Morals are not black and white. What one person see’s as murder, another would see it as a kindness. That’s why we have laws. So murder is defined as an unlawful killing, note unlawful. In the case of the death penalty the person wasn’t murdered, but killed. In the other two cases, professional a number of them, said there was no hope of survival. Basically it was cruel to continue, and the MORAL, thing to do was allow nature to take its course.
The use of the word murder, has legal meaning, where as they killed someone doesn’t.
I’d like to weigh in as a Jew (which makes me wonder why I’m on the SDMB on Shabbos). About the time I became Bar Mitzvah, I asked Rabbi Klears (may his memory be a blessing) whether abortion was murder. He cited a passage that says if somebody assaults a pregnant women and she miscarries as a result it is NOT murder. Under Jewish law, an embryo, zygote, fetus etc is not a person but a potential person. In the years since, I’ve learned that in Jewish folklore a fetus has no soul. The soul descends from heaven (from a hall of souls called the Guff) and enters the body when the baby is born. (I dunno what’s supposed to happen in the event of c-section. I suspect Maimonides, doctor as well as scholar, addressed this). This bit of legend also pops up in the Demi Moore film Seventh Sign.
Oh, I’d also like to point out that the proper translation of the Commandment is NOT “thou shalt not kill”. It is “Thou shalt not commit murder”. There are many circumstances when killing is acceptable under Jewish law.,OTTOMH one sage said “If somebody comes to kill you, kill them first.”
This is one of those really messy cases that can only be decided on a case-by-case, no-precedent basis. There’d need to be a hearing first, with everyone involved being heard out by a fair and impartial judge. Said judge would make the decision on the child’s pregnancy.
Oh, yeah…am I the only one on here who is severely creeped out by this question? Damn. :eek: