The following post is part of a series of posts, entitled "In Defense of the Family." The purpose of this series is to inform readers of various aspects of the document "The Family: A Proclamation to the World," as well as to encourage readers to consider their own beliefs regarding the purpose of families. Furthermore, I would invite all readers to prayerfully consider the teachings set forth in The Family Proclamation.
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Abortion seems to be a hot topic everywhere we look. With pro-choice marches and pro-life petitions, you can hardly talk about politics, health, or rights without abortion coming up.
The Family Proclamation says, "We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan." As Latter-day Saints, we believe that abortion is like unto murder. It is depriving another child of God of the inherent right to live. As such, abortion is an extremely serious sin and Church members who perform, assist in, pay for, or have an abortion are subject to serious Church discipline. Those who participate in an abortion, or even consider an abortion, will be subject to God's justice at the last day if the sin remains unrepented of.
There are some extremely rare circumstances in which an abortion may be permissible, though only after counseling and sincere prayer, followed by personal revelation that an abortion would be permissible in God's eyes. Those circumstances are rape, incest, extreme danger to the mother's health, or serious birth complications that would not allow the child to live beyond birth.
In cases where the mother does not feel it would be right to raise the child herself, adoption is an infinitely better alternative to abortion.
If you have any questions about the LDS Church's stance on abortion, please visit https://www.lds.org/topics/abortion?lang=eng&old=true.
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