During the first month of life, the embryo has no feeling because the nervous system has not yet developed. It is more like a mass of cells. But after a month, nerve structures grow and the embryo develops the capacity for sensation. After five or six months, the mental faculties are well-developed. Around this time the fetus has some simple abilities to adapt to conditions in the womb. For example, it can move around to find a better position.

About two months short of the normal gestation period, a baby that is prematurely delivered may still live and grow normally, proving that as early as six or seven months, the fetus is anatomically a complete person.

Those who say that abortion is acceptable because the embryo is not yet a person are ignoring the fact that the embryo develops very quickly, and that its human attributes, anatomically speaking, appear very early. It would also follow that at some point, the fetus becomes capable of sensation or feeling, and may experience suffering as a result of an abortion.

There are those who maintain that it is the mother's right to use her body as she wishes. For Buddhists, this is an incorrect view, because it implies that the baby is part of the mother's body and belongs to her. The Dharma teaches that the baby is a sentient being with a previous life which, because of its karma, entered that particular woman's womb to be reborn. It is not as if the mother created the baby out of nothing. You could say that a fetus is just borrowing its mother's womb to develop into a full human being.

For Buddhists, therefore, the correct view is that abortion is killing and violates the first precept. It is irresponsible.

STUDENT:

In some cases, a clinical situation may arise where either the fetus has to be aborted or the mother may lose her life. What is the correct course here?