[Avodah] Abortion is not Murder?

[Yonatan Kaganoff]

I was thinking about this lately and would like to float the following idea:

There is a significant machlokes haposkim if Bnei Noach have to follow the
rules and details of Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach outlined in the seventh perek
Gemara Sanhedrin.

One position is that they have to while the other is that they can create
their own rule-system within the general category of Sheva Mitzvos Bnei
Noach as long as such a system is just. I believe that the former is the
position Rambam and the latter is the position of the Ramah.

IMHO the second position makes sense, as one would not expect every society
to give the death penalty for stealing one perutah.

If one is working within the framework of the second opinion, could one
suggest that a society could determine what is and is not murder as long as
such a position was just.

Given the significant legal, moral and scientific debates about abortion a
society could either conclude that abortion was murder or abortion was not
murder with substantial basis to their conclusion.

Therefore, perhaps, even though Jewish law paskens that abortion if murder
for Bnei Noach, a Bnei Noach society can determine for itself whether or
not abortion was murder and if they determined that it was not, they would
be justified within the framework of the rules of the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei
Noach.

Any thoughts or reactions?
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