The Importance Of Abortion In Buddhism

Bertha, M. (2014). Pro-Life, Pro-Choice : Shared Values in the Abortion Debate. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. https://fortlewis.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search- ebscohost-com.fortlewis.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edspmu&AN=edspmu.9780826519924&site=eds-live&scope=site Throughout this book, Bertha claims that she is for pro choice, but at the end of the reading, she states that she has changed her beliefs to pro life. This specific author performed studies, exams, courses, and clinicals and discovered the facts about the harm that takes place to your body after having an abortion. Bertha discusses the hard, mental griefs and traumas that follow the procedure, as well as the uneasy argument about the virtuous worth of the human fetus. The author brings experience to the discussion through the psychological department, being an Associate Professor of Philosophy in the School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies at Arizona State University, as well as having written many informative and knowledgeable articles.

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.

Abortion has been a highly debated topic for many years. Until 1973, when abortion was legalized in the U.S., women were obtaining very dangerous abortions that often killed them in the process. Although abortion is legal now, members of society still do not agree on whether it is “right.” There are pros and cons of abortion, which can be examined by the three theoretical perspectives; Structural Functionalism, Conflict Theory, and Postmodern Theory. This essay explains what the three theoretical perspectives are and how they view the social issue of abortion.

This paper will explore the many facets of abortion. For organizational purposes, it will first provide

However, people fail, and not only because of lack of education or responsibility, but also because of simple contraceptives unavailability. At this stage, a woman face a perspective of bearing and having an unplanned and consequently, unwanted child.

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.

Abortion has been a controversial subject for centuries across the globe. Although the fetus may not be scientifically a human being, there is budding humanity within it; and hence trying to terminate fetus must be considered as criminal offense of killing a human being. Not many of the world’s population have realized the effects caused by the abortion and its impacts on the society. Abortion is considered to be immoral crime affecting not only the mother but also the family, the community, and most significantly the fetus.

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.

Over several centuries and in different cultures, there is a rich history of women helping each other to abort. Until the late 1800s, women healers in Western Europe and the U.S. provided abortions and trained other women to do so, without legal prohibitions. There were many different ways they attempted to do this procedure; such as a pennyroyal tea, which according to Thorpe, is toxic at just five grams. They believed that jumping and kicking yourself in the buttocks would also make a women have a miscarriage. Sitting over a pot of hot onions, and using camel saliva, ants, and deer hair was also a popular way to have an abortion back then. In today’s society abortion has become a major social issue that will never be resolved. It is a topic that some people avoid in our society. They would rather pretend it does not excite than recognize it as part in our society. The two advocacy groups that stand firm in their moral beliefs are conservatives who stand for pro-life and liberals who stand for pro-choice. They do not take this issue lightly, there has been countless debates about whether it is murder or not. However, it always ends the same way with now solution. There are four major points to look at when discussing the issue of abortion, legal precedence, human rights, religion and when life beings. It is important to look at what functions do these point play in society and what conflicts it has in society.

I am a Japanese Buddhist. Where I’m from, Buddhism is a little bit different. A lot of Buddhists consider abortion a moral crime, but in Buddhist metaphysics, the life force comes from an existence which is fluid like water and returns to that existence. The fetus is understood to be in a stage of becoming a discrete thing passing out of the ancient waters. Life that appears in our world or in a woman's uterus is the formation of a being that was before in the liquid like state of another reality. Children are liquid and only gradually solidify into humans, this process not being realized until after birth. Accordingly, the newborn gradually make the transition from the world of the gods and Buddhas into that of human beings. Most Japanese Buddhists (like myself) believe that you can be cursed by your baby after the abortion procedure. Because of this, they perform a Mizuko Kuyo after an abortion. “Mizuko” means water child, “kuyo” means memorial service conducted in most cases by Buddhist priests.Mizuko Kuyos are ritual ceremonies of apology and remembrance for aborted fetuses, or the stillborn and miscarried.

     One of the toughest issues to debate in our world today is abortion. Abortion is the induced termination of pregnancy before the fetus can survive. Nowadays, abortion affects all people, not just the mother and the baby. There are moral, ethical, health-related, political, and religious aspects that affect how people feel towards abortion. By looking at religion and its views, one can see just how hard it would be to argue in the pro-choice position of this debate.

One approach to eliminating the need for abortion and satisfy both pro-choice and pro-life advocates, is to introduce more extensive sex education courses and make contraceptives more widely available. Contraception and sex education is such widely used in Western Europe that their rates of unwanted pregnancies, teenage pregnancies, and abortion are much lower

The main reason that Hinduism doesn’t have abortion is because they believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation is a repeating cycle of birth, death, and then rebirth. The view of reincarnation makes a strong case to oppose abortion. If the baby is aborted the soul that is inside the woman suffers a major karmic setback in its life. The baby would not have been given a chance to earn good karma but is instead sent back to the reincarnation cycle. A soul will have many births and abortion deprives the soul of one of them. The moment of conception is believed that the baby soul is already alive and already a person from a very early stage of