I'm definitely NOT an expert but i will try.
first, since there are not too many Jew's reading this, then i think what the Jewish faith have to say about this is a mute point.
for example & correct me if i'm wrong. the Jewish lobby in WDC dose not take a stand on this very political hot item.
there's one big rezone.
in the Jewish faith there's is a saying that translated into "make your self a Rabi." which mean that a person dose not needs to have all the answers, but he dose need an 'idol' Rabi, to go and ask questions.
this is why there are so many different segments of Judaism. and this is why some Rabi's will have different point of view then others.{it will depends on the Rabi Rabi for generations on...} .
having said that, i can only state for the school of though i was grown up on. to that i can testify that there is a wide acceptance for abortion, and as i stated here before, my very own{a religious family} are very pro-choice.
however, as you all can imagine, religious Jew's do not face the same level of challenges as presented in this thread.
on a side note, abortion, like many aspects of modern lifestyle, was NOT directly addressed in the Bible. not even during the time of the 'RAMBAM' {a very important Rabi, Spain golden age}(1,500+-), a time when many of modern rules have came about.
which makes for more 'interpretations'.
i can only say that much of the points made in this thread do not even cross the minds of religious Jew's when they need to make up their minds.
they are faced with totally different aspects of the same question.
now, i CAN explain how abortion is handled in Israel, if there is any interest, but again, i do not think it will add any new points to this conversation, since they are facing different set of challenges there. what work well over there- will never work over here, & vice versa .
as to be specific of what DaveKC asked, the Bible & other books {Mishnah, Talmod, Mekorot} are fill with long graphic descriptions of,lets say, the happening in the female buddy, and different levels of 'Holy' and 'Tomah' {sorry can't be translated, it's the opposite of holly-ness}. interpretations of those descriptions are what makes the case for abortion.
to try and some it up ,the questions are not whether 'it' is a person or not, the question is whether 'it's' holy or not. and since the bible is VERY clear that 'it' must be 'Tomah', there you have the case for 'pro-choice'.
any questions?{or did i just got you all more confused?}...
I can get to the same place whether looking through the prism of religion or not.
