Muslim teachings about the value and sanctity of life for the issue of abortion GapFill

Abortion is the medical  terminationcontinuationgestationinsemination of a pregnancy. 

Within debates around medical issues such as abortion, there are two distinct and different ways of approaching the value of human life. The first is known as the  type of lifelength of lifesanctity of lifequality of life, which is the belief that God created life, and, therefore, it is a gift. It is special and should be protected.

The second is  type of lifelength of lifequality of lifesanctity of life, which is the idea of how  goodusefulvaluableproductive life is, valuing the experience of the person experiencing the life in question. Factors which influence this might include the  specieswealthhealthgender of the individual, as it is considered that a life where an individual is suffering is of lesser value than a life without suffering.

Many religious individuals are largely against practices such as  abortion based on the principle of the  qualityrealitysanctitylength of life. This is because they believe that the foetus has  personalityfingernailspersonhoodideas – they view it as a person in its own right. 

For Muslims, this is the case after a certain stage of pregnancy when  soul-takingensoulmentsoulingsoul-making takes place. This is when Muslims believe that the foetus is given a soul and is now considered to be a human life, which is sacred. There is divergent opinion in the Muslim community regarding when this happens - some believe it is at  115 days110 days100 days120 days; however, a minority of Muslims believe that it takes place much earlier at 40 days' gestation. After ensoulment, the termination of a pregnancy could be comparable to murder in the Muslim faith, and would have serious consequences in the afterlife as the Qur'an states that those who kill their children will be held accountable to Allah.