Abortion in Islamic law and feminism

Abortion has always been a controversial issue for criminologists. Some feminists have absolutely accepted this social phenomenon and believe that it should be completely free to practice it. On the other hand, some under no condition allow abortion due to religious causes. The Imamiyyeh jurisprudents believe in the relative freedom of abortion and in some cases allow it. In the Iranian system of law, whose rules and regulations are based on the Imamiyyeh jurisprudence, abortion is forbidden and, according to the Islamic penal law, it has punishments. This is quite against the Western legal systems which consider abortion as an indication of women’s honor and freedom. After defining and classifying abortion and studying factors influential on it, this paper studies the arguments of the opponents and proponents of abortion among the Imamiyyeh jurisprudents before and after the infusion of spirit into the body. The paper also presents the views of the feminists who agree and disagree with the freedom of abortion. Afterwards, the paper evaluates the abortion law before and after the Islamic revolution and finally mentions the existing legal vacuums and proposes suggestions to remove them.