Abortion: a dilemma in Medical ethics

Context: Abortion is a one of the most important human right issues in medicine, because human beings have a right to life and is one of the controversial issues discussed in medical ethics. Evidence Acquisition: In this paper, the history of abortion within different religions was reviewed by examining the arguments of supporters and opponents of abortion, exploring the evidence on both sides and requirements of philosophical theories of natural law, hedonism, utilitarianism, deontologist, and freedom. We examined related books, articles, Fatwas and websites, collected over almost a year through searches of databases such as Medline and Iran Medex and search engines such as Google and Yahoo. In addition, Fatwa requested from great Sunni and Shiite authorities and references recommended by experts, and also related rules and guidelines in Islamic Republic of Iran were considered search terms included Abortion, Miscarriage, Prenatal diagnosis, Islam and Islamic. In this short review, we discuss literature review articles in the electronic databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, and PsycINFO. Results: It was revealed that theories of Islam are harmony with the divine command consistent with reason and natural law are the only solution. They consider sacred the Islamic concept of life, recognizing the development of sperm in the woman’s uterus, especially after four months, as a human being. This view arose from certain advantages assigned by Islam to humans embodying life and the divine spirit. This theory can both statistically and theoretically resolve the dilemma within medical ethics.  Conclusions: Islam authorizes abortion only in cases where the maternal life has been jeopardized. Any verdict to permit abortion would devalue the human, allowing the murder of human being weakened physically or mentally.