Abortion in the Iranian Legal System

Abortion, medically speaking, refers to the removal of fetus from the uterus before it has independent viability. Since fetus does not survive independently before sixth month of pregnancy, its removal from uterus before sixth month is considered abortion, and after sixth month it is not regarded as abortion if the fetus is born alive but it dies due to prematurity. Through the lens of Forensic Organization, abortion refers to removing the fetus from the uterus while it is not able to live outside the uterus, i.e. termination of pregnancy before fetus independent viability; this is usually realized until 20th week of pregnancy. So from a medical perspective, the important fact is that the aborted fetus cannot live independent from mother. Therefore if the fetus is removed from the uterus before due time and it can be kept alive by specific medical devices, it is not regarded as abortion. That is why abortion has always been raised by scholars as one the main issues of criminal law. Some feminists have absolutely accepted this social phenomenon and believe in an unconditional freedom. On the contrary, some do not regard abortion permissible under any conditions based on religious teachings. Islamic jurisprudents regard abortion permissible in a few cases. The Iranian legal system, whose rules are derived from Islamic jurisprudence, regards abortion prohibited and provides penalty according to the Islamic Penal Code, unlike legal systems of western societies that regard abortion as an honor for women personality and freedom. This paper studies types of abortion and the effective factors and evaluates and analyzes Abortion Law before and after the Islamic Revolution.