So Judge Sonia Sotomayor, 54 year-old judge from the Bronx, is bound for the Supreme Court — if President Obama’s Nomination goes through during the confirmation process. Get ready for some lunacy from Mitch McConnell, for sure.
Of course, Sotomayor’s stance on abortion is poised to be a wedge issue. Read Ellen Scordato’s excellent post on Sonia Sotomayor and abortion.
My question is this: what is a Buddhist view of abortion? I am certainly pro-choice, but I don’t buy one left-wing interpretation that because it’s your body, that body exists independent of all other concerns, the very same way that I don’t believe that a libertarian can own a gun without that gun affecting others. We exist interdependently.
People who are anti-war AND anti-abortion make me stand up and take notice because they are a holding what I view as a coherent ethical position. Pro-war, anti-abortion folks confuse me to no end.
What do you think? And what does Judge Sonia Sotomayor think, more importantly?
posted May 26, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Your point rings true. It is basic goodness to regard any life at all as sacred.
While being a woman (who is currently pregnant) I believe that we should have the right to choose while being given solid alternatives that can help save a life. No woman should have to go to term fully knowing that she does not have any say in her future. The churches and governments (and men quite frankly) that advocate decisions based on opinion should be more open to helping those in need by offering alternative solutions and support so that there are less abortions. That’s why Obama’s pick makes tons and tons of sense as she is pro-life I am assuming because she is Catholic. Maybe she will not make abortion legal just make the alternative solutions easier. Like domestic infant adoptions.
But have we progressed enough as an enlightened society to be mindful with our bodies so we do not put ourselves in a position that requires having to kill another sentient being? While man is still man (in any faith, philosophy or science) and ego is still ego he/she will continue to make mistakes in body or mind or follow contradictive beliefs based on blind faith.
posted May 26, 2009 at 12:32 pm
The BBC did a handy little rundown of Buddhism and abortion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/buddhistethics/abortion.shtml
posted May 26, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Anna, I agree in some ways – if the abortion issue were less polarized perhaps we could make some changes that made bringing a baby to term easier.
Now a student of Buddhism, I had an abortion at 21. At the time 9 months of pregnancy – the length of time, the toll on my body, the toll on my relationship, the stigma, the idea of putting a child into the world who was my child yet I had no relation too, the fact that I did not have health insurance, that I had not known I was pregnant and therefore smoked weed for the first month to combat the nausea – all of those factors made me think that carrying a child to term was impossible.
Would I have an abortion now? Probably not. But I’m also extremely careful about not getting pregnant now (obviously) and older and more mature. Even if I had been a student of Buddhism at the time and understood basic goodness I don’t think I would have carried to term – I simply didn’t have enough life experience to understand that 9 months wasn’t forever.
posted September 20, 2010 at 5:47 pm
I believe that abortion is up to the individual especially in cases of rape or being too young etc… BUT knowing what abortion truly is I would never recommend it to any woman.