Islam and abortion

Abstract

Abortion is forbidden by the Islamic law (Shari'a) especially when the fetus is already over a hundred and twenty days (of life) since its conception, except its mother is in danger of her life. The importance of the hundred and twentieth day comes from a Prophet expression with which since that instant God infuses the soul into the unborn child, whose existence needs since then a greater protection. Some differences exist among the traditional positions adopted by the four legai canonical schools of sunnite Islam, about the permission of abortion before a hundred and twenty days. The laws which regolate abortion in the arabian-islamic countries appear actually very restrictive.