Abortion=Murder

As a Buddhist I’m reluctant to intervene in a woman’s personal decision to terminate pregnancy. Our view of abortion does not include the concept of “rights”, for example the “right to life”. The First Precept of Buddhism is said as “Refrain from destroying life”, terminating a pregnancy would totally be against this. Abortion is considered to be taking a human life and is strongly disapproved in Buddhism due to the perception that is seen as murder. When a baby is conceived, a new living being is created and we believe that beings live in a cycle of death and rebirth being birth the beginning of life of an individual. A difficult decision has to be made when abortion is medically necessary, in such cases the moral status of an abortion will depend on the intentions of those who carry it out; as the Dalai Lama expressed it all depends on each circumstance: “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.” Abortion also has negative response in the mother and the person who helped performed the abortion, it generates a bad karma. I strongly disapprove with abortion, is an unethical act that it is not deserved by any new life about to be conceived.