Back to search

Is it permissible to terminate the pregnancy of an unmarried woman that resulted from rape?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is permissible to terminate a pregnancy if it is less than forty days old, provided there is a legitimate Islamic interest or to avert an anticipated harm. If it exceeds forty days but the soul has not yet been breathed into it (i.e., before 120 days), it is permissible to terminate it if there is harm to the raped mother. However, after the soul has been breathed into it, abortion is absolutely forbidden unless its continuation poses a definite threat to the mother's life.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy