Pro-Life and Pro-Choice: A Buddhist View of Abortion

When I was a much younger man I decided that I wanted to become a monk in the Thai Forest Tradition. I had some responsibilities to honour, though, so I decided that I would not leave to find a monastery which would ordain me in for two years. In the meantime, I decided, I would not become romantically involved with women.

Ah, but then I heard her laughter. Echoing from the next room in the goth cafe where I worked as a late night cook, it stopped my mind for a moment. “Who was that?” I thought. Within a couple of weeks I was practically living the basement suite she occupied in her mother’s house. I was 21, and she 19. Before our first date I told her of my monastic plans, and she told me that she planned to tour the world as an organic farmer. We came to a gentleperson’s agreement that we would become platonic after a year of romance, and part in two years for our respective adventures. Two weeks before the end of our Romance Year she became pregnant by accident. When she found out she was crushed- it was not her desire to become a Mom, and it went against all of our plans.

I told her I would give her two days to decide what she wanted to do before I said anything. As I waited I knew what I wanted but could not ask for: that she carry the child to term and give it up for adoption. This would be an insane request, and I…