Rabbi Avi Grossman responds to the recent mention of late-term abortion morphing into infanticide:
Some halachic background
Outline of the opinions based on R’ Zuriel’s most lenient presentation:Either 1. abortion is akin to murder and strictly forbidden to both Jew and gentile alike, unless performed in order to save the mother’s life, in which case it is required. The talmud also requires an abortion be performed on a Jewish woman sentenced to death.This is the approach of Rabbi Tendler.Or 2. For Gentiles, abortion is akin to murder and strictly forbidden, unless performed in order to save the mother’s life. For Jews, abortion is forbidden but treated as “just” a form of personal damage because the fetus, before birth, lacks the status of a person independent of the mother, and may be performed under extenuating circumstances. The talmud also requires an abortion be performed on a Jewish woman sentenced to death or in order to save the life endangered by having to give birth.This is the approach of the Tzitz Eliezer, and the one R’ Zuriel espoused.However, according to all opinions, in any situation where an abortion is performed, the fetus must be destroyed in utero, as explicitly described by the sages, and once the fetus has been halachically “born,” even if he thereby endangers the woman’s life, no intervention may be taken.Therefore, even according to most lenient opinions within halacha, that which is correctly described as partial-birth abortion is strictly forbidden for Jews and gentiles alike.