My wife is pregnant in her fourth month; she broke her hand and had to wear a splint. The doctors told us that if the splint did not work, she must undergo an operation which would require an abortion. My wife asked my permission to undergo this operation; should I approve to carry out the operation and let the fetus die? Or should I refuse such operation? Should I postpone it? I seek the interest of the fetus but this might result in my wife’s hand being damaged.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

In fact, abortion is permissible in two, and only two, cases:

1-      If the mother's life is in danger according to the opinion of a trustworthy doctor.

2-      If the fetus dies inside the mother’s womb.

As for your situation that you have previously clarified, it could be either of two scenarios:

1-      It could mean that the fetus might die during the operation due to the effect of the anesthesia. In this case, it is permissible to undergo the operation; since giving up or delaying this operation might result in your wife’s hand being damaged or disabled.

2-      It could also mean that you want to deliberately kill the fetus i.e. by carrying out an abortion, and this case has two possibilities:

•        The fetus might have been given a soul; then abortion is unlawful, since it constitutes killing a complete and living human being whose life Allaah The Exalted has given sanctity. Furthermore, this act is an evil that might contradict another evil i.e. damage of the hand or disability, which is a lesser evil itself. According to the Sharee‘ah (Islamic law) one should choose the lesser of the two evils in order to eschew the graver one. Moreover, the authors of the Kuwaiti encyclopedia said, “The fact that Muslim jurists have unanimously agreed that after the fetus is completely formed and has been given a soul, abortion is unlawful, implies that this ruling applies whether or not the fetus might endanger the mother’s life.”

•        The abortion might be carried out before the fetus has been given a soul, and in this case it is permissible; for eliminating the evil of permanent damage or disability of the hand, which is preferable to eliminating the evil of aborting the fetus.

However, it is worth mentioning that the fetus acquires a soul after 120 days of pregnancy as was clarified in the narration of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam that was cited in Saheeh Al-Bukhari and Saheeh Muslim, and was reported on the authority of Ibn Mas‘ood .

Allaah Knows best.