How do we look at an Abortion?
As we are aware, abortion can be defined as “the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death”
If a child is meant to be born at a certain time for a specified pair of parents, killing him/her at a certain stage of the early age of the child is questionable. But if there is a reason such as:
1. The mother is an underage rape victim and she is not physically fit enough to bear the child
2. The mother is an AIDS victim and there is a possibility that the child gets infected
Doctors tend to perform Induced abortion due to above reasons. Is this justifiable according to Buddhism?
Sometimes Spontaneous abortion will happen without any justifiable reason. If childbirth is a natural process there should be something beyond our senses which disturbs these natural processes. It is like the weather report, you predict there will be rain but it won’t rain. Why?
If a child is meant to be born at a certain time for a specified pair of parents, killing him/her at a certain stage of the early age of the child is questionable. But if there is a reason such as:
1. The mother is an underage rape victim and she is not physically fit enough to bear the child
2. The mother is an AIDS victim and there is a possibility that the child gets infected
Doctors tend to perform Induced abortion due to above reasons. Is this justifiable according to Buddhism?
Sometimes Spontaneous abortion will happen without any justifiable reason. If childbirth is a natural process there should be something beyond our senses which disturbs these natural processes. It is like the weather report, you predict there will be rain but it won’t rain. Why?
Tags: Abortion
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michele Marie McGuire on -
Why would abortion be okay in some cases and not in others? It's a hard question, whether we should be okay with terminating a human life in any case; Buddhism sees a human birth as incredibly rare and calls it a precious opportunity. On the other hand, if a life has a certain amount of karma to live out, won't the abortion just result in the life being manifested somewhere else and living out its karma? How does that work? Since karma results in a certain birth and a certain kind of life, can we say that it is one's karma to live only to a certain stage of development inside the womb, so that karma results in the life forming inside a womb which will ultimately abort it? Or is that too much like destiny?
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Permalink Reply by Christine Summers on -
God bless ALL children. I was born to parents who were neglectful and abusive. The State of Texas removed me from their care when I was very young and placed me in foster care. I was adopted at age 3 by very loving parents. Sometimes it is not apparent to us what the blessing is because it is masked in our own pain. God bless those who suffer so others may live according to God's plan.
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Permalink Reply by Tsering Samdup on -
I can say abortion is an act of killing. In spite of that, in Buddhism, killing is not always bad. Sometime it would be better to terminate the life of those children born with deformed body and fatal disease. But only with one condition that you can see his/her future and confirmed hopeless.
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Permalink Reply by Michael John Smith on -
I think the first "duty" of a Buddhist is to try and avoid doing harm to another being or to ourselves. I agree with the previous posting that the condition for killing is that the karmic results can be seen to be more beneficial than not-killing BUT our minds are clouded in ignorance and disturbed by emotions - how can we see a being's future as hopeless? Myself I was not born to Buddhist parents - nobody forecast I would take an interest in Buddhism - perhaps it would of been easy to write me off as a hopeless case - never to be enlightened, destined to do more harm than good - better off dead! In most cases agreeing to abortion is like playing God and Buddhists claim to have risen above the likes of God or destiny - we must make a choice - to do harm or not to do harm, to benefit or not to benefit. I think if we don't know how the karma plays out, we must respect the freewill of the unborn being to determine its own "destiny" and do everything we can to enble a safe birth. Buddhists don't force their ideas on others and leave others to work out their own karma.
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Permalink Reply by Tsering Samdup on
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Since most of us are still under the complete control of our ignorance, we always have dilemmas. But if someone of you know very clear about something, you have moral obligation to guide others. Otherwise it is an act of selfish.
Michael John Smith said:I think the first "duty" of a Buddhist is to try and avoid doing harm to another being or to ourselves. I agree with the previous posting that the condition for killing is that the karmic results can be seen to be more beneficial than not-killing BUT our minds are clouded in ignorance and disturbed by emotions - how can we see a being's future as hopeless? Myself I was not born to Buddhist parents - nobody forecast I would take an interest in Buddhism - perhaps it would of been easy to write me off as a hopeless case - never to be enlightened, destined to do more harm than good - better off dead! In most cases agreeing to abortion is like playing God and Buddhists claim to have risen above the likes of God or destiny - we must make a choice - to do harm or not to do harm, to benefit or not to benefit. I think if we don't know how the karma plays out, we must respect the freewill of the unborn being to determine its own "destiny" and do everything we can to enble a safe birth. Buddhists don't force their ideas on others and leave others to work out their own karma.
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Permalink Reply by Christine VERRIER on -
What to think about women who have been raped. I will quote the example what happened in Brazil last year. Do you remember that young 9 years old girl who had been raped by her step-father and who was pregnant with twins. Her so weak body was unable to carry two children. In her case not to make an abortion would have been to condemn her to death as she if she had been guilty to have been raped. And. even in that case we are not sure the two babies would have survived .
Yes I think abortion is never a solution and we must but unfortunately it can't be avoided.
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Permalink Reply by Tsering Samdup on
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According to Buddhist philosophy, there is no fixed point in the time and space where consciousness begin to exist. In brief, it is beginningless.
The word atman is not appropriate to use in Buddhist context. Instead of Ataman, let use mind or consciousness.
When parents are doing physical intercourse, the mind, who is wandering in Bhardo, intermediate state, saw parent and enters into the womb of mother.
This is my brief answer to you.
Lee said:When does consciousness begin? When does the atman enter the foetus?
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Permalink Reply by Michael John Smith on
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We cannot know the precise results of any of our actions because our mind is clouded by ignorance and not "awakened". We can however act in a mindful way, attempting to discern the best action to take where there is a choice. In the case of abortion we make a choice in the same way as we make choices for other actions we wish to take. We try to use whatever powers of discernment we have to take the action we believe will cause the least harm. If we remember this and this is our motivation there will be no regrets at whatever action is taken. We have to choose the best way we can at the time, being as careful or mindful as we can of the consequences of our actions.
Lee. Tibetan Buddhists believes the consciousness enters the womb at conception - this means life has started immediately after intercourse has taken place. In Buddhism as you know the mind does not grow out of the essence of the mother but is formed out of a mindstream or consciousness that has migrated from a previous lifetime. So any abortion involves the ending of a life, voluntarily or not. Also in Buddhism there is no god - it is our decision, our choice what and when to do something and when or when not to do nothing and stand by. Indeed I have to be mindful as I write here as I take responsibility for the results of my writing. In fact right now on reading this you have a choice in your mind are you pro choice or not with regards to abortion - should it be banned outright? What is your stance? What is your advice? Are you willing to take responsibility or will you leave it all up to some god?
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Permalink Reply by LA Miller on -
My view is mostly not to be the judge.
Can we stop life? I don't know, perhaps delay, but will the life not come though in it's time?
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Permalink Reply by Miaosan on
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I tend to agree with LA Miller - won't the mindstream of the aborted sentient being, re-attach ASAP? Also, is it not part of this non-physical (as yet) sentient being's karma to have been aborted? The reality is harsh - there are thousands of women all over the world having abortions at this moment. There is no way we can stop them. Some of them have lives of abject misery, which, should they give birth would be passed on to the new baby - toddler - child - teenager - adult etc to share. We all have to take responsibility for our own actions, as buddhists, because we have had sufficient merit in this life to come into contact with the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Our minds have become slightly clearer. I guess we can only ensure that we do our individual best at all times.
LA Miller said:My view is mostly not to be the judge.
Can we stop life? I don't know, perhaps delay, but will the life not come though in it's time?
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Permalink Reply by William McILwain on
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All killing is wrong, but as i can only control and am ultimately only responsable for what i do it is not for me to judge the conduct of others only to render my compassion and assisstance to them when it is requested. I feel we should be working towards the erradication of the karma of all killing rather than weighing up which type of killing is more preferable to another. Blessings to all. Changchup Sangpo
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