The Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 69BCE states that: "the embryo is considered to be mere water until the fortieth day." Afterwards, it is considered subhuman until it is born. According to Warhman's Partial Birth Abortion Halacha (Jewish law) does define when a fetus becomes a nefesh (person). "...a baby...becomes a full-fledged human being when the head emerges from the womb. Before then, the fetus is considered a 'partial life." In the case of a "feet-first" delivery, it happens when most of the foetal body is outside the mother's body. Hayden Graham states, in his Judaism An Abortion, states an age-old Jewish fundamental belief that a foetus is of great value because it is potentially a human life.
The Jewish Religious laws state that abortions are not permitted on the grounds of genetic imperfections of the foetus; however, they are permitted if that is the only recourse to save the life of the mother.…
