BITS Pilani: Perspectives on abortion

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner (Q): My question is regarding abortion. Broadly, there are two schools of thought regarding abortion. The first one is, because it is the woman’s body, she is the one who gets to decide whether to abort or deliver the child. The second school of thought says that the woman cannot decide to abort the child by her own will, because who is she to decide whether a particular life should come into this Earth or not? So, this creates a confusion in my mind as to what is the right thing to do in cases of unwanted pregnancy. What are your views on this?

Acharya Prashant (AP): See, it is not for you or me to decide. We may keep saying a thousand things; ultimately, it is the mother who is going to decide, unless you overrule her jurisdiction through law or other rules. So, it is the mother who is going to decide. The more pertinent question should be: How would the mother with deep consciousness and self-awareness decide versus an unconscious mother whose decision comes from deep body-identification and materialistic line of thought? That is where the difference comes.

You are trying to look at the issue of abortion as if it is an objective matter. You want to know my thoughts on abortion; you want to probably create a consensus on abortion…