Richard, all human beings die. Natural death at any stage of development is just that – natural. So, when a fertilized egg fails to implant or develop it is not abortion. It is simply death at an early stage.
Abortion is different. It is intentional killing – the direct disruption of the natural growth of the fetus. An analogy would be that we do not call natural death at the end of life “murder”.
Natural death is unintentional and natural. Murder is intentional and interrupts the natural course of the victim’s life.
Marianne, please read the amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court for the Jackson vs. Dobbs case by Jewish Pro-Life Foundation, the Coalition for Jewish Values, Rabbi Yakov, David Cohen, Rabbi Chananya Weissman and Bonnie Chernin, President of Jewish Life League. These are robust Jewish scholars and advocates. Their opening statement reads,
“Judaism is the original pro-life religion. It was the first religion in human history to sanctify human life from conception to natural death and to prohibit child sacrifice. Judaism has a strong legal tradition of protecting human life and prohibiting the murder of innocents. Jewish law and tradition emphasize and support the moral right to life for all human beings at every stage of development based on the understanding that all people are created in the image of God; therefore, each of us has intrinsic value and worth with a destiny to fulfill God’s vision for humanity on Earth. Psalm 139:13-16 reveals this: “For you created my inmost being: you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made . . .My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to me.”
Another passage:
“Judaism considers abortion to be murder. One of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars in the history of Judaism, rabbi, legal authority, physician and philosopher Moses ben Maimon, referred to as Maimonides, declared in his compilation of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah: “The definition of murder according to the Noahide Laws includes a person ‘who kills even one unborn in the womb of its mother,’ and adds that such a person is liable for the death penalty.” The Talmud (Sanhedrin 57b) says that an unborn child is included in the Noahide prohibition of bloodshed that is learned from Genesis 9:6-7: (from a direct translation of the original text), “He who spills the blood of man within man shall have his blood spilt for in the image of God made He man. And you, be fruitful, and multiply; swarm in the earth, and multiply therein.” The Talmud interprets “the blood of man in man” to include a fetus, which is the blood of man in man. Things that are prohibited under the Noahide laws are also prohibited to Jews.”
For the very full overview of Jewish theology regarding the unborn please read the full Supreme Court amicus brief. https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-1392/207325/20220104152641297_41204%20pdf%20Parker.pdf
Robin, Christian theology – Protestant and Catholic has a long history of opposing abortion. Please consider these quotes from two of the most influential Protestant leaders.
Martin Luther: “The God who declares that we are to be fruitful and multiply regards it as a great evil when human beings destroy their offspring.”
John Calvin: “…the unborn, though enclosed in the womb of his mother, is already a human being, and it is an almost monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy.”
Also, the Supreme Court did not remove a right for the first time as you stated – rather it took a step toward restoring the fundamental Right to Life which is expressly written in the Declaration of Independence and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs expanded human rights. The unborn are human.