How can Wiccans say "All Life is Sacred" and be Pro-Abortion?

Question

Keep in mind that I am Pagan this is not an attack against Wiccans. It's just that this has always bothered me a bit about Wiccans and other Pagans as well. If all life is sacred then why would an unborn child not count as sacred? Who are we to judge when life starts? If we say that all things including rocks have a living spirit why would that not apply to an unborn child? I do not even follow the Wiccan Rede and yet I would not take the life of an unborn child. I'm just curious as how being Pro-Choice or Pro-Abortion fits into the Wiccan's "Harm None" philosophy?

While I do understand what some people have said the don't believe in "Slavery" or "making a woman have a baby she doesn't want". I still see that as putting one life over others and not seeing all life as sacred. I don't believe in forcing someone to have a baby they don't want but I'm not exactly pro-choice if that makes any sense.

For just a bit more clarification I do not think abortion should be illegal. I do understand the concept of Pro-Choice I just don't agree with it for personal reasons. I'm also not saying people should not be Pro-Choice I was just wondering how it fit into "All Life is Sacred" and "Harm None" for Wiccans. Also if someone would like to explain to me how a crystal can be "living" but a group of living cells is not life I'd like to know why?

Answer 1

This is a very, very good question.

It isn't an easy issue for anyone, regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof. And there are no easy or simple answers. But on the whole, this is how I feel.

As a Wiccan, I believe that life is indeed sacred. That does not prevent me from eating meat, however, or plants that have been harvested to nourish me. I accept death as a part of existence, which is not really related to your question, but at least lets you know that I'm not coming from the position of believing that "Harm None" is an absolute ironclad rule with no subtle implications.

I believe that prior to a certain point in its development, at fetus is NOT a viable separate being -- that it is a clump of cells that has potential, the same way that an acorn has potential to become an oak, but which is not a fully formed human being.

I also believe that a woman should have ultimate authority over her body and the course of her life (which, to me, includes using appropriate methods of birth control to ensure that she has the least possible chance of getting pregnant in the first place). She is an already fully realized human being, and in that sense her will trumps that of the fetus -- for to carry the birth to term and force her to care for an unwanted child is not keeping "Harm None" in mind, but rather the exact opposite. Her mental health will suffer, and the child, unwanted, will grow up in an environment where its own development will probably be adversely affected.

I am pro-choice, in the sense that truly informed choice should be offered to a woman who finds herself in the horribly difficult position of having an unwanted pregnancy. If, after learning about all the options (including adoption), abortion is still her choice, then so be it: let it happen in a licensed medical facility where her health will be safeguarded, preferably prior to the third month of pregnancy.

Answer 2

First of all not all Wiccans are pro-choice. I know plenty of Wiccans who are not.

And second I think you are mistaking pro-choice with pro-abortion. There is a difference. Pro-choice people who are not pro-abortion are against having abortion for themselves and indeed are more for things that would make abortion unnecessary. Pro-abortionists tend to see the procedure as the cure-all for everything.

Also the Rede does not mean harm none. The full text "An it harm none, do as you will" means to follow your true Will, your true purpose, while not encrouching on the true Will's of others intentionally. A person is encouraged to follow their Will whereever it may lead them. If it is in the person's Will to be a parent or birth a child to give it up for adoption then so be. Likewise if it's not in that person's Will and the person decides to do everything possible to prevent being a parent, abortion included.

Also realize that a lot of the Wiccans and Pagans who are pro-choice see an expanded defintion of the Rede, which is to cause the least harm. They focus not only on what might harm the immediate vicinity of their surroundings but think on a larger scale. A pro-choice Pagan might look at the over-population problem on this planet, look at all the harm overpopulation has caused, and weigh that against doing any harm to themselves by aborting the zygote. Looking at it that way you can see why some Pagans are pro-choice.

Also, in keeping with the following their true Will while not encroaching on the Wills of others, they also realize that as such they have no right to dictate how other people should run their lives.

Answer 3

Being pregnant caused me harm, my body couldn't take it. Should I have tried to press ahead with an accidental pregnancy rather than have a bunch of invasive cells removed?

To me an embryo (up to about 8 weeks) certainly isn't an "unborn child", and neither is an early stage foetus. I don't think you can honestly say you are speaking about an "unborn child" until the foetus is viable. I can't remember off-hand at how many weeks the youngest child to survive was born, but even at a month premature a baby potentially faces severe problems.

What I resent is "Pro-Life" arguments which use images of late-term abortions to stir up emotions against any abortion.

Like someone said, nobody wants to have an abortion, but that doesn't mean a woman shouldn't have access to what is sometimes the only realistic option.

Answer 4

I'm not a Wiccan, I'm a Pagan, but I support the legal right to have an abortion for 3 reasons:

1. As a man, I am not qualified to tell a woman what she can or can't do with her uterus.

2. In the case of illness, rape, or incest, it is more humane to terminate a pregnancy than to allow a lifetime of suffering or death for the mother and/or child.

3. I believe all life is sacred, but at the same time I realize, as most Pagans do, that Nature both gives life and takes it. Some children are carried to term and are born, only to die 10 minutes later in the operating room. It is a sad fact of life.

I don't see any conflict with Paganism in taking this stance.

Answer 5

The perspective is, that Wiccans, and most pagans for that matter, tend to refrain from judging others or dictating what others can and cannot do. It's not us, we don't get to say.

What most pro-choice people understand is that the major cause of abortion is desperation, not legality, and if you really want to get rid of abortion you have to have better sex education, access to birth control, and better attitudes in society towards unwed pregnant women and mothers.

Life comes at a cost, and I mean more than just financial. We don't have the right to force someone else to pay it if they feel they can't. It's a sad decision, but many women and girls think it's necessary.

Life at any price is a fine credo, as long as it's you you're speaking of, and not deciding for someone else.

Answer 6

If all life is sacred then it would seem life not-yet-born should be sacred also.Viable life now down to about 21 weeks. That's out of the womb, into intensive care. Not illogical to think of it as a viable lifeform, inside the womb, sometime before that. As medical science advances, possibly to artificial wombs(what will the church think of these ?), who knows at what stage viability will be. At what stage can you call it life ? I have no good answer for you. I prefer to see it as the potential for life.
Good to see pro-choice people stating what we all should feel - nobody likes or wants abortions. No easy answer, but if history is a lesson, sin or no sin, better to save a desperate womens life with medical care than to lose two lives, the babies and hers, by forcing it underground.

Answer 7

You are presumably not actually asking "how" they can believe this--we all know it is possible for people to rationalize anything. A simple answer to "how" could be "they do it by being hypocrites," or "they do it by ignoring the contradiction." But I assume the heart of the question is actually "can there be a consistent moral code that aknowledges the sanctity of all life yet permits abortion?"

The answer is yes. There are many possible ways this could be true. I will point out only one.

Most people draw a distinction between their own sense of morality and their ideas about the law. For instance, many people who never smoke marijuana feel it should be legalized. For another example, many if not most vegtarians would oppose making meat illegal. Vegtarianism is actually very on point--many vegetarians reject meat on moral grounds, yet they would balk at forcibly imposing their moral choice on another. What one personally believes is not always what one supports in the realm of law. Hence the common sentiment "I may not agree with your point of view, but I will fight to the death for your right to express it."

I am not advocating or supporting this point of view. I am merely explaining that it is possible to hold both positions--all life is sacred, yet abortion should be legal--without being self-contradicting.

Answer 8

i am pagan and am pro life. i have a wiccan friend who is pro choice. we have argued about it many times. i really don't understand it either!!

we have agreed to just not discuss it, because we don't have the right to force the other into believing as each other does

when it comes to abortion, i don't think it's only the woman's choice. there are 3 lives involved who should have equal say - the mother, the father and the baby.

Answer 9

I don't know of anyone who is "Pro-Abortion". Pro-Choice means that the decision is made by the individual, instead of being mandated by someone else.

With regards to Pagans or Wiccans and abortion, if they were to choose to have one, it would be a decision between them and their Gods, and THEY would be responsible for accepting and bearing the repercussions of their actions.

Not you. Not me. Not anyone else. Them.

Jesse had a very good point - are you also vegetarian?

Answer 10

here is my view on the issue: I don't think abortion is right. I do think circumstances do arise where that action is reasonable. 1.cases of rape 2. the life of the mother is in danger. I personaly don't think that being about the harm none means harming yourself because in those two cases you are doing more harm than good. plus in cases of rape it was not the persons choice to have sex. so in those two cases I think that that is a option that should be available...I also think there should be some stipulations I think the person should be required by law to seek counsiling after they do it as that it has a large impact psychologicaly after someone does it.