Choices
A Web Page designed by young women to help other young women in making informed choices.

18. What Religions Think About Abortion

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         Abortion and Religion
Whatever the religion, throughout history there has been a diversity of opinions regarding induced abortion. Today, there is no theological unanimity within the various religions concerning a woman’s right to choose abortion. Distinctions among official, semi-official and non-official religious attitudes toward abortion are universal; some flexibility can be found almost everywhere. Women of every faith (even those with strict teachings against abortion) have defied their religions in their reliance on abortion as a necessary means of ending unwanted pregnancies.

Evangelical Lutheran
The Evangelical Lutheran church, the fourth largest Protestant denomination, is deeply divided on the issue of abortion, making it difficult to determine an official church policy. At its 1989 convention, the church adopted an interim statement on abortion which repudiates “abortion on demand”, upholds the sanctity of life, and sets out means for ministering to women facing unwanted pregnancies. There was no agreement on the special circumstances under which abortion may take place. The year before, however, the Lutheran Church had rejected abortion as a moral option except to prevent the death of the woman.
 

Presbyterian
The Presbyterian Church in Canada holds that abortion should be lawful only if a pregnancy endangers the woman’s life or is likely to impair her physical or mental health in a permanent or prolonged way. It has consistently opposed “abortion on demand”, and holds that there is no point after the moment of conception when the fetus does not qualify as human life. Some Presbyterians have called for a tightening of the church’s position.
 

Roman Catholic
The Roman Catholic Church considers contraception “intrinsically evil”, and takes perhaps the most rigid stance against abortion. It holds that abortion is never justified, and is grounds for excommunication under church law. It is interesting to note that historically (before 1869), the Catholic Church held that early in the pregnancy the fetus did not have a soul and such abortions were not serious. In fact, the Church’s current position against abortion stems from its moral and traditional practices, and has never been official doctrine or dogma. Today, the debate continues. Catholics for a Free Choice is a pro-choice Catholic group which believes that it is an individual woman’s right to make decisions regarding abortion and contraception in accordance with her own conscience.

Hinduism
The Hindu view is based in the 4,000-year-old Hindu Vedas. Like the Buddhists, Hindus believe that each of us is born again and again in a life cycle, and that abortion is synonymous with killing and therefore inconsistent with a belief in non-violence. However, medically therapeutic abortions are tolerated.

Buddhism
Buddhists believe in reincarnation, a view based on the 2,500-year-old Buddhist Tip taka. Like Hindus, they believe that each of us is born again and again in a life cycle. One’s destiny in this life and the next is controlled by karmic law, and one accumulates good and bad karma through one’s deeds, words and thoughts.  Life is described in terms of mind and matter, which continuously break up and come together. Buddhists characterize all forms of life (including animals) as “sentient beings” which are made up of the mind and the body elements in a symbiotic relationship. A fertilized egg is considered a sentient being, and abortion is synonymous with killing. In order to dispel any bad karma brought on by having an abortion, certain rituals must be observed by women who have them.
 

Islam
The majority of Muslim scholars permit abortion, although they differ on the stage of fetal development beyond which it becomes prohibited. Scholars agree that abortion at or after the ensoument stage are prohibited, except to save the woman’s life. One group permits abortion up to 120 days after conception. Another prohibits it as early as eighty or even forty days after conception. In either case, many take the view that abortion does not abruptly become prohibited at a certain stage, but becomes increasingly disfavored as the fetus develops, until it eventually becomes prohibited.
 

Judaism
Abortion for therapeutic reasons, when the woman’s life is clearly in danger, is mandatory in Judaism. Her life takes absolute precedence over the potential life of the fetus, which is not regarded as full life until late in the process of birth.  There is no unified Jewish position on abortion. Some rabbis do not follow a single view. Rabbis in Reform Judaism generally take a pro-choice stance on abortion.  The Reform movement formally support the woman’s right to chose.