Why Are 82% of American Buddhists Pro-Choice?

I read the entire first precept and I don’t see any part related abortion - I tried to search relevant words like “fetus, zygote, life begins, abortions, etc.” - nothing seems to come up. Can you point to a specific place in it?

Furthermore, I asked specifically for citations regarding “early Buddhist texts” so that I could look up those specifically.

Thank you :pray: May you be happy too. :slightly_smiling_face:

The Abhidhamma, in line with the suttas, has consciousness being present from the moment of conception.

Your link is about what some Buddhists believe based on a rather modern and idiosyncratic interpretation of the suttas.

As a context for the first precept, consider this:

DN33:1.11.170: Furthermore, someone is aware when conceived in their mother’s womb, aware as they remain there, and aware as they emerge. This is the fourth kind of conception.

…and this:

SN56.48:1.6: Would that one-eyed turtle, popping up once every hundred years, still poke its neck through the hole in that yoke?”
“It’s unlikely, sir.”
“That’s how unlikely it is to get reborn as a human being.

Although I vote pro-choice, I would also advise against casual, callous abortion.

1 Like

@SeriousFun136 I gave you two diferent articles, which address what the Buddha taught on the definition of what was life and what is conception; I thought it might be a good exercise towards understanding how Buddhist conception is not what materialists or eternalists believe.

You asked for EBT citations, but perhaps as fodder for debate or argument; I have no interest in engaging that way. Nor do I think that way is a good way to offer to others the requisites of Dhamma exposure, training, and practice for progress on the Noble Eight Fold Path. Argument is imo a way to alienate, and to fuel identity views.

May all beings be freed, in the manner the Buddha taught: the Noble Eight Fold Path.

1 Like

Even after reading that, why would you vote pro-choice?

I think that you (falsely) assumed my intention.

I specifically asked for EBT citations because, when it comes to trying to figure out what the Buddhist position is on any issue, I try not to heed any other authority besides the Dhamma-Vinaya. The EBTs seem to be the most accurate representations of the Dhamma-Vinaya available today.

So I think the reason that I asked is for the purpose of clarity and referencing a relatively reliable source, not for argumentation or debate.

To avoid the problem that @Ceisiwr highlighted above, I asked very specifically for EBT citations so that I could directly examine the Dhamma-Vinaya and verify it for myself in relation to the topic of abortion.

I think I remember reading somewhere that if a monk causes a woman to successfully procure an abortion, he would have been defeated and to be expelled from the Sangha for breaking the 3rd Vinaya rule regarding killing.

From this example, I remember wondering if perhaps the Dhamma-Vinaya takes a clear stand on the issue of abortion - i.e. that abortions are harmful in that they are equivalent to taking of life.

However, I have not seen fully conclusive evidence, nor have I learned the Dhamma-Vinaya as a whole, so I have lot to learn before I feel like I am able to figure out what guidance is provided in the Dhamma-Vinaya with regard to abortion.

This issue has been discussed several times on the Forum; in fact a search for ‘abortion’ produces <50 items.

If you want additional information, please look up these links and the further links to texts that they contain. If you want to take up discussion with another person or group of people, please use Personal Messages.

3 Likes