Buddhism and Abortion

 

 

Although I've been studying Buddhism for a good many years, I haven't given much thought to the Buddhist teachings regarding abortion until recently. I had assumed that Buddhists viewed abortion in a way similar to Christians or Hindus. 

While reading about Robert Pirsig (author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ) I came upon a bit of interesting information regarding Pirsig and abortion.

Not long after the murder of his son from a previous marriage, Pirsig's second wife became pregnant. Pirsig's immediate reaction was to terminate the pregnancy. Coincidentally, this was also the view of his wife. The reasons Pirsig gave for this decision were not those typically used by those in the pro-choice camp when trying to justify an abortion. His wife, Wendy had not become pregnant due to rape or incest. When they came to the decision to abort, it was too early in the pregnancy to know of any potential birth defects. Pirsig does not mention any particular financial reasons.

According to the forward in a later edition of  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance , Pirsig simply felt that due his being over 50 years old at the time of his wife's pregnancy, he did not want to go through the rigors of bringing up another child. It was case of  "I, me, mine."

Pirsig, and again, coincidentally his wife, later came to change that decision to abort. Pirsig came to believe that the child in his wife's womb was the reincarnation of his murdered son, Chris. Luckily for their daughter Nell, the Pirsigs believed in reincarnation......otherwise she would have been killed in the womb.

After learning of Pirsig's decision, I began to look into the Buddhist teachings on abortion. I sent a message (via Facebook) to Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron asking for an explanation of the Buddhist views on abortion. Thubten Chodron is a Buddhist nun who has co-authored, with the Dalai Lama several books on Buddhism. I was referred to her website, thubtenchodron.org with instructions to type "abortion" into the website's search engine. That resulted in these links:
current-world-scenarios-ethics
ethics-politics

In an interview linked to above, Thubten Chodron says,

"In the US, abortion is actually a more controversial issue. Clearly, Buddhism does not approve of abortion, because it involves taking life. Yet, we can’t be like some conservative people, who are strongly opposed even to contraception, which is another extreme. Personally, I don’t agree with handling the entire matter politically, which has caused a lot of suffering. In cases of unwanted pregnancy, the mother, the father, the baby—everyone involved—needs compassion. Once this becomes a matter of political debate, everyone argues and scolds each other, which only increases the suffering of the people involved. We should give them some personal space to make their choice." 

 "I would encourage the pregnant person to give birth to the child, and then afterwards give up the child for adoption, but that is my personal view. My little sister is adopted. I love her very much and I am so happy that her birth mother gave her for adoption, so that she became part of our family."

In the video linked to, Thubten Chodron says that the First Buddhist Precept tells us to abstain from taking life. She goes on to say that Buddhism teaches that, due to the process of rebirth, the fetus obtains consciousness upon conception and is thereby viewed as a human being. Consequently, abortion isn't acceptable in Buddhism.

In his books, Buddhism and Abortion and Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction , Damien Keown explains that within the traditional teachings of Buddhism there is no question but that abortion is not permitted - not only going against the First Precept, but very often other Precepts are broken as well:
Five Basic Precepts
1) abstain from taking life
2) abstain from taking what is not given
3) abstain from sensuous misconduct
4) abstain from false speech
5) abstain from intoxicants as tending to cloud the mind

Keown also notes that in spite of abortion being against traditional Buddhist teaching, the abortion rates in Buddhist countries are considerably higher than in most non-Buddhist countries. In Thailand, where a more traditional, conservative form of Buddhism is practiced, abortion is illegal, but the laws are not enforced. The abortion rate is very high, particularly among married women, who at the time of the book's writing, used abortion as the primary form of birth control. Ironically, he notes that the abortion rates among pregnant prostitutes in that country are very low; the difference being due to the belief that their being women (and prostitutes) is due to previous bad karma and the birth of a child - particularly a son - is a way for them to acquire merit.

Buddhists in the West tend to be "pro-choice". Western Buddhists are usually more Liberal than Christians. Some observers see the Western Buddhist's views on abortion to be more "Liberalism covered in Buddhist garments" rather than authentic Buddhism.

In Japan, the view among Buddhists is similar to the Western view, although Japanese Buddhists, unlike their Western counterparts, acknowledge that the unborn child is fully human. Some Japanese Buddhists attempt to deal with the contradiction by participating in a ritual known as Mizuko kuyō. Reasons for the performance of these rites can include parental grief, desire to comfort the soul of the fetus, guilt for an abortion, or even fear of retribution from a vengeful ghost.

It would appear, that when it comes to living up to their religious beliefs, Buddhists can be as hypocritical as members of other religious groups.