Controversial Issues of Criminalizing Abortion from the Perspective of Islamic and Jurisprudential Laws and its Impact on Community Health: A Review Study

Fatemeh  Ghodrati; Mahboubeh  Hajifoghaha

doi:10.18502/jimc.v9i3.21814

Fatemeh Ghodrati Department of Islamic Jurisprudence and Law, Hazrat-e-Masoumeh University, Qom, Iran
Mahboubeh Hajifoghaha Maternal-Fetal Medicine Research Center, Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jimc.v9i3.21814

Keywords: Abortion, Islamic law, Jurisprudence, Rights

Abstract

Abortion has been criminalized in some countries. International human rights institutions report low-quality health services as a result of the criminalization of abortion, which they consider incompatible with the right to privacy and the right to maternal health. The present study aimed to review controversial issues of criminalizing abortion from the perspective of Islamic and jurisprudential laws in Iran and its impact on community health.

In this article, studies published between 1980 and 2023 were searched in reputable scientific databases using the keywords “abortion, rights, criminalization, harm principle, freedom principle, jurisprudence, and Islamic law”.

Human rights organizations associate decriminalization with improved quality of care and access to safe abortion. Drawing on insights from reproductive health from the perspective of Islamic and jurisprudential law, this review addresses knowledge gaps related to the health consequences of criminalizing abortion, such as continued pregnancy and increased fertility rates, recognition of the legal personality of the fetus, and other dimensions of health and mental well-being, and demonstrates that the recommendations outlined are consistent with international human rights standards.

This review does not show the incompatibility of criminalization with the substantive requirements of international human rights law and the legal protections in the preamble to the Convention on the Rights of the Child have accepted and placed the fetus. The legal personality of the fetus and the sanctity of the human being from the moment of its conception are worthy of respect and the principle of the mother’s free will causes harm and conflicts with the rights of the fetus.