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What is the ruling on aborting a fetus due to taking medication, and what are the resulting obligations of a ghurrah and the freeing of a slave, and is the ghurrah waived if the heirs pardon, and what is incumbent upon the husband if he agreed to the abortion?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The summary of the meaning is: If a pregnant woman drinks abortifacient medicine and aborts, she is liable for the diyah (blood money) of the fetus—which is a ghurrah (a male or female slave, or its value), equivalent to one-tenth of the mother's diyah—and she does not inherit from it, because a killer does not inherit. She is also liable for kaffarah (expiation): freeing a slave, and if she cannot find one, then fasting for two consecutive months. The diyah is waived by the forgiveness of the heirs, but the kaffarah is not waived by forgiveness. The husband's consent to the abortion is forbidden, and he must repent. He is not liable for diyah or kaffarah unless he directly caused or contributed to the abortion.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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