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What is the ruling of Islamic law regarding aborting a fetus in its second month due to spousal coercion, and is the wife who succumbs to the abortion sinful?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The insistence of the husband and his sisters on abortion is a grave error. Abortion is forbidden by Islamic law because it is an assault on a created soul. Its prohibition becomes more severe after the formation of the fetus or the insufflation of the soul into it, because it is the killing of a soul that Allah has forbidden [to kill]. The formation of the fetus occurs after forty-two days. Some scholars have gone further, stating that abortion is absolutely impermissible. What you did by aborting in the second month is a grave sin. Whoever aborts a fetus after its formation must pay a "ghurrah" (a male or female slave) or one-tenth of the mother's blood money. Some scholars have also mandated an expiation, which is fasting for two consecutive months. The aforementioned blood money is divided among the heirs of the fetus, and the person who directly performed the abortion does not inherit from it. All of you must repent from this sin.

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

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