Should Abortion Be Legal?

It is through the Buddhist ethical teachings, the five precepts that is an ethical foundation from which individuals must embrace as a moral code in Buddhism, whereby individuals must adhere to the notion of “Do not kill” as a first precept. By adhering to the moral code, one may gain spiritual strength and positive karma. As a result, the five precepts has impacted an individual’s perceptions and decisions in regards to the notion of abortion. From the perspectives of a Buddhist, such teachings of the precepts has impacted the community in such a way that divides individuals in society to argue that abortion is incurred as an act of murder, regardless of the justifications. Others regarding abortion as a necessity. This issue of abortion can further be accentuated through “Of course, abortion, from a Buddhist viewpoint, is an act of killing and is negative, generally speaking. But it depends on the circumstances.If the unborn child will be retarded or if the birth will create serious problems for the parent, these are cases where there can be an exception. I think abortion should be approved or disapproved according to each circumstance.” Dalai Lama, New York Times,

One of the most frequently debated topics in bioethics is the morality of abortion, or the ending of a pregnancy without physically giving birth to an infant. Often times abortions are categorized into either spontaneous, a natural miscarriage; induced or intentional, which is premeditated and for any reason; or therapeutic, which albeit intentional, its sole purpose is to save the mother’s life. It seems however that moral conflicts on issue mainly arise when discussing induced abortions. In general, people universally agree it is morally wrong to kill an innocent person and in some people’s eyes induced abortions are the intentional killings of innocent persons, thus making them immoral. However not all individuals view fetuses as persons and consequentially argue it is not morally wrong to kill them.

Nowadays, in this world, there are a lot of problems that can make tremendous conflicts for human beings. They are very complicated and bring a lot of argument and nobody knows what the exact answer is. They also have pros and cons. One of the most complex problems is abortion. This is due to moral and ethical values which we all have. The majority of us are Christians or are brought up in that kind of ambiance which means that as small children we were taught values that are based on the bible such as that famous phrase “Thou shall not kill”. This phrase relates to this topic because an abortion is the murder of a human being.

Abortion in many Buddhist positions appears to be justifiable when it conflicts with bodily autonomy or maintain the idea that a foetus is closer in status to a small or undeveloped animal. Although most views conflict with the first Buddhist precept of not bringing harm to sentient beings, living humans seem to be the most important when considering this and preference is given to the mother of a foetus as well as a foetus not being fully recognised as a human being by some Buddhist variants. Abortion in a Buddhists view however, is seen as a last resort by all variants.

There are many common pregnancy alternatives, but most often the resulting decision is abortion because it is effortless. Abortion is endings a women’s pregnancy by removing or forcing a fetus or embryo from the mother’s womb before it is able to survive on its own. Not all abortions are purposely done some are spontaneous like when a women that has a miscarriage. Rather abortion is done purposely or naturally it is a worldwide complication as to it being wrong or right. Abortion is an ethical issue that will be analyzed according to a personal worldview and Christian worldview. Ethical thinking will be examined by value-based decisions that address abortion from the perspective of a Christian worldview and comparing it to a personal assumption by addressing ethical dilemma, core beliefs, resolution, evaluation, and comparison.

In Buddhism there is no central authority on ethical matters but the Dalai Lama has spoken in favour of abortion under certain circumstances. His comment was that an act of killing is negative. If the unborn child will be retarded or if the birth will create serious problems for the parent, these are cases where there can be an exception.

If genes were entirely what made up a person, than abortion would not be acceptable, but that is not the case. In very early stages of a pregnancy, Buddhists don’t think of the fetus as a person yet.

A huge controversy throughout an abundance of religions is the topic of abortion. This is a particularly sensitive subject because it deals with the delicate balance of life and death. Many people question who has the authority to end a life, especially an innocent child with no voice. People of the Jewish faith don’t believe in aborting a pregnancy. However, despite their strict rule, there is one circumstance where it is acceptable to abort the child. And this exception is only made when the mother is at high risk of death. Buddhism has a similar take on this concept. Similar to the Jewish people, traditional Buddhists believe it is inhumane to take another life unless the mother is on the verge of death. On the other hand, modern Buddhists have different views of abortion. Buddhists believe they are extremely responsible for each of their own individual actions and the burden it will bestow upon them. As well, they believe if the child will have severe medical conditions when it is born then it is okay to abort the child for the sake of the child

Buddhism does not have a single view on abortion. Generally they believe that life should not be destroyed. Traditional Buddhism rejects abortion because it involves deliberately destroying a life. They believe in the cyclic view of reincarnation, indicating that life starts at conception. Abortions for the sake of the baby or mother may be permitted if there will be suffering. If the baby will have medical conditions or a mother’s life would be in danger, abortion is accepted. Abortion hinders the spiritual process in Buddhism.

The debate to whether abortion is pious or impious has been an ongoing controversy circumambient moral verses the legal status of induced abortion. There are two side to this never ending controversy are those who believe life begins at conception and that the embryo or fetus should be allow to gestate to term and be born “Pro-Life” and those who believe that women have the right to decide whether or not they want to allow gestation, Termination of pregnancy by choice. “Pro-Choice”; each term is relatively self described. Also there are those who remain neutral or undecided. I believe this ongoing controversy will never end because both side has demonstrate reasonable cause to why they believe what they believe in.

The issue of abortion remains as an entanglement in the brains of rationalists, religious pioneers and even usual residents. Particularly saying when the privileges of the unborn child and grown-ups are the subjects of interests. This has brought about sharp differences in the middle of people and religion teachings. Case in point, Catholics frequently conjures the principle of double effect to support their perspective on abortion. This has started sharp feedback from their partners who feel that it's out of line to choose the destiny of an innocent child, as we all have equivalent rights to this wonderful contribution of life. At the point when gone up against with such, persuading yet unmistakable methods of judgment there is one and only

Abortion is an abomination and a serious confliction in civilization today. This heated topic is one inflicted upon by many different thought processes, morals, and religions, making it extremely controversial, but most do not realize one’s life is truly at stake. Abortion signifies revoking someone the opportunity of life, for the sole reason that things are not in our favor (Ladock). Ladock states the most important factor of abortion: human life is involved and killing it would be a crime. The innocent child in the womb is called innocent for a reason, and taking away the life of someone without their permission is cruelty and unjust. Just because a parent may not be prepared to have the child, does not mean they should be

In examining religious opinions on abortion, one must find common ground on which to form a foundation of comparison. With most of the religions to date, that common ground lies on the argument of whether or not a fetus is an actual person. Some religions protest by saying a fetus isn't a conscious being -- therefore there is no loss in doing away with it. But for those religions that do believe there is a life -- or any spiritual being -- in a fetus, it is clearly a crime to have an abortion.

Abortion became one of the issues that are serious enough, judging from the high number of abortions increasing from year to year. In Indonesia, the number of fetal homicide a year had already reached 3 million. The numbers are not the least given the magnitude of the pregnancy rates in Indonesia. In addition, some categorize that abortion is murder. Some are banned in the name of religion. There is a saying that a newborn baby also have right to life so it should be preserved, and others. But in rape victim case, It is clear that because of unintended pregnancy women will definitely reject the fetus in her womb, the feelings of resentment, not wanting, depression, must face the stigma of lopsided societies that do not consider it as a sacrifice.

The topic of abortion has seen its fair share of morals, science, philosophy, and religion. However, from a simple biological standpoint we can determine whether or not this is a topic worthy of such intense debate. It seems the majority of those who oppose legal abortion believe in the sanctity of life, and some of these individuals are of religious background. On the other side of the fence, we have the supporters of legal abortion that usually use the concept of autonomy, that the government has no right to decide what a woman does with her body, to claim that anti-abortionists are flawed in their reasoning. The anti-abortion theory of the sanctity of life is based heavily on morality, but this reasoning becomes absurdity when faced with the concern of a fetus.