Hindu Ethics on the Moral Question of Abortion

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Hindu Ethics on the Moral Question of Abortion

- Edward Omar Moad

University of Missouri - Columbia

601 S. Providence #707I, Columbia, MO 65203, USAEmail: [email protected]

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics14

(2004), 149-50.

In the West, especially in the United States, the debate over the issue of

abortion is one of the most controversial subjects of the day. The arguments

employed by each side commonly originate from theological sources on the one

hand, and scientific sources on the other. Part of the reason for the position of thiscontroversy, among others, in the western public consciousness is that it has

implications affecting the moral value of human life, the source of that value, and

the question over when a human being can be said to acquire this value. Thus, the

argument usually ends up turning around whether life begins at conception, at

birth, or at some point in between. There are arguments over the difference

between living beings in general and persons, what constitutes personhood as an

entitlement to rights, and so on. Taking a look at the issue from a global

perspective, it becomes apparent that the ways in which these debates develop are

fundamentally shaped by the cultural context in which they are held.In the United States, for example, the argument is almost always centered on

the western concept of inalienable rights. It is the "rights of the unborn" against

the "rights of women". Fathers and grandparents are often eager to assert their

rights as well. Dealing with social issues like abortion on a cross-cultural level

requires one to temporarily transcend, as much as possible, the cultural context

within which one is immersed. Failure to do so can be the cause of a number of

blunders, the most common of which, in connection with our topic, is the quixotic

and uneducated reactions that are frequently expressed toward, for example,

China's one-child policy. The purpose of this paper will be to ascertain the

traditional view of abortion in India, and explore, as much as possible, the context

of religious and ethical values and rationale behind it.

Perhaps the best place to begin would be at that most important question in the

western abortion debate: when does the life of a human being become sacred? Or

to put it in metaphysical terms, when does the fetus receive a soul? This way, an

important difference in the Hindu cultural context surrounding the issue will

become clear; specifically, that such a question is almost irrelevant. Nevertheless,

it is not an unanswered one.

The Hindu view of a person is a central theme of the Hindu

scriptures. Basically, it is a dualistic model consisting of atman(roughly, spirit),


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andprakrti (matter). According to the Caraka Samhita, a Hindu medical text, the

soul is already joined with matter in the act of conception. The soul is described as

descending "...into the union of semen and (menstrual) blood in the womb in

keeping with the (karmically produced) psychic disposition (of the embryonic

matter)."[1]

Though there are a few differing traditions on this matter(the Garbha Upanishadclaims that ensoulment takes place in the seventh month),

they are considered to be based on weaker evidence, and the mainstream of Hindu

thought coincides with this position.[2] Thus, the traditional Hindu view of the time

of ensoulment is similar to that expressed by Thomas Aquinas, for

example. However, there are important differences in other aspects. The Visnu

Puranadescribes consciousness in the womb:

"An individual soul (jantu), possessing a subtle body (sukumaratanu), resides

in his mother's womb (garbha), which is imbued with various sorts of impurity

(mala). He stays there being folded in the membrane surrounding the foetus(ulba). . . He experiences severe pains. . . tormented immensely by the foods his

mother takes. . . incapable of extending (prasarana) or contracting (akuncana) his

own limbs and reposing amidst a mud of faeces and urine, he is in every way

incommoded. He is unable to breathe. Yet, being endowed with consciousness

(sacaitanya) and thus calling to memory many hundreds (of previous) births, he

resides in his mother's womb with great pains, being bound by his previous

deeds."[3]

The obvious difference between this Hindu description of life in the womb and

that perceived in the west arises from the concept of reincarnation. The soul in thewomb is not a new soul. Rather it contemplates its previous births. Thus, the

hiatus in the womb is not seen in nearly as positive a light as it is in western

thought. It is painful, torturous, and repulsive; the evil result of attachment to

physical existence displayed in one's past lives. In the Hindu context, the purpose

of life as a human being is to make progress toward liberation from rebirth. The

most important thing for each soul is the unfolding of its karmic destiny toward

this goal. Abortion can obstruct this unfolding, and therefore it is condemned, but

for vastly different reasons than it is in the west.[4]

The practice of abortion is negatively referred to in the earliest Hindu

scriptures, the Vedas. These texts comprise the sruti, those scriptures considered

to have primary authority in Hindu thought. In theRg Samhit,possibly originating

from before 1200 BC, Visnu is called "protector of the child-to-be", implying that

the fetus was deserving of even divine reverence.[5]Meanwhile, theAtharva

Vedaexpresses the following explicit pleas regarding those who perform

abortions:

"With what bonds the overslaughed one is bound apart, applied and tied up on

each limb - let them be released, for they are releasers; wipe off difficulties, O

Pushan, on the embryo slayer." VI-112.3
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"Enter thou after the beams, the smokes, O evil; go unto the mists or also the

fogs; disappear along those foams of the rivers: wipe off difficulties, O Pushan, on

the embryo slayer." VI-113.2[6]

Evidently, the "embryo slayer" is seen as a suitable candidate to bear the

sufferings and sins of the rest of the Vedic community. The SatapathaBrahmanacompares the reputation of those who eat beef with those who perform

abortions, while in the Upanisads they are placed in a category with thieves and

outcastes.[7]

The later smrti texts also contain injunctions against abortion, as well as

protections for pregnant women. In the Visnudharmasutra, killing either fetus or

mother is equated to the worst crime possible in Hindu society, killing a

Brahman. Ferrymen and toll-collectors are prescribed punishment for collection

from pregnant women. The Mahabharata, likewise, lists expectant mothers among

a group that one must "give way to" that includes Brahmin, cows, and kings.[8]

The worst penalty that could be inflicted upon a member of traditional Hindu

society was to lose one's caste. This effectively removed one from the social

structure altogether, and even had tragic implications on one's prospects for

spiritual liberation. The Gautamadharmasutratells us that two crimes that call for

a woman to have her caste revoked are sexual relations with a man of lower caste,

and abortion. Though the abortion of the fetus of a Brahmin is punishable by more

extreme penalties than that of a slave, even those who perform abortions on slaves

were fined.[9]This difference in treatment reflects the belief that Brahmins were at a

stage closer to spiritual liberation, and thus the uniquely Hindu rationale againstabortion.

Hindu ideology made an exception however, when abortion became necessary

to save the life of the mother. The Susruta Samhita, another Hindu medical text,

describes a procedure to induce birth during complications in the pregnancy. The

ultimate objective is, of course, saving the mother and the baby. However, in the

event that this is not a possibility, the text affirms, saving the mother takes

precedence, and an abortion is justified.[10]

This serves as evidence against the possible assertion that the real basis for an

anti-abortion attitude in Hindu society stems solely from social goals related to

supplying sons for the family and the caste. If that were true, and the moral

sentiment played no role, then surely the mother would be considered less

important than the child. Such a charge, furthermore, could be another example of

the mistake of superimposing categories that are relevant within the context of one

culture, onto an issue in another culture, where they are meaningless. The concept

of Hindu dharma, the basis of ethics in Hindu society, makes no distinction

between social and moral motivations. In fact, the two are inextricably enmeshed

in each other.[11]Thus, as much as it would be false to say that to bear sons is not

highly valued among Hindus, it is equally false to discard the expression of moral

rationale against abortion as artificial. Besides the fact that all the Sanskrit words
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for abortion have highly negative connotations related to killing, such as hatya, the

way in which abortion is dealt with in relation to the rigors of the caste system

strongly suggest a primacy of moral over social concerns.

As I have noted above, the two crimes for which a woman could lose her caste

were sex with a lower caste male, and abortion. In cases where there had been asexual relationship between a higher caste female and a lower caste male that

resulted in offspring, it posed a complicated problem for the Hindu society. Such

children could not be accepted into any caste and therefore constituted various

categories of "outcastes", classless populations with no position in society that

ushered in all the myriad social problems associated with such

situations. Outcastes had everything going against them, and were generally

destined for a miserable life. Despite this fact, abortion was never allowed as an

acceptable solution. The lives of these fetuses, with all the social consequences

that were involved in their births, were believed to have a moral status thatprotected them from early termination.[12]

Hopefully, this paper has scratched the surface of Hindu thought relating to

abortion enough to make it clear that in India (despite not being nearly as public as

it is in the west) it is an issue unique to Hindu ethical thought. It does not involve

the ultimate value of the embodiment of the soul, as expressed by traditional

western religious viewpoints. Nor can it be reduced to a utilitarian equation aimed

at the benefit of society as a whole or a particular class, as the various western

liberal and secular interpretations would have it. It is a question, which, for

Hindus, may be dealt with only on uniquely Hindu terms.

References

Lipner, Julius J. "On Abortion and the Moral Status of the Unborn", inHindu

Ethics, edited by Coward, Lipner, and Young. State University of New York,

Albany. 1989.

Whitney, William Dwight, trns.Atharva-Veda Samhita. Harvard Oriental Series,

vol. VII. Harvard University. Cambridge, MA. 1905.
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Hindu Ethics on the Moral Question of Abortion