श्रीभगवानुवाच
कर्मणा दैवनेत्रेण जन्तुर्देहोपपत्तये ।
कर्मणा दैवनेत्रेण जन्तुर्देहोपपत्तये ।
स्त्रिया: प्रविष्ट उदरं पुंसो रेत:कणाश्रय: ॥ १ ॥
Abortion is a subject of heated debate; proponents demand, “Pro-choice!” while critics shout, “Pro-life!” But without being “pro-understanding” — of the self, the body, and the science of consciousness — how can we be properly equipped to make choices on such life and death matters?
WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN WITHIN THE WOMB?
“ When does life begin within the womb? In searching for answers to this question, we must first understand that we are NOT dealing with something GROSS (something we can measure in a laboratory) NO!
The “life force” is the “subtlest” substance in existence. We can’t see it with the most powerful microscope or weigh it on the most sensitive scale.
In fact, the Vedic Upanishads explain that the Dimension of the SOUL, or life force, is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of a hair [- Śvetaśvatara Upanishad (5.9)]. This is even smaller than the atom!
Therefore, if we want to understand this life force, we must approach authorities who are beyond the limitations that our imperfect mind and senses place upon us.
In other words, the Supreme Court won’t do; we must approach a transcendental source of knowledge — “The Revealed Vedic Scriptures.“
Vedic Scriptures on Life's Beginning in the Womb
The Srimad-Bhagavatam, the essence of all Vedic knowledge, declares,
“Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord, and according to the result of his previous work, the living entity (the soul), dwelling within the male sperm cell, enters a woman’s womb to assume a particular type of body” (3.31.1).
This authoritative statement resolves the crucial question of when life begins in the womb. Most simply, “life begins from the point of conception” — means the point at which the sperm, carrying the soul, enters the ovum.
Why Is Life Considered a Divine Right?
Life is given by God, and only He has the right to take it. “No one has any power to breathe life into a dead object, nor has anyone the power to resist death when their time comes. God is in control.”
Anxiety and suffering come when we forget this truth when we imagine ourselves to be in control and we ignore divine direction. We then make whatever adjustments we imagine will bring about our happiness, such as killing our unwanted children.
The result will be nothing but SUFFERING — in this case, 50 million terrible deaths each year, endless DEPRESSION and TRAUMA, and then comes the KARMA.
Who Determines the Right to Life?
Another important point to note is that the right to life is determined by Divine Law, not by our whimsical decisions.
It is the “law of karma“, working under the supervision of the Supreme Lord, that determines when an individual spirit soul will enter a human womb. So if, through methods of abortion, we try to deny a soul for a human birth, we defy God’s will in a most heinous fashion.
What Is the Consequence of Irresponsible Parenthood?
– Don’t beget children if you have no responsibility. But they think that “We’ll have sex life, but we shall avoid this responsibility. So then let us use contraceptive.” This is the greatest sinful life. Greatest sinful life. You are killing, murderer. Now in the Western countries, they are actually killing. They have made law. So if the society has become so awfully sinful, how can they expect peace and prosperity? That is not possible. That is not possible. (Lecture on Bhagavad Gita – 7.11-12 by Srila Prabhupada — Bombay, February 25, 1974)
How Do Todays Society Influence Abortion?
In every state all over the world, abortion activities are encouraged by the government in the form of birth control. Women are supplied pills, and they are allowed to go to a clinical laboratory to get assistance for their abortions.
These poor parents fall victim to the criminal offenses of performing a sinful act of abortions and dropping off their little babies in their wombs, and they are punished in their present life with various diseases in their bodies and then with the severe punishments after their death as described in the Vedic scriptures.
By taking this path, those parents and supporting doctors are not only affecting the innocent soul of the unborn baby child, but also ensuring that their own lives are filled with suffering and sorrow.
What Are the Consequences of Illicit Sex (Outside of Marriage sex / Pre-marital sex) ?
A materialistic person does not believe that everything is managed in nature, and he does not know that if one does something wrong, he is witnessed by different demigods. A person enjoys illicit sex, and due to his blind, lusty desire, he thinks that no one can see him, but this illicit sex is thoroughly observed by the agents of Lord Vishnu.
Therefore, the person is punished in so many ways.
Presently in Kali-yuga, in today’s generation and in our surroundings, there are many pregnancies due to illicit sex, and sometimes abortions occur to a lady.
Now, these sinful karmas are witnessed by the agents of Lord Krishna, and a man and woman who create such situations by agreeing to drop their babies in the womb are punished in the future by the stringent laws of material nature. (दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया)
A karma of abortion is never excused, and those who indulge in it (parents or doctors or any other persons involved in it) are punished life after life. (Srimad Bhagavatam – 5.14.9 purport)
Those who are involved in the karma or activity of an abortion become implicated in these sins, so much so that they are punished in the same way in their next life. Thus in the next life, those people also enter the womb of a mother and are killed in the same way. An act of dropping off an unborn baby is the most prominent sin due to lusty desire.
What Are the Implications of Family Planning Through Artificial Measures?
When the krpanas have too many children, they suffer the scorching heat of family life, and then similar leaders advise them to undertake family planning. The idea of this family planning is that sense pleasure should not be curtailed, but birth control should be accomplished by artificial measures. Such methods of birth control are called “bhruna-hatya“, or killing the child in the embryo.
Such killing is a sinful act, and in the revealed scriptures, a specific hell is designated for those who commit such sins.
– Light of the Bhagavata 35.
What Is the Result of Denying Life After Death?
– Tivram bhayam. What you are accepting, spelled by maya, as very position, good position… I have told you many times. It is published in now… that therefore, the rascal class of men, they want to…, they do not want to accept that there is life after death. “Everything is finished.” Therefore in Western countries, there is killing even a grown-up child within the womb. They are killing, ABORTION. They think there is no life. Unless it comes out of the womb, there is no life. It’s all nonsense theory. All nonsense theory, simply committing sinful life one after another and becoming entangled. The result will be that he will have to enter again into the womb of the mother and he will be killed. He will be killed not once. He will be killed again when he enters the womb of the mother; again he will be killed. For many, many years he will not be allowed to see the light of the sun.
– Srila Prabhupada – Srimad Bhagavatam BOM Lectures.
How Does Abortion Affect One's Karma?
One must know that abortion goes against the laws set by the Lord, adding a bunch of negative karma to those parents lives and leading to their miserable and painful future.
If the parents are not prepared for a child, they should not engage in sexual relations.
As stated in the Amara-kosha, bhruno ‘rbhake bala-garbhe: the word bhruna refers either to the cow or to the living entity in embryo. According to Vedic culture, destroying the undeveloped embryo of the soul in the womb is as sinful as killing a cow or a brahmana. In the embryo, “the living entity is present in an undeveloped stage.”
This body is a gift from the Lord Himself. Ending the life of a baby child in the womb for reasons such as, “I am not ready for the baby” , “I have financial instability, or “I have unsuitable living conditions”, or giving any other reason, is a very serious sinful karma.
What Are the Consequences of Abortion?
By that same law of karma, anyone who destroys a developing fetus must suffer severe punishment after death. “As you sow, so shall you reap,” declares the Bible, and the Vedic literature, confirm that both the person performing the abortion and those sanctioning it (doctors, relatives etc.) are forced at the time of death to enter wombs where they themselves become victims of the same vicious act.
Abortion is a grave transgression of the laws of nature and of God.
So those who are anxious to enjoy sexual pleasure, yet wish to avoid the responsibility of rearing children, should soberly consider ABORTION’S SEVERE CONSEQUENCES.
Unlike the edicts of the Supreme Court, the laws of nature and of God are always STRICTLY ENFORCED.