Religion and Medicine by Jeff Levin

Author:Jeff Levin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2020-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

To summarize, traditionally religious Jews are thus, in certain respects, more liberal than the most liberal mainline Christians—notably when it comes to requiring an abortion up until delivery, if needed to save a mother’s life. Yet at the same time Torah-observant Jews are as ardently pro-life as the most devout Catholics, such as when it comes to forbidding abortion in almost all other circumstances. Many liberal Jews, by comparison, tend to express positions that fall more in line with liberal Protestants or secular Americans, although they may take a harder line in favor of what Roman Catholics and evangelicals refer to as “sanctity of life” issues than do liberal Protestants, but just define this concept differently.178

Perspectives of clergy and members of other faith traditions fall somewhere between the poles of halachic and liberal Judaism. Buddhism, like Roman Catholicism, affirms that human life begins at conception and thus forbids abortion, although in practice some Buddhist nations recognize situations requiring leniency, such as to save a mother’s life or when pregnancy results from rape.179 Hinduism condemns abortion and most Hindus likewise disapprove, but not as absolutely as in other traditions, and in practice it is legal and increasingly accepted in India.180 Islam endorses the sanctity of all life, including that of the fetus, but recognizes extenuating circumstances in which abortion is permissible, such as a threat to the life of a mother; as in Judaism and Christianity, opinions and practices vary widely.181 Sikhism considers abortion as taboo but does not contain teachings that explicitly forbid it, besides promoting respect for life; thus abortions are permitted and occur, not just to save a mother’s life.182 Among Christians, the simplest way to summarize opinions and practices regarding abortion is to note that it is “an issue on which Christians are widely and strongly divided,”183 as reflected in the contentiousness of public debate in the U.S.

At the other end of the life course are serious bioethical issues no less challenging and nuanced as abortion. None are subject to more heated disagreement than euthanasia, the intentional termination of life through physician assistance, whether passive (“pulling the plug,” or withdrawing care) or active (including assisted suicide).184 As with abortion, the major religious traditions are all over the map, although none countenances any kind of on-demand or state-sponsored ending of life, as approved in some European nations, including the Netherlands.185

Euthanasia as a possible course of action generally arises in two contexts: first, among the elderly undergoing the dying process or others in the midst of decline from a terminal disease; second, among younger folks with catastrophic medical challenges or those with severe depression or difficult life circumstances that make living too much to bear. Recently, other rationale for euthanasia have been advanced, much more extreme and with almost no traction in public opinion, such as for means of population control or even to voluntarily self-exterminate the human species.186

Unlike with abortion, politicians have been loath to involve themselves here. It is a no-win situation for them, and even potential gains of political capital may not be worth the trouble.

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