 9th century, ulama have not agreed
on the point in its development at which a fetus becomes "infused with life." At
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164
Donna Lee Bowen
conception (encounter of sperm and egg)? At some point thereafter?At birth? All
jurists agree that the fetus is ensouled, a human being, after 120 days. Thus, they
agree that abortion-the murderof the created soul-is forbidden. But they do not
agree on the point at which the act becomes abortion, because they differ regarding
when the spirit enters the fetus. The variety of possible answers gives rise to different
religious opinions on abortion.
There are two basic opinions: (1) abortion at any point following conception is
murderinga created entity and is thereby forbidden;and (2) the fetus is created at a
point following conception-some say 40 days, some 90 days, some 120 days. Before creation, abortion is permitted;following this point, it is forbidden.
The figures of 40 and 120 days come from an interpretationof the twenty-third
sura (al-Mu'minun, verse 11)of the Qur'an, which speaks of how God created man
and which is interpretedas describingthe stages of fetal development:nutfah (sperm),
Calaqah(blood clot), mudghah (embryo).8 In a hadith the Prophet adds the explanation that 40 days is assigned to each stage: the fetus is held as a drop of sperm for
40 days, as a blood clot for another 40 days, and then as an embryo for a final 40
days, at which point the fetus is "created"-the point, by extrapolation,at which some
jurists consider the soul enters the fetus. Other hadiths give 40 days as the time of
creation.9
Jurists reached their decisions on the permissibility of abortion through various
strains of reasoning. Some schools of Islamic law-the Malikis, the Imami Shi'is,
the Ibadis, and the Zahiris-hold abortionat any time to be the killing of a potential
person. The majority of jurists of these schools believe that the fetus is ensouled at
conception. A Moroccan alim summed up the majority opinion on abortion.
Abortion is the expulsion of the fetus before it is due for naturalbirth. It is an abhorrentand
a most damnable act, interdicted by Islam in the strongest terms, with wrathful censure of
the culprit, and severe condemnation by true humanity and by all those of upright nature, all
for the fact that abortion is no less heinous than the committing of a murdersternly prohibited by God, and amounts, in other respects, to insubordinationto God's will and to a deliberate attempt to change the divine order. Islam forbade such murder:"Neither slay any one
whom God hath forbidden you to slay, unless for a just cause." (Sura 17:33)10
The majorityof scholars from the Hanafi and Zaydi schools allow abortionbefore
120 days; they argue that the fetus is not ensouled until the 120 days pass. The Hanbali school allows abortionbefore 40 days. The Shafi'i school is divided: some scholars allow abortion until 80 days (as sperm and blood clot); some allow it before 120
days. Others, including the Muslim theologian and Shafi'i jurist al-Ghazzali, prohibit
it at any time."I
The second qualification-that of the health of the mother-reflects medical, social, and financial concerns. If the motheris endangeredby the pregnancy,all schools
bow to medical opinion and permit a therapeuticabortion. Because the mother is the
source, the origin of life, her life and well-being is given priority. If a mother's life
is endangeredby a pregnancy, abortion is not only a viable option, but the expected
option. Here, Islam says, religion ceases to have jurisdiction; the religious authority
steps aside, and medical science takes over. The doctrine that takes precedence is
"necessity knows no law"; the health and welfare of the mother being the "necessity." Therapeuticabortions are legal throughoutthe Muslim world, and as in most
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Abortion and Islam
165
parts of the world, the question of the necessity of the abortion rests on the physician. This leaves the physician with a great degree of latitude in determiningwhen an
abortion is in the best interests of the woman. It is precisely this latitude that many
ulama fear. This puts responsibility on the shoulders of the individual Muslim seeking the abortion as well as on the physician who will perform it. Here the concept
of niyya (intention) applies. A necessary abortionperformedfor a proper reason escapes being labeled a sin and is a religiously neutral action; however, an improper
intent that spurs an abortion rebounds with disfavor as a sin and cannot be justified
as necessary.
Although they permit abortion within 120 days, the Hanafi, Shafici, and Zaydi
schools nevertheless classify it makruh (reprehensible, detested), a legal category
next to haram (prohibited)in gravity. Because abortionis a detested practice, a vital
reason is necessary in order to justify its use. One well-recognized rationale is the
mother'sbecoming pregnantwhile nursing a baby. Either her milk stops and the family must provide milk for the child from an outside source-a heavy resource burden
for poor families-or the mother continues to nurse, and both baby and fetus are
deprived of the nutritionnecessary for their development. Other reasons listed in the
fiqh texts include the poor health of the mother, such as a weak bladder, or a risk of
difficult labor requiringa cesarian section; an excessively youthful mother (younger
than fifteen); or a disease or malfunctioning of the uterus.'2
The reasoning of the jurists is reflected in a statement by al-Ghazzali, who prohibits abortion in degrees:
Abortion is an offence against an existing creature.The first degree of existence is the ejection
of the sperm into the womb where it combines with the ovum; its destructionis a sin. When it
becomes a clot, the sin connected with abortion becomes grave. When animation takes place
and the embryo acquires shape, the sin becomes deadly. The nearer to animation, the greater
the sin involved in abortion, because it can then be regarded as a crime.13
The most extreme view is held by the Hanafi, Zaydi, and some Shafi'i jurists who
argue that abortionbefore ensoulment is analogous to the permittedpractice of contraception. Unlike in the case of abortion,jurists display a remarkableunanimity in
ruling on contraception (the method mentioned is cazl, or coitus interruptus),which
they all believe allowable although, like abortion,makruih.Because this is a detested
practice, one better not performed,a reason is necessary to justify contraceptiveuse,
just as it is necessary to justify abortion.Juristsconsidered giving birth to a baby as
an unqualifiedgood; thus, not impregnatingthe woman or not performinga good act
requires some justification for its omission. The classic reason cited was the desire
not to lose a slave woman'slabor because of pregnancy.Most legal schools grant the
man permission to use coitus interruptusif the woman agrees, because they believe
she has an overwhelming interest in bearing a child, and waives her own interests by
consenting to contraceptive use.
One differencebetween contraceptionand abortion,however, was that the latterput
the use of medicines in the control of physicians and women (when the medication
was a popularly used abortifacient),while contraceptionwas in the hands of the men
(coitus interruptus).14Some jurists make a case for the use of contraceptionby noting
that it voids the question of abortion and that contraceptives are a more acceptable
alternative. 15
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166 Donna Lee Bowen
Despite the diversity of interpretation,the complex rationales of Islamic law serve
to recognize the foibles of men and women, and in a practical mannerthey provide
outs and safety nets for times of need. Examples of these practical measures include
provision for divorce (but only divorce initiated by the husband) and heavy punishments levied for adultery,but only after four eyewitnesses testify to the sexual act.
Although Muslim authoritiesnever encourage abortion,they recognize it as a necessary practice under certain conditions-namely, to preserve the mother'slife, a time
when abortion'sworthoutweighs its negative aspects. This importantmeans of analysis follows the Islamic precept of choosing what is least damaging, the lesser rather
than the greater evil. Jurists rule that abortion-though undesirable-is a "lesser
evil" than what may befall the woman if the pregnancy is continued.
CONTEMPORARY
FOR
RELIGIOUS,
POLITICAL,
AND
SOCIAL
CONTEXTS
ABORTION
Theological and juridical arguments have the latitude to examine abortion practice
from a theoretical point of view. Today's social and political pressures, however,
demand less ambiguity in abortion policy. Positions presented in the contemporary
debate ranged widely. Islamic activists utilized the Cairo Population Conference as
a forum to put pressureon political leaders, religious leaders, and Muslims in general
to prohibit abortion completely, while a few reformers, following the example of
Tunisia, suggest that abortion in the early months of pregnancy should be allowed
without condition. Here religion comes up against political realities. As social and
political pressuresconverge in a public arena, the abortiondebate reveals a complicity between political and religious interests.
The problemsin reconciling legal codes with the ambiguities of everyday life show
up in sharp relief in the current politicization of abortion policy. Ambiguity in the
realm of abortion policy, while abhorrentto hard-linersand sloganeers, is useful in
integrating expectations such as those supplied by sharica law to problems that life
imposes. KatherineEwing, in Sharicatand Ambiguityin SouthAsian Islam, suggests
that tolerance for ambiguity is more pronounced during periods of relative stability,
but as social expectations diversify during a time of rapid social change, the natural
tendency is to pull in, insist upon clearly stated guidelines, and emphasize consistency in social behavior. Adherence to externally stated authoritycan be stressed as
the ability to countenance divergence from expected norms lessens.16 The tensions
engendered by rapid social change and by the introduction of competing standards
of behavior (as Western norms are increasingly accepted by young Middle Easterners) are obvious in the abortion debate. During the population conference, abortion
became the line drawn in the sand for many Muslims-one that symbolized Muslim
adherence to traditional values of family and community. Because there can be no
equivocation with symbolic stands, discussion of the vagaries of sharicapositions on
abortionwere dismissed, and slogans-such as "Islam ForbidsAbortion"-were substituted for thoughtful and consequently indeterminatediscourse.
Ewing also emphasizes the importance of general agreement on the organizing
principles of a community.17The debate over abortion serves to substitute new procedures for classical methods as the means by which the Muslim community deter-
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Abortion and Islam
167
mines its stance on an issue. Rather than following the tortuous reasoning of the
ulama through the fiqh texts, today's speakers seek to truncate procedures, dismiss
debate, and substitute pat phrases for analysis. These methods may be emotionally
satisfying for individuals seeking answers to difficult questions, but they negate the
crucial function these cumbersome methods play in representingand responding to
a range of human situations. They also fail to appreciatethe flexibility to adapt that
unresolved discourse regardingmoral dilemmas can give a community of one billion
spread throughoutthe world. In the end, their efforts become compromised, because
subjects such as abortion, contraception, and women's issues are far too complex to
be reduced to sound bites. The discourse of the fuqahd' and the ulama are better
suited to these complexities, but in the noise of the discussion, the importance of
their methods and agreementon how positions on difficult issues are determinedwill
be lost in the din.
Over the past twenty years, I have interviewed a numberof Muslim religious leaders of varying educationallevels in Tunisiaand Morocco about the legal permissibility of contraceptionin Islam. As part of the interview, I inquire about the status of
abortion. Their answers are always deceptively simple-"It is forbidden."However,
beyond this initial denial of abortion, they detail the complicated traditionsof jurisprudential reasoning from which their answers stem and lay out the precedents to
their arguments,as well as exceptions that void the general rule. As discussed earlier,
this legal tradition may lead ulama to diametrically opposed conclusions regarding
the permissibility of abortion in early pregnancy.
Muslim ulama are acutely aware that increased secularization has raised issues of
the applicability of religious doctrine, and especially precepts of classical Islamic jurisprudenceto social issues of the latter 20th century.To counter this argument,they
emphasize that little is new under the sun; although details may change, the basic
thrustof humannatureremains fairly constant, and the revelations of Islam are flexible enough to cover new contingencies. Again and again, ulama repeat, "Islam exists for every time and place." In other words, Islam's message cannot be outmoded
by the passage of time; its truthsare eternal.But this phrasecontains anothermessage
of adaptabilityto new challenges and posits the flexibility of Islamic law to respond
to contemporarysituations.
As ulama elaborate on their doctrinal stances, they use rationales not cited in classical literature:(1) the issue of social control; that is, who decides whether abortion
is permitted:religious leaders, the state, the husbandand wife, or the woman? (2) an
expansion of the definition of health of the mother to include stress, financial considerations, and family welfare; (3) the maritalstatus of the woman seeking an abortion; and (4) the argumentover public morality;namely, the difficulty of maintaining
community standardsof behavior while underincreasing attackby Westernpractices
unacceptable to good Muslims.
Who Makes the Decision?
For ulama, the answer to this question is deceptively simple: the physician makes
the decision on the necessity of abortion. Yet this answer begs the question of the
role of the state and of the doctrinal position of the majority of ulama in that area,
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168
Donna Lee Bowen
not to mention the fact that in most countries the husband'sconsent is required.Even
if a physician agrees that an abortionis medically indicated, in both state and sharica
law precedent requires that the husband give his consent. This echoes the jurisprudence reasoning that both parties concerned (husband and wife) must agree on any
form of contraceptionto protect both sets of rights involved. With abortion, the role
of the husband as father is recognized, and his rights to the child are given official
weight.
The minorityview of classical jurisprudenceis representedmost noticeably among
a majority of Tunisian religious leaders who hold that abortion before 120 days is
permitted;afterward,they hold, it is forbiddenbecause the fetus has become a person
(insan, human being).18Tunisianulama indicate that they are well within the Hanafi
tradition.The stand of the ulama is both facilitated and complicated by the emphasis
on birthcontrol, which has been official Tunisianstate policy since the 1960s. On one
hand, a more liberal religious outlook on abortioneased public acceptance when the
state liberalized abortionpolicy (see the section on the political realities of abortion).
However, both ulama and family-planningpersonnel in other Muslim countries stated
concern about the extent of the Tunisianinitiative and the numberof abortionsbeing
performed annually.19Talk on the street has suggested that the Tunisian ulama are
more puppets of the state than independentreligious authorities, and that they have
improperly adapted religious doctrine to opportunistpolitical ends.
All official positions on abortion-religious, medical, or state-sponsored-deny
decision-making authority to the woman herself. Islam gives authority first to the
religious authority,then to the physician; medicine gives authorityto the physician;
and the state determines the overridingpolicy. CarlaMakhlouf Obermeyerholds that
in the 20th century state power is ultimately determinative, and that the impact of a
religious position on the state is minimal. Real decision-making authority is determined by the political context in which gender issues are defined. Obermeyer'sthesis
helps explain the attempts by political groups to dominate public rhetoric on questions related to fertility and women's status and thereby influence state policy. Because the populationconference has broughtissues of women's status to the fore, one
may assume that this battle has only been joined, and that debate over issues related
to fertility and women's rights will increase rather than subside.20As indicators of
women'sstatus(such as life expectancy,literacy,and maternalmortalityamong others)
show, women often fare poorly in Muslim countries comparedwith North and South
America, Western and EasternEurope, and East Asia, although this differs by country, and improvements have been documented over the past decade.2' Although Islamic texts emphasize the equality of all believers before God, and the sunna and
hadith emphasize the exalted status of mothers, ulama quote the same texts to demonstratewomen's subordinateposition as the rights and duties of men and women are
differentiatedand men are given jurisdiction over their women.22
Reasons for Abortion
As women have realized that safe abortions are available, the demand for abortion
has increased throughoutthe world. This has resulted in a blurring of the line between therapeuticand social abortions. At the same time, understandingof the fac-
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Abortion and Islam
169
tors that adversely affect a woman'shealth has expanded. Now, some doctors include
stress and other mental-healthconditions and less pronouncedphysical symptoms as
indicating abortion, whereas only life-threatening conditions previously would call
for this procedure.
Even within countries with a strong stance on abortion, such as Morocco, individual ulama differ in carving out their own doctrines, which they employ in advisement.
Many ulama caution against abortion for financial reasons and refer to the Qur'anic
injunctions "Kill not your children on a plea of want" and "We provide sustenance
for them and you." Others apply the minority position on abortionto allow for more
leeway. A well-known and well-respected imam and alim in Fez admittedthat he was
inclined to permit abortion within the 120-day limit if the reasons were sufficiently
compelling.23Not only did he cite health of the mother as a reason for abortion, he
also recognized economic exigencies as sufficiently compelling to permit the procedure. He told of advising two families. When one husbandand wife met with him
for advice, he conceded that their economic straits would make an abortion advisable. However, he then encouraged them to look thoughtfully at their children and
weigh the addition of another child to their family, although he recognized that the
costs would be heavy. He smiled happily when he told me that the child is now finishing lycee. In the other case, he said, the woman was in a desperate situation, and
he assuredher that in her case an abortionwas permittedfor reasons of financial and
mental stress, although she could have carriedthe baby to term without mishap. Following this interview, I asked the gentleman who had introduced me to the alim
whetherhe could explain the difference between this alim's position and the positions
of the other ulama I had interviewed who disallowed the 120-day margin. The man
responded thoughtfully that the difference had to do with their work assignments.
The alim I had interviewed was an imam who gave the khutba in one of the most
prestigious mosques in Fez. Afterwardhe met with those who had come to pray and
listened to their problems and concerns. This gave him a more intimate sense of the
dilemmas people live with, and this immediacy compelled him to think in more flexible categories than other ulama who are more familiar with texts than with individual cases.
Marital Status
Pregnancy outside of marriage has never been acceptable under sharica law or in
Muslim society. Although it would be reasonable for us to assume that unmarried
women in the past quietly sought abortionsto maintaintheir social standing and their
family's honor, thefiqh texts are silent on that issue and assume that all women needing abortions are married. For the most part, the ulama follow the same reasoning
and do not discuss the possibility of extramaritalpregnancywhen ruling on abortion.
An al-Ahraimeditorial published during the population conference takes up the issue
of marital status. Although the author recognizes that abortion is legal under two
conditions (if it will harmthe mother'shealth and if it is performedbefore 120 days
have passed), he states that no guidelines exist to govern use of abortionif the woman
is not legally married.24In other words, no conditions can rationalize abortion as
religiously permitted unless pregnancy occurs within marriage.
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170 Donna Lee Bowen
Public Morality
An often-raised criticism of abortion made by a number of ulama is that it is a sign
of moral decay and shows a disregard for life that marks the dissolution of the social
fabric in the West and seeks to invade Muslim countries. They express concern that
contraception in general, but abortion specifically, spurs immoral behavior by allowing
women to be sexually active.25 The remarks that follow are taken from a conference
on Islam and Family Planning sponsored by the International Planned Parenthood
Federation in 1970, which has produced authoritative proclamations by ulama holding diverse positions on issues related to family planning. They give a sense of the
concern felt then, but are also in tune with the greater urgency evidenced by ulama
two and a half decades later.
Under the screen of women's emancipation, it is urged that since man could practice sex
freely, woman should be equally free to practice it, instead of saying as unchastity is improper
to woman, so it is to man. (Hassan Hathout,M.D., Consultant,Obstetricianand Gynecologist,
MaternityHospital, Kuwait City, Kuwait, currentlywith the Islamic Center in Los Angeles).26
The family, which but a few years back was still preserving within the sanctum of the home
certain genuine principles of Islamic education, now stands bewildered before this sweeping
onslaught. It can no longer act in accordance with its beliefs and convictions, except in very
limited and rare cases, for radio and television inside the home have shared with movies, theaters, and wanton entertainmenthaunts outside the home in infixing more firmly the impression of this crushing, overpowering invasion.
Under the impact of all these forces collectively and severally, the relationship between
husbandand wife, as well as between parentsand children, is growing day by day lax and lifeless, and the family bonds as a result are being disrupted in many, if not in most, cases.
Birth control in any shape or form which tends to impoverish life is none of the principles
of Islam. Islam is richness and enrichment and a blossoming out of real life. Abortion and
sterilization are on the other hand a form of death, and as such are repudiated by Islam.
(Shaykh 'Abdul Rahman al-Khayyir, Ministry of Waqf, Damascus, Syria).27
Now to come to the moral point of view. The popularization of contraceptives and making
them available to all and sundry will encourage licentious sexual relations. People would no
longer stand in fear of blame of censure of society, since there would be no visible traces of
their illicit relation. They would be in no danger of incurring shame, disgrace, or a feeling
of guilt by bringing into the world a child born of adultery, since they can avert all this
by legitimate means. (Shaykh Ahmad Sahnoun, Associate Professor, Ministry of Education,
Rabat, Morocco).28
As these quotations demonstrate, many ulama fear that what they characterize as
Western (technological) imports will prey on man's weakness and prompt immoral
behavior. While some, such as the alim from Fez, see ways to apply the technology
to meet the needs of his community members, others move to reject these practices
out of hand. They imply that times are different now, that the Muslim world is under
unprecedented attack. This attack does not change shari'a law, but it changes the manner in which they are responsible for addressing issues of shari'a law. They fear that
rare case in which the
abortion is no longer seen as an exceptional practice-the
lesser of two evils is invoked. They dread the wholesale importation of foreign attitudes that consider abortion to be an efficient and cheap means of terminating pregnancy, and they worry that the increased tolerance of extramarital sex, contraception,
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Abortion and Islam
171
and abortionseen in most of the world will invade Muslim countries in turn. Benazir
Bhutto addressedthis point in her speech to the population conference: "Regrettably,
the conference'sdocumentcontainsserious flaws in strikingat the heartof a greatmany
cultural values, in the North and in the South, in the mosque and in the church....
Islam ... except in exceptional circumstances,rejects abortionas a method of population control."29If contraception is the thin end of the wedge leading to social and
familial degeneration, abortionis throwing the door wide open. Discussions of abortion such as those at the population conference, which emphasize rights of women
and abortion on demand, fuel resistance as the rationales accepted for abortion increasingly fall out of the area of the mother's health and into that of abortion for
social reasons. The reaction of many ulama is to shut the door completely.
This concern for community welfare sets up a paradoxical situation. Although
Muslim scholarshave traditionallytaken a pragmaticapproachto limited use of abortion, today their public positions have narrowed and become more restrictive. This
push and pull is reflected in the debate over Islam's position on abortion that was
carried out in the Cairo newspapers during the population conference. A statement
issued by al-Azhar before the conference criticized the initial draft document on
population,focusing on the draft'scondoning of extramaritalsex, underminingof parental authority,and encouragement of prostitution, which al-Azhar linked to unrestricted access to abortion.30During the conference, Benazir Bhutto excused abortion
only in the "rarestof circumstances."She stated that promoting the availability of
abortionwould create a "clash of cultures"that would seek "to impose adultery,abortion, sex education, and other such matters on individuals, societies, and religions
which have their own social ethos."31
The populationconference generatedconsiderablepublic discussion of abortionin
the Cairo press. A few articles took up the issue of Islam's beliefs on abortion; despite the public stand against abortionthat was being trumpetedthat fall, the articles
detailed both the majority and minority legal positions. However, no consensus was
reached and in some ways the articles thoroughly muddied the waters. When read
carefully, the articles by religious leaders and secular commentators alike neither
ruled out nor sanctioned use of abortion. Instead, they give a sense of the debate
within the community over the subject. Even allowing for some misquoting by the
press, the Cairo articles on abortion raise as many questions as they answer. The
shaykh of al-Azhar and the dean of the College of Usul al-Din summarize the two
main approaches.
In an article published on 7 September 1994 under the headline, "AbortionIs Not
Permittedin the SharicaUnless to Protect the Life of the Mother,"the shaykh of alAzhar, Gad al-Haqq 'Ali Gad al-Haqq argues against the use of abortion because it
is forbidden by Islam. He notes that the only exception has been to protect the life
of the mother, and he calls upon doctors not to be rash in deciding whethera mother's
life is in danger. Doctors who perform unnecessary or unlawful abortions, he says,
are answerable to God. Following this prohibition,he raises the point that according
to the shari'a, abortion is not to be performed after the first 120 days, at which time
an abortion is judged analogous to killing a humanbeing. He rules against abortions
after 120 days for any reason but a threatto the mother's life or perilous congenital
defects affecting the fetus, but he leaves open the option to perform abortion before
120 days have elapsed. On that issue, he notes, ulama differ, stating that there are
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172
Donna Lee Bowen
four main positions: (1) that abortion is allowed in the first 120 days, with no need
for justification; (2) that abortion is allowed in that period only with a valid reason;
(3) that abortion within 120 days is disliked (makrih); and (4) that abortion is not
allowed in any case.32
The dean of the College of Usul al-Din at Tanta,al-Qisbi MahmoudZalt, represents
a more hard-line position. He declares that abortion is forbidden from conception,
because the fetus is alive from that moment. He notes, however, that ulama differ on
whether abortion is allowable before the fetus is ensouled. He adds that those who
allow abortionjustify their position by denying that the fetus is alive at that point.
Those who forbid abortion at any point reason that life is present, though growing
slowly and not apparent.33
An article by MuhammadSayyid Tantawi, a mufti of a group of Cairo mosques,
also presents a conservative point of view, stating that contraception is contrary to
Islamic principles. Abortion is also undesirable, but cannot be totally forbidden because cases exist in which it is needed (i.e., when the mother's life is threatened).34
These statements demonstratethe diverse positions argued in the press by Muslim
ulama. The range of positions representedor quoted range from complete permission
for abortion in the first 120 days to total prohibition.The center seems to agree that
abortion should be restricted to cases of need; need is generally defined in relation
to the mother'shealth. But religious precedentandjuridical argumentsbased on classical argumentscan be used to defend almost any position.
One angle that may partially explain the reticence of Muslim countries to allow
abortionfollows the historical confrontationsplayed out in internationalpolitics concerning population issues. Before the conference, Peter Waldmanof the Wall Street
Journal wrote, "Intellectualsin some Arab and Muslim countries, where populations
are generally growing much faster than elsewhere in the world, have long accused
the West of funding family planning to throttle the 'Arabnation' and the spread of
Islam."35The developing world understood Western governments' pronouncements
on halting population growth as a warning that the West saw population growth in
less-developed nations as a strategic problem that threatenedWestern economic and
political interests. Under the leadership of the Chinese government in the late 1960s,
progressive (both leftist and nationalist) forces in many developing countries rejected population programs as a tool of Western imperialists. Middle Eastern and
South Asian political opposition to internationallyfunded family-planning programs
stems from that period. The fact that Western governments not only are willing to
finance contraceptive methods for the citizens of these countries, but even advocate
abortionon demandc,spurs resistance to the programs.36Political forces saw Westernfinanced abortion components of population programs in particularas an attack on
individual nations' interests in building strength and influence through population
numbers, as well as an attack on the morality of their communities. A few Middle
Easterners voice extreme concerns. When abortion is mentioned, they condemn it
strongly, citing as an analogy the use of abortion in China and that country's onechild-per-family policy. They seem to fear that any introductionof abortion is only
the first item on a long Western,anti-Muslimagenda, and that the eventual result will
be compulsory terminationof pregnancy designed to restrict population growth and
weaken Muslim nations.37
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Abortion and Islam
173
Political Realities of Abortion in Muslim Countries
Unlike in the West, the issue of abortion is highly charged but not publicly divisive
in Muslim countries, partly because of general agreement on its undesirability, and
partly because there is little to no public discussion of abortion. Abortion for other
than therapeuticpurposes is legal only in Tunisia and Turkey.Iran has allowed abortion at different periods through the past thirty years. The basic policy of the other
countries is to outlaw abortion(for all but therapeuticpurposes), but enforce the statutes laxly, so that abortions, while not permitted, in most cases are not prosecuted.
Morocco and Tunisia furnish a contrastin legislative approachesto abortion. During the colonial period, the prohibition of abortion in North Africa was taken as
much from the law of the Frenchcolonizers as from the dominantlocal Maliki school
of Islamic law. Following the establishment of colonial administrations,laws were
adopted in both countries that duplicatedFrenchcodes on contraceptive practice and
that emphasized increasing population numbers.The sale and advertising of contraceptives and all abortions, including therapeuticabortion, were outlawed.
In Morocco, the French protectoratepassed a law with the above stipulations in
1920; in 1939, the Moroccan government passed the same law, which remained on
the books until 1967, when it was reversed, allowing the sale and advertisement of
contraceptives and therapeuticabortions. In Morocco, therapeuticabortions with the
permission of a physician are permitted,but other abortionsare outlawed. From time
to time, physicians who blatantly perform abortionon demand are arrestedas an example to other doctors. But for the most part, abortions are performedquietly in the
private sector, with a veneer of respectability,and are described as a therapeuticmeasure, althoughmany are clearly social abortions.Abortionsmay be performedsecretly
underthe medical guise of assisting in precipitatinga late menstruation.Physicians in
the national public health service steer clear of abortionand deny that they are available. For obvious reasons, no count on the numberof abortionsperformedin the country are available, but according to anecdotal accounts the practice is not uncommon.
In Tunisia, abortion was covered under a 1913 law that mandated five years in
prison for a woman who performedan abortionand ten years for a physician or pharmacist who performed an abortion (or prescribed medication for that purpose). The
source of this law was the 1804 Napoleonic code. The law was amended in 1940 to
allow therapeutic abortion if two doctors judged the woman's life to be in danger.
Following Tunisia's independence in 1961, national planners realized the implications of the country's population growth for future development plans. In response,
legal initiatives were passed to make the climate receptive to decreasing population
growth. Polygamy was outlawed; the sale and advertising of contraceptives was allowed; entitlements (allowances paid to subsidize children) were limited to the first
four children; and the minimum age at marriagewas raised to seventeen for women
and twenty-one for men.
In 1965, legislation was passed that modified the earlier laws on abortion, making
the procedure legal in two cases: if a woman had more than five children, or if a
therapeuticabortionwas necessary for the woman'shealth. The wording was liberal,
noting that an abortion could be performed if the pregnancy held any potential of
danger to the mother's life. Abortions could not be performed after three months of
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174 Donna Lee Bowen
gestation. One doctor'srecommendationwas necessary for the procedure,and the husband'sconsent was not needed. This law opened the door for social abortions in Tunisia. At present, therapeuticabortions are defined very liberally, and financial need
is considered a sufficientreason for an abortionby many physicians. Social abortions
may be grantedif the husband,not the wife, has five children. Applications of the law
differ from hospital to hospital and region to region. Women may be denied an abortion in one hospital and have it authorizedin another,so word of mouthguides women
to sympathetic personnel.38The 1988 Demographic and Health Survey for Tunisia
documents that 87.2 percent of Tunisian women are acquainted with abortion, and
that 13.3 percent have had abortions. More recent unofficial estimates (1994) place
the occurrence of abortions much higher.39
In the population-planninglaw of 1983, Turkeylegalized induced abortion on request during the first ten weeks of pregnancy.In 1993, there were 17.2 induced abortions per 100 live births. Further, 13 abortionsper 100 pregnancies were recorded in
1993, compared with 20.6 in 1990 and 12.9 in 1988. Abortion rates are nearly twice
as high in urban as in rural areas. Three times as many abortions are performed in
the western partof the country as in the east, and twice as many are performedin the
central, southern and northernregions as in the east. Older women are more likely
to have abortions than younger women, and women with greater numbers of living
childrenare more likely to have abortions.The highest percentageof abortionsis seen
among the women who desire only one child. The majorreasons for having abortions
differ by educational status. More highly educated women cite socioeconomic reasons and the need to space children. Among uneducated women, 17 percent report
a physician's recommendationas a reason for their abortions, and 62 percent declare
that they did not want any more children. As the age of the woman increased, they
reported their main reason for an abortion was "not wanting any more children."
Younger women cited socioeconomic pressures.40To put the numberof abortions in
Turkeyin a world context, in 1992 in the United States 38 abortions were performed
for every 100 live births.4'In Russia in 1990, according to official figures, 200 abortions were performed for every 100 live births.42
Medicine and the Medical Practice of Abortion
Medieval physicians tended to treat abortion as a means of birth control that was indicated when conditions demanded. Medical texts from that period demonstratethat
physicians concentrated on preventing births through medicines-many of which
were popularly known to women, their use passed on by word of mouth.43
Prominent physicians must have been uneasy about the use of abortion, for their
writings indicate that they sought to narrow the use of abortion (as well as contraceptive medicines) to cases of necessity. Many took their cue from the Hippocratic
oath and its condemnation of abortion, which prominentMuslim physicians quoted
in their writings. Basim Musallam ventures that some doctors may have been reluctant to advocate the use of abortion and contraception, which they saw as kindred
practices because they feared wider use by women-use that was not controlled by
men. He quotes the physician Ibn 'Abbas as being reluctantto mention contraception
because he feared its use by "women in whom there is no good" and advised a physician to prescribe it only for "women he could trust."44
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Abortion and Islam
175
Today,performanceof abortionseems to depend upon availability as well as upon
a woman's sense of need. Some physicians refuse to perform abortions; others perform abortions in cases of health emergencies; others are known as being amenable
to performingthe procedureunder most circumstances. The pricing of abortion also
seems to be widely known among women and students. Thus, the physician's agreement that an abortion is warranted-in accordance with the requirementsof Islamic
law for therapeuticreasons-is key. Women may attempt to manipulate the doctor;
some have told me that they tell the physician that they have a medical need for the
abortion, but they also generally have prior knowledge of his willingness to perform
the procedure.
Many physicians in the Muslim world are women, although this varies by locale.
Female doctors are not necessarily sympathetic to abortion, however, as not all female doctors are willing to perform the procedure,and many of those who will perform abortions are men. Access to abortion, thus, is determined by knowledge of
doctors who perform the procedure(note that doctors willing to performtherapeutic
abortionsmay not be willing to performabortionsfor social reasons) and by the ability to pay for the procedure.The public-health sector is restrictedby the laws of the
state, and its doctors do not have the same latitude that private physicians do. In the
Moroccan public-health system, for example, doctors are not allowed to perform
abortions without considerable evidence of danger to the mother's health, and even
in these cases the decision is politically sensitive. In general, the Moroccan publichealth system regards abortion as a hands-off area.45
The discussion above begs an importantaspect of the issue: the access that women
in rural areas have to abortion, or how they deal with unwanted pregnancies. A second issue is whether the women's husbands or male kin are involved in the decision
to abort. More than twenty years ago, a nurse working in a Moroccan village confided to me that she suspected that a high numberof women were abortingunwanted
children. Her conclusion was based on the physical evidence women presented when
consulting her for complications following the alleged abortion. At that point, the
fertility rate in Morocco was 7.8 children, and women in the rural areas had very
limited access to modern contraceptives.
WOMEN'S
CONTROL
OVER
THEIR
FERTILITY
Over the centuries, men have formulated the discussions in sharica law on abortion
and have interpretedthese sources for the community. Although women bear the
children, and sometimes abort fetuses, they have had no input into the debate on the
permissibility of abortion. As Ibn 'Abbas's advice to physicians to prescribe only to
"women he can trust"intimated, women generally were not considered morally responsible actors when it came to questions of abortion, and some physicians feared
they would use the procedurerecklessly. This fits with the general tendency of sharica
law to protect women and entrust their welfare to the men of the family. This same
rationale is seen in laws regulating abortion. In most Muslim countries, women cannot make the decision to abort a child alone. A physician's permission is necessary,
as is the consent of her husband.
Historically,women probablyhad access to popularabortificients.NormanHines in
Medical History of Contraceptionrefersto recipes for procuringabortion.46Assuming
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176 Donna Lee Bowen
that the recipes for abortionare similar to the methods of contraceptionthat he documents, many would have been partof the populartraditioncirculated among women
as well as prescribed and administeredby physicians. These popular methods were
disseminated among women, and it can be assumed that the use of at least some remedies did not necessarily require a physician.
Few Muslim women confuse abortion with family planning. Most seek and welcome pregnancies both for love of children and to cement their status as a mother in
their marriage and larger family. In conversations, however, women recount times
when abortionhas seemed the better course of action. From the stories I have heard
from Muslim women, it seems that many abortionshave been the result of unplanned
and unwantedpregnancies.47Many of the women were unmarried;pregnancywould
bring shame on their families and end their hopes for marriage.In extreme cases, their
lives could be endangered by honor killings. Some marriedwomen need abortions
when contraception fails. However, other women have spoken to me so casually of
abortion that it seems they used it as a means of backing up or substituting for contraception. Some women recounted having numerous abortions.48
Defining abortion seems to be as perplexing for women as for the scholars of Islam. Like the ulama, all women first emphasized that their religion forbids abortion.
Beyond this recognized prohibition,however, lies a real areaof ambiguity.All women
believe that ijhdd, abortionor killing a fetus, is forbidden.The controversialpoint for
women is the same one that the ulama debated at length-at what point the entity
becomes a created fetus. Many women state adamantlythat abortionis forbiddenby
their religion and that its use should not be considered at any time or under any circumstances. One woman, ill and facing an unwanted pregnancy, said that she had
considered abortion, but all of her family had told her it was against Islam. Other
women, while noting that abortion is forbidden, question at what point terminating
a pregnancy becomes abortion. Drawing on their own experience in pregnancy,they
insist that the fetus is not created (has not quickened) until after the second month.
Therefore, they ask, would terminatingthe pregnancy before that point be abortion?
And would terminationof the pregnancy be condemned?
The rationale for arriving at the 120-day figure is based on Qur'anic and hadith
texts, but it also has biological parallels. Women generally perceive the fetus's movements between the tenth and twentieth weeks of pregnancy. Before the quickening
of the fetus, pregnancy may not seem real, nor may the child be perceived as a separatebeing. Once movement is sensed, pregnancybecomes real, less abstract,and abortion becomes what the mufti of New Delhi calls a "great sin, ratherthan the smaller
sin it is considered before 120 days."49
Unlike most Roman Catholics, who are well aware of their church'sprohibitionof
contraception and abortion, Muslims are not well acquainted with Islam's positions
on these issues. This can be attributedpartly to the gap in communication between
the educated religious leaders (ulama) and the local or village religious leaders (fuqaha'; terms for local leaders differ in each geographicalarea). Materialmasteredand
taught by the ulama is often simplified and reduced by local religious leaders into
lowest common denominators. Thus, family planning is forbidden, and abortion is
forbidden.They are not aware of the minority opinions, the methods of juridical reasoning, or exceptions.50Even educated young Muslims have little knowledge of the
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Abortion and Islam
177
argumentsover abortion that are commonplace among the ulama. Their lack of acquaintance with classical jurisprudence lends additional weight to the discourse of
the most conservative or Islamist positions, as the emotional argumentcondemning
abortionresonates with them. In their defense, it should be noted that the population
conference undoubtedlybroughtabout the first discussions of abortionin the popular
press of Islamic countries. It was also the first time that religious positions on abortion had been presented by religious scholars in public debate. The lack of public
discussion of abortion due to the sensitive nature of the topic contributed to more
reactionarystands and less understandingof the issues involved and how Islam has
addressed these issues.
The women's comments on abortion related earlier reflect data gleaned from their
personal experiences with pregnancy.Their concerns with abortion-relatedissues did
not differ by educational level or income. These opinions are instructive in that the
women, utilizing their own sources of information and data on pregnancy, have articulateda position similarto thatof the minorityschool by utilizing a differentmethod
of analysis.
CONCLUSIONS
CONFERENCE
(CAIRO
OF THE
INTERNATIONAL
ON POPULATION
POPULATION
AND
DEVELOPMENT
CONFERENCE)
The major debates at the population conference centered not only on abortion, but
also on the Vatican and Muslim delegations' objections to the draft document's definitions of "reproductiverights"and their relationshipto the family, to sex education,
and to family-planning services for teenagers. Abortionreceived the bulk of the publicity. Nicholaas Biegman, vice chairmanof the drafting committee from the Netherlands, stated: "We have just a week and a half to attractthe attention of the world,
and all we read is abortion, abortion, abortion."51However, as committees worked
toward a compromise on the draftreport,the issues of "reproductiverights,""reproductive health,"and "other unions outside marriage"became equally important.
The initial alliancebetween the Muslim countriesandthe Vatican,which was spurred
by Islamic activists' denunciationsof abortionand extramaritalsexual activity, sought
to strike any references suggesting a universal right to abortionor implying that abortion has any role in the care of women, family planning, or the politics of population.52
As debate continued over these issues, the Vatican and the Muslim nations broke
ranks.Pakistansupportedcompromise language on abortion,on the condition that the
document clarified that abortion was not an alternative to contraception and that no
link between contraceptionand abortion was to be made. Some Muslim delegations
fought any attempt to substitute the term "individual"for the family unit, because
they feared this would promote premaritalsex and homosexual unions. Once these
points were worked out, the Muslim delegations indicated that they would support
the declaration.Muhammad'Ali al-Tashkiri,the head of Iran'sdelegation, noted that
his delegation was "satisfied in general,"although Iran noted reservations about selected paragraphs:"We all [the Muslim countries and the Vatican] agree on the necessity to observe ethics and morals. We agree with the right to life, on family units,
and that sexual relations must take place in marriage."53
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178 Donna Lee Bowen
The compromise statement on abortion says:
Governments should take appropriatesteps to help women avoid abortion, which in no case
should be promoted as a method of family planning, and in all cases provide for the humane
treatmentand counseling of women who have had recourse to abortion."54
An allied paragraph noted:
In no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning. All governments and
relevant intergovernmentaland non-governmentalorganizations are urged to strengthentheir
commitment to women's health, to deal with the impact of unsafe abortion as a major publichealth concern, and to reduce the recourse to abortionthroughexpanded and improved familyplanning services. Prevention of unwanted pregnancies must always be given the highest
priority, and every attempt should be made to eliminate the need for abortion.55
This recognition that abortion is a recourse for women with unwanted pregnancies
spurred some Muslim countries to register reservations about sections of the report.
Of the thirty-one countries with Muslim majorities in attendance at the conference,
Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Indonesia, Algeria, Afghanistan, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Iran,
Malaysia, and Djibouti expressed reservations about Chapter VII (Reproductive Rights
and Reproductive Health). The major concerns were with sections of the chapter that
Muslim delegates did not feel were in agreement with sharica law. Iran and Libya
also expressed reservations about Chapter IV (Gender Equality, Equity, and Empowerment of Women), and Libya, Georgia, Indonesia, and Yemen commented on
Chapter VIII (Health, Morbidity, and Mortality).56 Libya, Yemen, and the United
Arab Emirates specifically noted their objections to references to abortion in their
statements of reservations.57
After nine days of argument, the population conference agreed on a declaration that
called for stabilizing the world's population. A main plank of this strategy was a new
focus on women's status which grants women more control over their lives. The debate over abortion ended in a compromise stating that abortion, although not recognized as a means of contraception, was acknowledged as part of health care. Muslim
and Latin American nations joined in formally objecting to language that recognized
sexual relations outside of marriage. At the conference's conclusion, many diplomats
hailed the outcome as "a triumph of patience over preconceptions."58
The assembly applauded the Vatican's endorsement of the declaration's principles,
which included recognition of the family as the basic unit of society and the need to
stimulate economic growth, gender equality, equity, the empowerment of women, and
migration. However, at the conclusion of the meetings, the Vatican emphasized that
its opposition to abortion, contraceptives, and sterilization had not changed.
The differences between the Vatican position and that of the Muslim states emerged
clearly by the end of the conference. Although the majority of the Muslim states
agreed with the Vatican that abortion should not be deemed a method of family planning, and that sexual activity should be confined to marriage, unlike the Vatican they
supported the use of contraceptives for family planning, the use of condoms for protection from sexually transmitted diseases, and the use of abortion in well-defined
situations. As the conference proceeded, the delegations made clear the differences
between their positions and the slogans put forth before the start of the conference.
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Abortion and Islam
179
The delegations put forwardtheir supportfor the population conference declaration
as being in accordance with moderate shari'a discussions of contraceptionand abortion. Their knowledge of shari'a standson reproductivematters,as well as their skills
at negotiation and compromise, in the end defeated the Muslim activists' attemptsto
seek political advantage by politicizing the conference.
CONCLUSION
Progressive Muslim theologians and modernists have examined the literature on
abortion and believe that the diversity of opinion displayed most recently in the debate at the population conference may ultimately permit more flexibility in national
attitudes. Debate on this subject is spirited and ongoing.59The late Fazlur Rahman,
a Pakistani scholar dedicated to integratingIslamic principles into daily life and reconciling Muslim needs with traditionaltheological stances, took a practical attitude
toward abortion. As a Pakistani, he was intimately concerned with the strain that
populationpressuresput on a developing government.As a theologian, he emphasized
preservingthe integrity of Islam in the face of strong Westernizingand modernizing
movements. On the issue of abortion, he took a liberal attitude that is instructive.
While predicting that the type of abortionpresent in China-aborting fetuses as part
of an official policy-would never succeed in the Muslim world, he stated: "There
does exist, it seems, the possibility of general acceptance of abortionwithin 120 days
of pregnancy, which will go a long way in making population control effective."60
In line with Professor Rahman'sreasoning, a liberal interpretationof abortiondoctrine could be led by the increasingly vocal women's groups in the Muslim world. At
this point, however, issues such as the reformingof personalstatuscodes have a higher
prioritythan abortion.In the future, Middle Easternwomen agree, abortionmay gain
visibility as a women's issue.61
Another current trend in the Muslim world may overwhelm liberal positions on
reproductiveissues. The entrance of Islamist or Islamic activists into the politics of
the Middle East and other Muslim countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh) has focused attention on women's and family issues. Islamists blame the importation of Western
mores, the decline of morality, women's increased public participation,extramarital
relationships, and other social concerns for the deteriorationof their society and assert that political reform stems from social reform.All official Muslim authoritiesare
adamantthat sexuality is to be exercised solely within the maritalrelationship. Community fear and distress at the increase of sexual activity outside of marriageunderlies much of the currentdebate on abortion as Muslim sexual mores begin to follow
Westernmodels. The complexity of these issues cannot be understated,for questions
of abortion raise moral dilemmas resistant to easy solutions.
A major plank of the Islamists' argumentis the importance of conservative, traditional interpretationsof personal status law, and they reject any attempt to grant
women more independencein decisions concerningmarriage,divorce, inheritance,and
so on. Accordingly, they expect that women's participationin public life will be minimized and that women will confine themselves to the home and child rearing, will
be modest in their demeanor and dress, and will defer to the men of the family. The
activists' importance in the political equations of most Middle Eastern and Muslim
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180 Donna Lee Bowen
states has given issues concerning women and community mores extra resonance on
the political as well as the public level, and pushed many states toward more conservative public stances on controversial social issues. As far as abortion is concerned,
Muslim governments have no strong reason to make the proceduremore easily available, especially if it triggers more Islamist opposition. The most reasonable tactic for
countries with an interest in containing population growth has been to keep restrictive laws on the books but enforce them laxly.
Since the birth of Islam, the Muslim community has advocated large families and
greater population numbers to build a numerous, powerful society. Muslims have
believed that abortion as a medical procedureis useful in exceptional cases dictated
by health needs, not as a general rule. Although the different schools of Islamic law
disagreed on whether abortion was a permitted practice, they all put the welfare of
the mother above that of the fetus and deferred to the judgment of a physician as to
whether the abortionwas prescribed.Otherthan questions of the mother'shealth, acceptable reasons for an abortion to be performed (among the schools which permitted abortion)were either financial or related to maternalwelfare. As with the case for
traditionalcontraceptive practices, men, who were the physicians, had a large say in
whether abortions-and which abortions-were permissible. Medical documents tell
us that women circulated the informationon the composition of abortificantsamong
themselves. Today they may still try traditionalremedies, but some purchase abortions from sympathetic physicians.
As the Cairo Population Conference showed, strong Muslim public opinion condemns abortion as murderof potential life and holds it to be un-Islamic. Nevertheless, it recognizes that abortioncan be a necessary practice.Perhapsthe best summary
of the Muslim position is that abortion is not a good deed; it should be used only
when necessary, and this should be rare. How "rare"and "necessary" are defined
among different schools of thought and among women themselves should be today's
real focus of debate.
The nuances of the Islamic legal position on abortion indicate that the academic,
legal, and religious discussion of the issue is more sophisticated than was evidenced
by the stands generated at the outset of the Cairo conference. Some of the support
for the anti-abortionposition stems from genuine religious belief that abortionis forbidden. Nevertheless, the subject of abortionhas become a potent rallying cry against
Westernnorms and mores that can be manipulatedby political opposition in the Muslim states and by Islamist groups that are less educated in the subtleties of Islamic
law than professors and legal scholars. While the religious positions allow room for
discussion, politics often suppresses discussion. The process of policy formation depends on compromise, but discussion of highly emotional issues tends to eliminate
the nuances of scholarly discourse in seeking a clear and easily enforceable policy.
The legal barriersto abortionexist in most Muslim states and tend to truncatedebate.
Despite this, a market for abortion exists, and the women who seek abortions may
act on their own volition. Some, in doing so, follow their own personal reasoning,
which more closely approximatesthat of the minority religious scholars than that of
the majority who forbid all but therapeutic abortions.
Both the shari'a statements on abortion and the practice of abortion in Muslim
countries demonstratethe difficulties of attemptingto translatea highly complicated
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Abortion and Islam
181
and morally ambiguous issue into policy. Beliefs about the value of life are in tension
with unhappy choices that life thrusts upon individuals, and the result is a highly
paradoxicalset of declarationsabout Islam'sposition on abortion.Although ambiguity often entails painful choices and can be morally unsatisfactoryat times, it may
serve as a beneficial tactic in dealing with problemsthat resist simple answers. Islamic
jurisprudence'scomplex set of approachesto the issue of abortionprovide a nuanced
and adaptable method of addressing contemporaryMuslim exigencies. The dogmatism indicated in the anti-abortionsloganeering of some Muslim groups reflects political and societal stresses and diverges from the theological and juridical tradition
of sharica law. At the same time, little is reportedabout the women who seek abortions-their needs, their rationales,their beliefs; inadequateattention is paid to their
circumstances; and their rights are not appropriatelyrepresented.
As is the case in most religious traditions,the complex delineation of intricate legal mattersfound in classical interpretationsof law seldom makes the transitioninto
everyday practice. Often, complex issues such as that of abortion in Islam collapse
on the popular level into their simplest form. This reductionism does not negate the
fact that sharicalaw allows maneuveringroom for people who need access to disapproved procedures.Today,relatively few Muslims are versed in medieval legal texts;
therefore, customary practice assumes more force than abstractformulations of law.
In the case of abortion, public opinion, bolstered by the majority of jurists writing
on abortion, has declared abortion forbidden, and the nuances of Islamic jurisprudence are lost. This is not uncommon in religious handling of social issues, but many
women and families coping with hard realities of life are left without options. For
them, dogmatic statementsand slogans-religious and political-deny the complexities of daily needs.
NOTES
1PeterWaldman, "PopulationConference Fallout Is Feared,"Wall Street Journal, 2 September 1994;
Alan Cowell, "Despite Abortion Issue, Population Pact Nears,"New YorkTimes, 9 September 1994; AlSharq al-Awsat, "Islam Forbids Attack on the Fetus by Abortion," 8 September 1994; John Lancaster,
"Islamic Leaders: Parts of U.N. Population Document Offensive," Salt Lake Tribune, 13 August 1994.
2The position of the Roman Catholic church states that human life is to be respected and protected
from the moment of conception: "Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or as
a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law" (United States Catholic Conference, Inc., Catechism of
the Catholic Church [Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994], para. 2270-71, 547). Abortion as a mortal sin
carries a penalty of excommunication. Given this teaching, the church holds that one cannot terminate
a pregnancy solely to save the mother's life. A mother's health can be protected only if the abortion is
an unintended result of the procedure-that is, if a mother has a condition that requires actions that may
or may not damage the fetus. "One must hold as licit procedurescarried out on the human embryo which
respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve disproportionaterisks for it, but are directed toward its healing, the improvement of its condition of health, or its individual survival" (Catechism, para. 2275, 549).
3United Nations, "Statementof Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan,"in "Report of the International Conference on Population and Development: Addendum,"Cairo, 13-15 September 1994, 30.
4United Nations, "Statement of Benazir Bhutto,"28.
5United Nations, "Report of the InternationalConference on Population and Development," Cairo,
13-15 September 1994, 49.
6Translationtaken from N. J. Dawood, The Koran (New York: Penguin Books, 1974).
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182 Donna Lee Bowen
7Sunnijurisprudence held that if a slave gives birth to the master's child, she may be granted a new
status as umm walad (mother of a child); she cannot be sold; and she becomes free upon her master's
death. In Shi'i law, the child of a free parent is free; the other parent'sstatus is not altered. See R. Brunschwig, Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. "'Abd," (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960), 1:25.
8A similar passage is found in sura al-Ghafir (40), verse 66.
9Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Sahih Muslim, trans. Abul Hamid Siddiqi (Lahore, 1981), 4:1391-93.
1?AhmadSahnoun, "Islam's View of Abortion and Sterilization," in Islam and Family Planning,
2 vols. (Beirut: InternationalPlanned ParenthoodFederation, 1970), 2:373.
The literature on Islam and abortion owes a great deal to articles written for the 1970 conference
on Islam and Family Planning sponsored in Rabat, Morocco, by the International Planned Parenthood
Federation under the direction of Dr. Isam Nazer. This conference brought together physicians, ulama,
academics, public-health specialists, and representativesof internationaldevelopment agencies to discuss
issues related to family planning. The papers presented at the conference and the ensuing discussion have
been published in both English and Arabic in a two-volume format. As these materials bring together
representativepositions of scholars from throughoutthe Muslim world, they furnish an importantsource
for studies of religion and family planning.
1In Family Planning and the Legacy of Islam (London: Routledge, 1992), 190-92, Abdel Omranpresents a comprehensive summaryof the positions of the legal schools on abortion. In a later chapterof the
book, he summarizes the positions of various contemporary scholars on abortion.
12IbnSina, Qanuin,and Abu al-Hasan al-Tabib, Khalq al-insdn, quoted in Basim Musallam, in Sex
and Society in Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 69-70.
3MuhammadSalam Madkur,"Sterilization and Abortion from the Point of View of Islam," in Islam
and Family Planning, 2:280-81.
14Norman Hines, Medical History of Contraception(New York:Schocken Books, 1970), 135-59. The
jurisprudenceliteraturewas written exclusively by men whose knowledge of contraceptive measures was
largely confined to coitus interruptus.The medical texts of the period (also written by men), however,
also document a variety of measures that were employed by women to prevent pregnancy.The theological
implications of their use were never considered, possibly because the jurisprudentswere not cognizant of
their existence or use.
15In Sex and Society in Islam, Basim Musallam refers to al-Ghazzfali,Ihya' CUliumal-Din, 2:41. See
page 58 for Musallam's discussion.
16KatherineEwing, "Ambiguity and Shariat: A Perspective on the Problem of Moral Principles in
Tension," in Shariat and Ambiguity in South Asian Islam, ed. Katherine P. Ewing (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1988), 1-22.
17Ewing, "Ambiguity,"2-3.
I8nterview with the grand mufti of Tunisia, 28 May 1975; also interviews with a numberof other Tunisian ulama, including Kemal Tarzi, all of whom emphasized that abortion before creation, takwin, of
the fetus is permitted. These scholars emphasized that they did not speak for all Tunisian ulama but that
a majority were in agreement with their position.
191n1993, I interviewed a number of Moroccan public-health personnel who presented these views.
Here I am referringto remarksmade by Dr. Tiam Mustafa, director, Division of Family Planning, Rabat,
Morocco, in a series of interviews conducted in June 1993.
20CarlaMakhlouf Obermeyer, "ReproductiveChoice in Islam: Gender and State in Iran and Tunisia,"
Studies in Family Planning 25, 1 (1994): 41-51.
21See United Nations, The World's Women 1970-1990: Trends and Statistics (New York: United
Nations, 1991).
22BarbaraF. Stowasser, "Religious Ideology, Women, and the Family: The Islamic Paradigm,"in The
Islamic Impulse, ed. BarbaraF. Stowasser (Washington, D.C.: Center for Contemporary Arab Studies,
Georgetown University, 1987), 262-96.
23I prefer not to identify this alim by name.
24Salah Muntasir, "Qadiyat al-Ijhad" (The Issue of Abortion), al-Ahram, 12 September 1994, 7.
25Interviews with professor and former minister of Habbous Mekki Naciri, Rabat, Morocco, June
1993.
26Hassan Hathout, "Induced Abortion,"in Islam and Family Planning, 2:307.
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Abortion and Islam
183
27cAbdulRahman al-Khayyir, "Attitude of Islam towards Abortion and Sterilization," in Islam and
Family Planning, 2:347-48, 360.
28Sahnoun,"Islam's View of Abortion and Sterilization,"381.
29United Nations, "Statement of Benazir Bhutto," 30.
30"Muslims Protest U.N. Draft on Population,"New YorkTimes, 12 August 1994, A9.
3'Ethan Bronner, "Western, Muslim Leaders Dispute Abortion, Values," Boston Globe, 6 September
1994.
32Gadal-Haqq 'Ali Gad al-Haqq, "AbortionIs Not Permittedin the Shari'a Unless to Protect the Life
of the Mother,"al-Ahram, 7 September 1994, 4.
33Al-Qisbi Mahmoud Zalt, "Islam Forbids Attacks on the Fetus with Abortion,"al-Ahram, 8 September 1994, 14.
34MuhammadSayyid Tantawi, "A Word on Family Planning,"al-Ahram, 19 September 1994, 6.
35Waldman,"PopulationConference Fallout Is Feared."
36See Ibid. Also, a representative argument is found in Fatima Mernissi, Doing Daily Battle, trans.
Mary Jo Lakeland (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1989), 9-12.
37See CAbdal-Majid Faraj, "The Conference: The Romances of the North and the Concerns of the
South,"al-Ahram, 18 September 1994, 6, for a more sophisticated statement of the concerns of Egyptian
intellectuals on the North-South debate.
38GuglielmoGiumelli, "Interruzionedella gravidanzae legislazione: Un'Indaginein Tunisia"(Interruption of Pregnancyand Legislation: Research in Tunisia),Rivista di Servizio Sociale 21, 3 (1981): 146-56.
39"Tunisia1988: Results from the Demographic and Health Survey,"Studies in Family Planning 22,
1 (1991): 55-59.
40Ayse Akin Dervisoglu and Gul Ergor, "Abortionsand Stillbirths,"TurkishDemographic and Health
Survey, 1993, Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Mother and Child Health and Family Planning,
Ankara, Turkey, and Demographic and Health Surveys, Macro InternationalInc., Calverton, Md., (October 1994), 51-58.
4'U.S. Departmentof Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1994, 14th ed. (Washington, D.C.: Department of Commerce, 1994), 85.
42MichaelRyan,Social Trendsin ContemporaryRussia (New York:St. Martin'sPress, 1993), 112. Most
demographersbelieve that these statistics, which are derived from hospital records, represent an underreporting of abortions, and that many more abortions are performed in homes and thus not reported.
43Hines, in Medical History of Contraception, refers on p. 151 to recipes for abortifacients collected
in Ibn al-Baitar's Treatise but does not list ingredients or amounts.
44See the longer discussion in Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 68-71; the quotation is taken from
page 71. Musallam raises the question of whether conservative physicians attempted to moderate what
they saw as the liberal influence of the theologians on social attitudestoward contraception and abortion.
45Data taken from interviews I conducted with a series of Moroccan public-health physicians from
1993-95.
46Hines, Medical History of Contraception, 151.
47Although contraceptive use to space or prevent pregnancies has increased, the prevalence rates for
modern types of contraceptives average around 35 percent in North Africa but are lower in countries of
the Middle East. See the WorldPopulation Data Sheet, Population Reference Bureau, 1995. Greateruse
of contraception or application of other means of family planning in these cases (sterilization for women
finished with childbearing) could prevent recourse to abortion. Neither the public-health services nor national planned-parenthoodassociations furnish contraceptives to unmarriedwomen, although anyone may
purchase oral contraceptives in pharmacies. As a result of the social stigma attached, few utilize contraception even if they are sexually active.
48The fragmentedand anecdotal natureof this data should be emphasized. The study of abortionin the
Middle East is an emerging issue, and one in which accurate data on frequency is difficult to gain systematically. Because of the subject's sensitive nature (abortion was illegal in each country in which the
women I spoke with reside), the women who confided in me had established a relationship with me before
they spoke of abortion. They feared repercussions if the abortion were discovered. The stories I received
from third parties all emphasized confidentiality and were anonymous, again in fear of consequences if
discovered.
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184 Donna Lee Bowen
49AbdulRehman, mufti of New Delhi, quoted in John-ThorDahlburg, "Faiths Disagree on Morality
of Abortion,"Los Angeles Times, 24 January 1995, 5.
50DonnaLee Bowen, "Islam and Family Planning in Morocco,"Maghreb Review 3, 10 (1980): 26-29.
In the past five years, Moroccan family-planning officials have made a concerted effort to communicate
the more intricate position of the ulama on contraceptive use to less-educated religious leaders.
51Cowell, "Despite Abortion Issue, Population Pact Nears."
52Ibid.
53ChrisHedges, "Key Panel at Cairo Talks Agrees on Population Plan,"New YorkTimes, 13 September 1994.
54United Nations, "Report,"49, para. 7.24.
55Ibid., 61-62, para. 8.25.
56Ibid., 135.
57Libyanoted that abortionsare allowed only if the mother'shealth is in danger;ibid., 139. The United
Arab Emirates noted that they do not consider abortiona means of family planning; ibid., 141. The Yemenis objected to the expression "unsafe abortion"as being unclear and not in accordance with their religious beliefs; ibid. Iran, along with other Muslim-majority states, objected to expressions that could be
interpretedas referring to sexual relations outside marriage;ibid., 149.
58AlanCowell, "U.N. PopulationMeeting Adopts Programof Action,"New YorkTimes, 14 September
1994.
59See the collection of articles on abortion and the discussion on the conference report in Islam and
Family Planning, vol. 2, as well as the proceedings of 1994 Population Conference.
60FazlurRahman, Health and Medicine in the Islamic Tradition(New York: Crossroad Publishing
Company, 1987), 118.
61Femaleprofessionals from Morocco and Jordansuggested this eventuality. This informationis taken
from interviews I conducted in Morocco and the United States in 1993 and 1994.
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