Abortion: A Buddhist Perspective
Abortion: A Buddhist Perspective
Abortion is a highly emotive moral issue that no-one can fail to have a view on. Arguments for and against have been contentious and protracted, and continue to be so. What guidelines does Buddhism offer?
Abortion can be defined as 'the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus' (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The definition itself is uncontentious. The moral arguments hinge on the status we give to those two terms 'embryo' and 'fetus'. Do these two terms refer to what we might call a human being, a potential or less-than-complete human being, or not a human being at all?
Early Scriptures
The early scriptures of Buddhism (The Pali Canon) are unequivocal in seeing human life as starting with conception.
Forthisto occur, three factors are necessary:a fertile egg, sperm and a 'being' ready to be reborn, what is termed a gandhabba: 'when there is the union of the mother and father, and it is the mother's season, and the being to be reborn is present, through the union of these three things the conception of an embryoin a womb takes place'. The word 'being', however, should not be thoughtof as a 'spirit' or 'soul' but consciousness being operated on by the force ofkamma (karma) that determines where the rebirth will be (according to previous deeds).
The First Precept
Iflife begins at conception thenany termination following this is seen to be morally unwholesome.To have an abortion is to break the first precept - to abstain from harming or killing livings beings. This - as any unwholesome act does - carries negative karmic consequences which will bear fruit either in this life or future lives. It is also to deny theprecious opportunity that human life affords for the attainment of enlightenment. Out of the six realms that make upBuddhist wheel of life or samsara - the realms of hell-beings,hungry ghosts, animals, human life, Titans andheavenly beings - the humanrealm is seen to bethe most precious.The basic position taken by Buddhism, therefore, is that abortion is wrong. But is it ever permissible?
Exceptions?
Buddhism recognises there are times when an abortion might be necessary - when the mother's life is at risk, for example. This seems to imply that the mother's lifeis of greater value than the embryo or fetus. If this is the case, it might be argued that it is less serious to terminate a less developed being than a more developed one. A Buddhist might argue that it is morally worseto kill a dog than it is an ant,or to killto aa holy person than a murderer. On this basis, is it morally worse to abort athree month oldold fetus than one at two months?
Shades of Opinion
Like any serious moral issue there are different shades of opinion. Although the Buddhist consensusis that abortion is morally wrong, individual Buddhists may differ in how they assess to what extent it is wrong in individual cases.
One stance is that human life begins at conception and therefore abortion at any stage in the pregnancy is wrong - full stop. Another stance might be that the offence is worse the more developed the fetus or embryo. Yet another might be that the seriousness of the offence can only be determined by taking into account the full circumstances surrounding the abortion.For example,would it be more morally reprehensible to have an abortion for the sake of continuing one's career than because the continued pregancy threatens the welfare of the mother? The degree of moral culpability is always going to bedifficult to measure.
Suggested Reading
Buddhist Ethics
The Five Precepts
Morality
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