[headstamp 2]

I have a friend who is an devout Buddhist yet is militantly pro abortion. What are the Buddhist teachings on this?

[Sa-teef]

She is not a devout Buddhist if she strongly favors abortion. Abortion is considered a sinful act, and is officially an illegal act where I live exccept to save the life and health of the mother. That being said it still takes place at certain high priced private hospitals.

That's according to the devout Buddhist who cooks my dinner.

[elcid1970]

A quick wiki search shows that Buddhism views abortion negatively as the ending of innocent life and as a source of bad karma, generally speaking.

[exDemMom]

Buddhism is not strictly anti-abortion. I have a friend who is generally pro-life, but says that if she knew her baby had a defect, she would “throw it right back in the pool”, meaning that she would abort it so that it could resurrect (hopefully) in a more functional body.

[Mrs. Don-o]

According to this reference, traditional Buddhism was always anti-abortion, but modern Buddhists (especially in the West) have tended to drift from this. Read this and You'll find both the pro-life ethic and a range of opinions

I've known both Buddhists and Hindus on both the pro-life and the pro-abortion side, and they don't have a single moral authority, scriptural dictum, catechism, pope or the equivalent to make a definitive ruling, as I understand it.

Having said that, here's the Facebook page for Buddhists for Life

[Notthereyet]

“What are the Buddhist teachings on this?”
_____________________________________

:...individuals involved in the abortion process including doctors and the women will accord Buddhism, the person will be generating bad karma for themselves in the act of abortion. It is also good to note that compassion for unborn fetus is essential but other conditions have to be considered according to Buddhists.”
______________________________________

It appears they have given everyone a clear path to make excuses for the act of abortion.....

[katana]

Seems your friend thinks they're a Buddhist, "devout" or otherwise. Every religion has such clueless claimants, but westerners who default to Buddhism are among the worst. Sort of like Otto, the Kevin Klein character in A Fish Called Wanda.

[Lopeover]

Buddhists can begin at any level of human condition, believing in any position that could be incongruent with their growing faith. A Buddhist practices to elevate and purify their life, eventually releasing beliefs etc that to not serve life itself.

It takes a consistent practice. We all know, no matter what religion one believes in that it is human nature for a person’s individual faith to go through phases of growth & stagnation. It takes a strong determination to challenge oneself when you feel/think you are stuck.

[backwoods-engineer]

Buddhism can be whatever they want it to be. Devout Buddhists aside, many Leftists claim to follow Buddhism or other foreign religions just because they hate Christianity, or because they are lapsed Jews.

[proud American in Canada]

Something seems wrong about that. I don’t think Buddhism would like abortion, though I am not familiar with Buddhist teachings.