ABORTION IS NOT A SIN
A New-Age Look At
An Age-Old Problem
K.B. Welton
A Pandit Press Book
PRINTING HISTORY
First Edition published November 1987
Second Edition, December 2001
All rights reserved. Copyright 1987, 2001 by K.B. Welton
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For information address:
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Printed in the United States of America
ISBN# 0-944361-00-5
* DEDICATION *
To the women of the world
_ God’s own choice for reproductive responsibility
“For the time will come when you will say... Blessed are the wombs which have not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.”
Jesus, The Gospel of Thomas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
CHAPTER 1 - THE FETUS & THE SOUL
When Does Life Begin? 2
Fertility-to-Ruin 4
Doctors On The Developing Fetus 6
Personhood, Soul & Consciousness 7
The Ghost In The Machine 9
Spirit, Soul & Being 12
Other Realms, Other Visions 13
When Are We In The Womb? 15
The Lesson of Life 15
The Breath Of Life 16
If A Fetus Could Communicate? 17
Wrongful Birth? 19
Does Life Begin, Or Arrive, At Conception? 22
What Is Soul? 23
On Dogma, Dissent, &”Madmen” 24
Whose Life Is It Anyway? 27 “May I Come In, Madam” 31
Life Before Life 31
Other Dimensions & Past-Life Memories 34
Near Death Experience 36
On OBE’S & Reincarnation 37
Appointment With A Soul? 41
Mother As Victim 43
Soul Of Our Own? 44
Many A Self? 46
More Words From The Beyond 47
Waiting To Be Born 49
Purgatory & Bardo, Heaven & Hell 50
Cayce On Conception 51
Reincarnation & The Church 52
Who Is It That Dies? 53
On Body & Soul 55
Quickening & Ensoulment 57
CHAPTER 2 - MEDICAL MARVELS & MODERN PROBLEMS
-
We Are Now The Gods
60
Earth Explodes With People
61
The Gravest Issue
62
Degrading Humanity
63
“Abortion Is Instrumental”
64
Why Did God Give Women Brains?
65
The Right Of Every Child
66
Mandatory Motherhood
68
A Mother’s Instinct
68
Abortion Around The World
70
Timing & Effects
71
Younger & Younger “Women”
73
Age Of Sexual Experience
74
The Grim Statistics
76
Teenagers & Birth Control
77
Birth Abuse
78
Fear Is The Father
80
Overcoming Fear
81
The Future Of Adoption
82
Because They Love Children
83
CHAPTER 3 - ABORTION THRU THE AGES
-
Creation & Cruelty
86
Ulterior Motives
88
Child Of Scorn
89
Ancient Forms Of Birth Control
90
Abortion Around The World
92
“The Natural World”
93
Lysistrata Fights Back
95
The Pill, Choice & Sexual Freedom
95
CHAPTER 4 - ENVIRONMENT & MORALITY
-
On “Growth” & “Economics”
101
Myopic Morality
104
Children & Mother Earth
105
The Fundamental Problem
106
Macho Men & Macho Cities
107
More People & More Power
108
Immoral Morality
109
Tragedy In The Commons
110
A French Riddle
112
Big Families Mean Big Trouble
112
Where Will They All Find Good Farms?
113
No Brakes On Population
114
The Pope’s Children
115
“Pro-Life Poverty & Crime
117
Pay-As-You-Go-Babies?
118
Infallible Ruin
119
CHAPTER 5 - RELIGIOUS SECOND OPINIONS
Ignore-The-Situation-Ethics 123
Beethoven Or Hitler? 126
-
Other Churches, Other Views
127
Aborting Freedom & Birthing Guilt
128
Fear Men, Not God
129
Religious Second Opinions
130
The Lost Gospels
132
Infallibility & Excommunication
133
Excommunication & Original Sin
136
The Tree Of Knowledge
138
Your Sin, Or Church Intolerance?
139
Women As Slaves
141
Original Blessing & Enlightenment
142
God, You, & The Kingdom
144
Belief, Lies, & Sin
145
Truth & Circumstances
147
Judging Religions
149
Birth & Immigration-To-Ruin
150
Thou Shalt Not Kill Debate
148
Equality Or Slavery
154
CHAPTER 6 - ABORTION & THE LAW
-
Old Laws & New Tyranny
157
No Soul, No Murder
158
“To Everything There Is A Season”
160
The Law - More Men In Black
161
Does Your Fetus Belong To The State
167
Freedom Or Property?
170
The Bottom Line
171
Natural & Un-Natural Law
173
The Unborn & Your Life
171
On Rights & Obligations
175
“No Woman Can Call Herself Free”
177
Ethical Bankruptcy & Social Viability
179
CHAPTER 7 - MOTHERHOOD, FREEDOM & MATURITY
-
Motherhood as Imprisonment
185
Spiritual Maturity
187
On “ToughLove” & Choice
188
They Pray For Death
189
Motherhood & Maturity
190
Pro-Life “Compassion”
191
On Phony Clinics
192
Right, Wrong, & Righteous
193
On Bibles & Blowhards
190
Catholics For A Free Choice
196
CHAPTER 8 - A WOMAN’S CHURCH
-
The Church On Women
200
A State Of Subjugation
201
Women On The Church
202
Woman-Church - A New Liturgy
203
Abortion & Rites Of Healing
204
Right Motherhood
207
What Quality Of Soul Enters You
209
A Credo For Abortion Rights
210
The Future Of Motherhood
211
|
APPENDIX A - “A Truth’s Day in Court” Garrett Hardin |
214 |
|
APPENDIX B - Organization & Clinic Information |
218 |
|
NOTES |
219 |
FOREWORD
The unwanted and untimely pregnancy brings into sharp focus the issues of life, death, freedom, and responsibilities both person- al and social. For thousands of years, in cultures the world, women made their reproductive decisions in private, utilized natural abor- tifacients, and controlled their motherhood careers without inter- ference from the male of the species.
In contrast, in many a patriarchal culture and era, such repro- ductive freedom and choice has not always been the case. Indeed, Women have had to struggle to rise above the status of property and beasts of burden in order to control their bodies and reproductive lives. Unfortunately, in many locales today this remains the case. In fact, we continue to see inflamed emotions and violent actions by those who seek to impose their will upon others. In short, we still see many a domestic “Taliban” at work in denying women choice and freedom in the most important matters of their life.
Regardless of such interference in our affairs, conception is a highly personal decision - i.e., one requiring quiet reflection to examine all the consequences and responsibilities involved in deciding to give, or not to give, birth.
To be or not to be... that is a mother’s question, and only she should hold the answer - after, one would hope, considering the eth- ical, moral, social, and environmental consequences of childbirth.
The very way we interpret and frame the issues surrounding reproductive freedom and pregnancy termination affect our behav- ior, belief, and state of mind. The issues surrounding pregnancy termination are not only psychological, religious and spiritual in nature but also social and environmental as well. Thus, in addition to covering the legal, social, and environmental dimensions the spiritual area is what this book attempts to illuminate in bringing both old and new religious perspectives to this ageless question.
While the reproductive question often centers around the issue of personal freedom, nevertheless, the answers we embrace arise from our differing perspectives on life, death, religion, morality, and duty. In addition, and regardless of religious views or the spir- itual dimensions of life, in an increasingly overcrowded world -
Foreword
i.e., one in which nature is trampled by continuing expansion of the human species - parenthood now takes on a new, and extremely important, meaning. Today, our individual rights include responsi- bilities for the broader environmental and social concerns and cri- sis we face.
Indeed, no woman is an island in today’s overcrowded world. Birth decisions have impacts today and into the future. They affect a mother’s life, a child’s future, the condition of our communities and the very world we share in common.
It is my hope this book will provide a new frame of reference for young girls and women faced with motherhood decisions. More than ever we not only have an obligation to protect and restore a woman’s right to reproductive freedom but, as well, a responsibility to protect our planet, and our children’s world, from the ravages of overpopulation and the tragedy of premature and irresponsible parenthood.
K.B.W.
1
CHAPTER 1
- THE FETUS & THE SOUL -
“The soul within the fetus cannot be destroyed by any kind of abortion.”1
Seth
To fully explore the questions surrounding “life” in the womb, we must begin with a look at what happens at conception within a woman’s body. Understanding exactly what “it” is inside the womb, in the earliest stages of pregnancy, is surely relevant and vital to any discussion of the wider meaning of abortion - i.e., the termination of a pregnancy.
Firstly, we know that once a month, in the process of ovula- tion, a tiny bundle of cells - the “egg” - moves slowly down the fal- lopian tube and into the uterus. These human eggs are microscop- ic in size - about 130 microns. This tiny bundle also has a very brief “life” and will soon disintegrate and die if not fertilized by a male sperm cell.
Fertilization, or the penetration of a woman’s egg by a male sperm cell, is accomplished by a single spermatozoa in the first, or possibly second, day after reaching the fallopian tube. When a man’s army of tiny sperm finally reach the egg, only one of mil- lions need penetrate its center and join with a female cell nucleus. A meeting and fusing of these two cells from mother and father cre- ates a “zygote.” Thus begins the mysterious creation process and long journey involving preparation of a “vessel” to receive and contain life and soul.
After fertilization, the process of cell division begins accord- ing to instructions received from the genetic material of both moth- er and father. At this early stage, we must inquire here whether, during the process of cell division immediately after conception, we have anything tantamount to human life? Is there a “person” or “soul” present at this stage? Regardless, should a tiny bundle of replicating cells gain legal precedence over a mother’s life, rights, and duties?
2 Abortion Is Not A Sin
Before a fertilized egg even enters the womb, the tiny cluster
of cells may drift for several days until adhering to the wall of the uterus. If, for any reason, attachment to the uterine wall does not occur at this point, the fertilized egg or embryo exits the uterus and pregnancy is naturally aborted - a very common occurrence.
On the other hand, if successful attachment to the uterine wall occurs, it is then only possible to detect a pregnancy approximate- ly three weeks after conception at the earliest. At four weeks, the fetus is only one-fifth on an inch long. At eight weeks, or two months, the fetal material is only one-inch in length. After three months the undeveloped fetus is only 3.5 inches in length and weighs a mere 1.5 ounces.
Studies confirm that over 90% of all medical abortions occur before the first ten weeks of gestation - when this nucleus of cells and fetal tissue is still very small, relatively unformed, and thor- oughly incapable of life outside the womb.
It is also a fact of life that Mother Nature herself, for her own mysterious reasons, aborts an estimated one-half of all pregnancies at various times during pregnancy. In many such cases, even after the “conceptus” has bound itself to the lining of the uterus, the embryo may not survive and become dislodged. This event results in a case of natural and spontaneous abortion, often referred to as miscarriage.
In sum, the number of pregnancies that are terminated due to a woman’s choice is then small in comparison to Mother Nature’s own unpredictable program of natural birth control and pregnancy prevention.
WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN? -
“In the early stages of conception, the immortal self is not present; nor in the early stages of fetal growth is it to be found in the mother’s womb.”2
James Perkins
When does life begin we ask? Never, say biologists. In this respect scientists agree with many sages and mystics who reveal life does not “begin” at conception, nor even end at death.
The Fetus & The Soul 3
For many scientists the very origin of the universe, and pre- sumably life-consciousness, is thought to have occurred with a “big bang” phenomenon billions of years ago. In this view, a “begin- ning” of what we might call time/consciousness/soul is thought to have occurred - if, in fact, there is a “beginning” at all which is not also an end to something else in an endless regress. In general, this view reflects our need to both find, and have, a beginning of some sort - whether via a cosmic explosion or at the hands of a supreme being, from which many believe they are somehow separated and not a part thereof.
Regardless of any “beginning” theory you may embrace, every cell gets its life from a preceding cell in a living continuum. On a minute and relatively immaterial level these atomic building blocks of our bodies are, as the Second Law of Thermodynamics states, essentially deathless - i.e., they only change form and location, or cellular hosts, in a life-to-life process we call birth and death. .
In this way, life then, in the form of cellular (or may we call it soul-ular?) information, is passed on from generation to generation. As the song says, and scientists reiterate, we are stardust.
In any case, if we choose to call the genetic information stored in our cellular blueprints “life,” then every month a woman creates potential life in her ovaries. Throughout her reproductive career a woman may produce 10,000 eggs, or “unborn children,” in her ovaries - of which as many as 400 may ultimately reach the womb in her lifetime.
Without sexual abstinence or contraception, a woman is then capable of producing a baby every month of her post-puberty, adult, life. Individually speaking, for most women, fertility is not then the problem. Instead, our ability to produce babies, regardless of intentions or life circumstances, is the problem with which we must deal.
In addition to this incredible fertility of young girls and mature women, the male of our species is capable of producing approxi- mately 250 million sperm in one ejaculation! Out of this swiftly advancing horde, only a single sperm is needed to fertilize an egg and begin conception. In short, we have an overwhelming abun- dance of raw potential. Clearly, Mother Nature invented both fecundity and overkill.
4 Abortion Is Not A Sin
Nevertheless, all this raw material potential in cellular “blue-
print” form is not exactly what we may call human “life” as we know it. If we choose to do so, however, we can also imagine the possibilities and problems arising from a modern alchemist’s petrie dish - i.e., wherein multiple eggs from a woman can be fertilized and armies of beings created, or only the “best” picked to be implanted in a uterus. With the latter, the remaining microscopic cultures, or conceptuses, are disposed of as only one fertilized egg is necessary to create a new being.
In this new age of genetics, cloning, and ability to sustain life we have truly become co-creators of life with both god-like powers and responsibilities. Whether in womb or petrie dish, our procre- ative powers and responsibility, and all the myriad social and envi- ronmental consequences implicit therein, deserve our attention before the fact.
Aside from this amazing potential for petrie dish conception and genetic manipulation, the possibilities to conceive naturally are limited only by a woman’s ability to give birth once every year or two. Even with this natural potential, however, one “macho” man consorting with several women can smother a neighborhood in children if left without devices or restraint.
By design then, both men and women (or Mother and Father Nature) are incredibly fertile. Depending on our state of affairs this incredible fertility can be either a blessing or curse. Unlike cen- turies ago, today our problems stem from the fact nature is still per- manently switched on and, other than our own good judgment, there is no stemming this tide.
In the “natural” world of our ancient past, where survival was often precarious at best, and infant mortality extremely high, this incredible fertility was once essential. Millenniums later, due to medical miracles and intervention in nature’s control of fertility, as well as our growing land and resource limitations, it is quite anoth- er matter. In sum, fertility has become the problem, and we must either control it or see that nature, and the world we leave our chil- dren, is ruined beyond repair and all prior, better, worlds rendered unrecoverable.
The Fetus & The Soul 5
FERTILITY-TO-RUIN -
“One hundred women are not worth a single testicle.”3
Confucius (551-479 B.C.)
If we choose to look at fertility from the perspective of “pro- life” morality, are we to expect women to nurture every “potential life” and birth all 400 of her eggs in her reproductive lifetime? Are we to expect, as some suggest, it is the duty of women to remain open to birth every year - for thirty-five years - to avoid killing potential life? Must every fertilized egg become a chicken, or human being?
If this were the case, what can we say of Mother Nature’s own miscarriage “crimes” against all potential life she makes possible?
Clearly, when the behavior and morality of our patriarchal past do not jibe with the realities of our time, we allow outdated dogma to produce its destructive conclusion in a world out of balance.
In our brave new world of “synthetic” children, should bio- chemists be obligated to “hatch” all the eggs fertilized in an attempt to give infertile women the best chance to have a baby? This appears to be the logic of many who would impress their own morality upon scientists today, just as they have done upon women for centuries.
Speaking of potential life, we know that of the approximately
100 trillion cells in the human body, almost every one has a com- plete set of blueprint-information or DNA to construct a complete human being - and so the potential to clone life from a single cell. Following pro-life logic, if we damage any cells, even by scraping our skin, brushing our teeth, or removing a cancerous tumor, we are killing potential life. As Garrett Hardin noted, however, if we destroy the blueprints of a house, can we say we are destroying the house?
There is no question “potential life” is nearly infinite, espe- cially in an age where artificial techniques for creation of life are becoming commonplace. If we apply a “right to life” to all this potential life there is no end to social and environmental chaos.
A perfect illustration, and brilliant satire upon, this very situ- ation is contained in Hardin’s brilliant essay “Truth’s day in Court”
6 Abortion Is Not A sin
(Appendix A) As Hardin stated, the question cannot be when life begins because no human has ever witnessed the beginning, if there ever was such an event. The essential question is when does human life begin?
We might also conclude that all but the most neglectful of mothers are “pro-life.” Well within the meaning of this phrase is a mother’s concern for the quality of her own life and family envi- ronment as well as that of any current or future children. Firstly, she is concerned about a conscious determination of her own life and that of the children she may already have and, secondly, for any she may bring forth at a later time.
In any case, being “pro-life” is not a matter of simply giving in to a lack of control. Rather, in today’s world, it must be re- defined as taking control of, and responsibility for, one’s reproduc- tive life and the very condition of our world. Regardless of how we might define this contentious term, however, the real question remains where, when, and under what circumstances, will a woman choose to become a mother?
In the earliest stages of pregnancy, when fertilization happens and cell division begins, the blueprints and molecular machinery of our genetic information are activated. At this stage, can we say with any degree of certainty that a “human being” or soul is now present or encapsulated within fetal material, at this point in cellu- lar growth? Is there a soul, or consciousness, in existence and pre- sent “in” the mass of molecules at this juncture? Or, is the soul/consciousness still elsewhere and separate from fetal material at this time?
When then does this bundle of cellular information become life, a soul, a human being? Again, regardless of answers we might propose, what are to be the rights of one’s own replicating cells ver- sus the rights of a fully-formed mother in these early stages of preg- nancy? Where is the person, soul, mind, and consciousness of the new being? These are but a few of the many questions which need far more discussion and revelation in the on-going debate over abortion.
DOCTORS ON THE DEVELOPING FETUS -
The Fetus & The Soul 7
“A fertilized egg has become implanted in the uterus at the end of two weeks. At this point, the product of concep- tion begins to receive nourishment from the mother and is called an embryo. Six weeks later the various organ systems are well defined, and the embryo progresses to the stage of a fetus... For the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, the fetus is completely dependent on maternal nutritional support and is non-viable if separated from the mother through a mis- carriage or accident. Nowhere in the world would such a fetus be listed in the vital statistics as a still born infant. And a fetus lost in a spontaneous miscarriage during this period is not treated as a human being. No mini-caskets are manu- factured, no funeral or burial is conducted. The hospital pathologist then disposes of the fetus as he would any other nonviable tissue. This universal procedure has never excit- ed any comment from the medical, legal or religious com- munities. Morally and legally, then, the performance of an abortion in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy is not to be equated with the taking of a human life.”*4
Dr. Alex Gerber
“The cerebral cortex and the synoptic connections are not sufficiently developed to provide the biological basis of per- son-hood until the thirty-first week of gestation. The pres- ence of electrical activity is common to virtually all cells and cannot be considered meaningful `brain waves’ before thirty-one weeks.”5
Dr. Dominick Purpura
“I don’t think a 24-week fetus can ever have an indepen- dent existence. Fetuses weighing less than 35 ounces are often born with serious defects: learning disabilities, poor vision and impaired hearing. Technological advances have been keeping them alive, not keeping them intact, and the heartbreak is staggering.”6
Dr. Michael Burnhill
“If we had an aborted baby below the age of viability that was technically live born, we’ed put it in an Isolette (incu- bator), keep it warm, give it oxygen and observe it. We would not actively intervene to protect the baby from dying.
8 Abortion Is Not A Sin
To place tubes in a fetus that has no chance of survival, is abusive. It is subjecting the fetus to an experiment... To me, that is cruel.”7
Dr. Richard Stavis
PERSONHOOD, SOUL & CONSCIOUSNESS -
“I know that no soul is ever destroyed. I know that when a soul chooses to be born, it will be born. The soul is wise and and would not inhabit a body if it were not to come to term.”8
Emmanuel
Debate over abortion, and exactly when “personhood” begins, has often centered around a one-life-is-all-there-is argument, and presence or absence of brainwaves in the fetus. Implicit within these “pro-life” arguments is the fact that the personhood, legal standing, and responsibility of a living mother no longer counts... this despite the fact there is no argument over the reality of her brainwaves.
In any case, debate over a fetus’s ability to feel pain, and valid- ity of assumptions as portrayed in the anti-abortion film The Silent Scream rest on unproven assumptions about fetal awareness. Doc- tors have long argued premature infants could not feel pain due to the fact their nervous systems had not fully formed. For this rea- son, reflexive fetal movement may not by synonymous with “con- scious” experience of pain. It appears this is the case with unde- veloped embryonic tissue in the early stages. However, we know for certain a woman feels pain when forced to complete a pregnan- cy against her wishes. Of this there is no doubt.
Further, during fetal development, different parts of the brain grow at different rates. In the early months, midbrain and spinal cord are forming first, followed by the pons and medulla. Devel- opment of the cerebral hemisphere - the supposed seat of cognitive functions - lags behind more elementary areas of the brain. At this early stage, any reflexive activity represents responses from the lower brain regions and not the undeveloped cerebral cortex.
In any case, can there be a “person” without both a function-
The Fetus & The Soul 9
ing and fully-developed brain? Is there a person, or soul, inhabit- ing the undeveloped body, brain, and nervous system? Is a soul, or animating spirit and intelligence, residing “in” the embryo from the date of conception, or at some later stage, perhaps even at birth? Is it possible for a full spectrum of human awareness to reside within an undeveloped fetus?
These are the very questions which have troubled both the- ologians and philosophers for millenniums. Nevertheless, we explore these concerns as they lead us into the metaphysical realms of our mysterious existence, and into regions where “objective” and object-oriented science may never penetrate. Regardless, there are other plausible theories, revelations of mystics and seers, and new realities which help explain the phenomenon of human life, and which present credible answers to these ancient questions and concerns.
Obviously, in cultures dominated by a rigid scientific-mate- rialism, exactly such metaphysical explanations - of a fetal-soul- spirit phenomena - may differ radically from what is generally accepted or believed. Nevertheless, they may represent the deeper truth of the matter and cannot be ignored. It is these areas we will explore here to illuminate alternate “truths” about life and death, and enlarge our perspective about the consequences and morality of abortion.
Further, when the fundamental freedoms and responsibilities of motherhood are challenged, it is extremely important we not only attempt to redefine the meaning of life in the womb but, also, redefine the role of motherhood in an increasingly overcrowded world.
In sum, with a pregnancy termination, we cannot adequately discuss what is believed to be a “taking of life” without first explor- ing the science of the soul to define “life” in the womb in a most comprehensive fashion. Putting aside the questions of viability for the moment, it is important we explore the nature of life and possi- bility of consciousness residing “in” the fetus from conception to birth.
THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE -
10 Abortion Is Not A Sin
“The Self does not die when the body dies. And Concealed in the heart of all beings lies the atma, the spirit, the self; smaller than the smallest atom, greater than the greatest spaces.”9
Katha Upanishad
Only recently have western scientists delved into the once hid- den depths of nature to discover the core building blocks of our physical beings and material world. Unfortunately, in the western world, we have yet to explore being and interiority as mystics and enlightened sages in other cultures have done thru the ages. With perspectives from West and East, however, we may come closer to the truth of our existence.
Despite our now tracing the paths of sub-atomic particles, and reconstructing the very building blocks of nature, these same achievements have not led to finding the essence of our physical bodies, nature of being, or locus of consciousness. Rather, we have simply re-learned what sages and mystics thru the ages have dis- covered - i.e., that all “matter” simply disappears and “dies” into more subtle waves of energy.
In effect our physical bodies are but a mask covering the ener- gy-electro-magnetic nature of life and being. We are not material, we are energy and consciousness itself. The “physical” stuff of life is then, at its core, little more than energy in motion - i.e., an inde- finable space and a sea of consciousness only slightly interrupted by the presence of physical particles, perhaps driven and arranged by consciousness itself.
Despite our many attempts we have not been able to pinpoint, either in body or brain, the precise location of the “ghost in the machine.” We also confuse finding memory storage locations “in” the brain with finding consciousness in, rather than around, our grey matter.
Like their mystic counterparts, scientists from disparate disci- plines today theorize that our discrete unit of consciousness, or life, is only part of a larger energy-field encompassing, in effect, the entire universe. In this quantum world even the flapping of the wings of a delicate butterfly is said to resonate across the cosmos and impact all existence
The Fetus & The Soul 11
What does all this have to do with abortion? Surely, various definitions of “life” and “death” are implicit in our many religions and moralities. If those who oppose abortion define personhood and fetal life with narrow, one culture, one-book, and one-god pos- tulates then the result is likely to lead to self-righteous crusades against the rights and religions of others - and in particular, the rights and responsibilities of women.
Surely those who have a different perspective, and who favor a right to abortion, also have this same freedom. They too have a right to define human life from less rigid, male-driven, and more inclusive perspectives to allow a larger, more multicultural, approach to these questions.
What we all have in common, however, is thatt we experience our “I-ness” from a limited human perspective and from sense organs limited to measuring a small bit and realm of reality. As a result of this limited perspective we then perceive and believe we are discrete, isolated, and separated beings. At the most basic level of existence, however, this is not the case. As sages revealed long ago, and scientists are again finding today, there is no such thing as discreteness, or separation from the whole. Indeed, all is intercon- nected within an energy-vibratory continuum spanning the entire universe.
In short, it appears we are here, there, and everywhere con- nected by energies communicating on a sub-atomic, and sub-sen- sory, level of reality. It is now apparent we are more like intercon- nected radio sets tuned in to the same frequencies - i.e., of both stored and evolving thought-programs which inter-penetrate our common environment.
Today, our consciousness, being, or spirit is said to be akin to “software” radiated to our individual brains from within a collec- tive hologram of a vast universal consciousness. Regardless of analogy or imagery, the point is the brain is not the software, and life content, but only the hardware. For this reason, our brains are not necessarily the site and seat of consciousness but, instead, only a “vessel” for receiving and processing subtle waves of information about our environment and greater selves.
So what we call life, or consciousness, is not then necessarily located “in” the undeveloped fetal brain, or even a fully-developed
12 Abortion Is Not A Sin
human body - as opposed to being an energy-envelope surrounding and utilizing the physical body. Exactly this state of affairs is what many seers and sensitives see and reveal to the less endowed.
To further illustrate this reality, and dilemma for scientists, we find in Michael Talbot’s Beyond The Quantum a review of findings which both reshape our understanding of the “material” world, and point to the deeper nature and context of human beings. Indeed, Talbot cites the work of John Lorber - a British neurologist work- ing with anencephalics, or “brainless” individuals - whose neural tube never developed properly. What is startling about his discov- eries is that several of his subjects did not show any evidence of possessing a cerebral cortex - the part of the brain believed to be the seat of consciousness! In other words, despite this brain-less con- dition, they appeared to be normal.10
Other research revealed a university student at Sheffield Uni- versity with a larger-than-normal head. Intrigued, Lorber request- ed a CAT scan (a new brain-scanning technique) only to discover he had “virtually no brain.” Instead, it was revealed there was only a extremely thin layer of brain cells, a millimeter or so thick, and the rest of the skull cranium was filled with cerebrospinal fluid. Nevertheless, he had an I.Q. of 126, and an honors degree in math- ematics!11
Lorber has apparently gone on to discover other people who function normally but do not possess a “brain” as such. In view of these findings, where are “we” then? Where is mind? If there are those who exist without brains in their bodies, where is mind and consciousness? Is there one, or perhaps other “locations” for life and consciousness?
If the essential “I” is not in the brain, are we to be found “in” the body at all? Are we then “in” the ether or energy field sur- rounding the body? With regard to our topic here, if we are not “in” the fetus prior to birth, when does “ensoulment” take place? If we are more than prisoners in our “material” bodies, and perhaps far more free-ranging spirits, what exactly do we “kill” or abort in the early trimesters?
SPIRIT, SOUL & BEING -
The Fetus & The Soul 13
“From certain experiences that I have had of leaving the body while in the isolation tank, I would say that the spirit contains the being that is contained in the brain.”12
John Lily, Scientist
No matter how we try we cannot confine ourselves to the body alone. Apparently, this out-of-body intelligence, spirit, soul, light, or “morphic resonance” is at work in sensing and shaping our phys- ical world. In short, the ghost may not be in the machine after all.
The revolutionary message of the new physics, and old mys- ticism, is that we are not the body, and we are not the fetus. We are much more than the physical building blocks of matter called body. Further, even the exact location of “mind” remains in doubt. Our consciousness, or sense of I-ness we experience as ourselves, is not then located in one solid location like the human brain. Instead, it appears we are within and around more like a series of ever more subtle energy-envelopes of varying frequency and vibration.
We may thus be anywhere and everywhere due to the ability of sub-atomic particles to encode and transfer experience, and com- municate across vast distances - at virtually the same time. Indeed, it appears we influence and communicate with one another thru time and over great distances, on levels of which we are only dimly aware.
So we might well say we are within and without what we take to be our physical bodies. We are not then confined, or defined, by the body or fetus as the case may be. Further, we are the sum of not only our varied genetic information - passed on from a multi- tude of ancestors - but largely unconscious beings of limited sen- tience awash in cellular and soul-ular memories of past, present, and future. We are information stored in light waves which con- stantly intersect with our personal world.
The point is we are not separate and discrete but, rather, nebu- lous, ephemeral, joined, indiscrete, local and universal, and effec- tively made eternal by the findings of modern physics - much of which validates the revelations of mystics coming to us down thru the centuries. In short, we find “we” are here, there, and every- where.
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Clearly, both life and death are curious and, from our limited
perspectives, nearly indefinable phenomena. Life remains as mys- terious as ever, and this applies to the nature of fetal life as we will see. Science is continually cutting the hologram of our existence into smaller and smaller pieces only to find the whole image of our being still remaining in each minute particle.
In The Unknown Spirit, french physicist Jean Charon asserts all of the electrons in our universe constitute the world of spirit, and all these electrons, together and individually, are the location of the “I” of our existence.13 These electron particles - the most abundant in the universe with nearly a hundred billion of them in each of our cells - have been in existence since the beginning of time.
It is these electrons that are responsible for all the underlying electro-magnetic functioning of body and brain. These basic “units” of nature are the quintessential building blocks of body and soul.
OTHER REALMS, OTHER VISIONS -
“You could compare these units, simply for an analogy, to the invisible breath of consciousness. They are emitted by the cells. They are electromagnetic... following their own patterns of positive and negative charge. The units are just beneath the range of physical matter... consciousness actu- ally produces these emanations. Being just beyond the range of matter, having a structure but a nonphysical one, and being of a pulsating nature, they combine the qualities of a unit and a field... They will draw other units to them, for example, according to the intensity of the emotional tone of the particular consciousness at any given “point.” Certain intensities and certain positions of polarity between and among these units and great groupings of these units com- press energy into solid form (resulting in matter). Units are the forms that experience takes when directed by the inner self. Matter is the shape of your dreams. Your dreams, thoughts, and emotions are literally transformed into physi- cal matter purposefully by this inner self. Buildings appear to be made of rock or stone or steel. They are actually oscil- lating, ever-moving, highly charged gestalts of EE units.
The Fetus & The Soul 15
They are solidified emotions. The powers of consciousness are clearly not understood, then. And each individual has his part to play in projecting these EE units into physical reality. Therefore, physical reality can be legitimately described as an extension of the self, as much as the physi- cal body is a projection of the inner self.”14
Seth (Jane Roberts)
We are more powerful and ubiquitous than we know. The idea the body is the sum total of our conscious self is itself an illusion, and the result of seeing only a small portion of the entire electro- magnetic spectrum with our limited senses.
It seems these elemental and ubiquitous “units,” which Seth speaks of, are capable of interacting with one another at a distance, communicate with one another across time and space, and regard- less of whether they happen to be within the same human body. Information and experience is then stored in the location and spin state of photons in electronic space similar to the way memory is stored in computers.
These memories, whether in personal or collective form, may also come to us from the very dawn of time. They are stored in our cellular structure and accessed when consciousness and vibration rate are capable of “listening” and unlocking the atomic record of existence. Even when there is no cellular structure called a human being, the electrons apparently retain a hologram of life-memory information and may then affix/transplant such information to the being-soul’s physical structure.
Exactly such research and revelation is leading us into a New Age of understanding our greater being, as well as “back” into an ageless, timeless, and perhaps simultaneous past-present-future.
In our discussion of pregnancy termination, if we remain pure materialists we will likely to see the totality of “life” in the physi- cal plasma of the body alone. On the other hand, in the viewpoint of mystics, metaphysicians, and modern physicists we cannot find life so encapsulated “in” cells, body, or brain but, instead, within a far larger context both surrounding, and animating, physical matter.
Other considerations aside, our beliefs and attitudes toward ter- mination of a pregnancy are likely shaped by how we view the
16 Abortion Is Not A Sin
nature of our world, being, and illusive phenomena of “life” and
“death.”
In the western world, as a result the work of scientists and the revelations of mystics and “channeled” intelligences, we are only beginning to confront the fact that death, as we have understood it, does not exist in a larger, more inclusive, notion of life. The reali- ty of an immortal soul or consciousness independent of body mate- rial is then a relevant issue not often addressed in abortion debates.
While evidence that terminating a pregnancy does any harm to the immaterial and deathless soul is difficult to establish, so also is evidence of Papal infallibility, or the truth of Catholic and funda- mentalist doctrines, where life supposedly begins at conception, and ends at death.
WHEN ARE WE IN THE WOMB? -
“There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”15
I Corinthians 15:44
In discussing the presence of “life” in the womb and the mean- ing of abortion, how many can say with any certainty when a soul inhabits the body? According to many ancient traditions, the soul is the energizing or “animating” force which inhabits the being cre- ated by the coming together of man and woman. This soul, or ener- gizing force, is not then necessarily emanating or emerging from the confines of a fetal “body.”
New evidence from many hypnosis studies, as well as out-of- body and near-death experiences - about our spiritual odyssey thru a process of birth, death, and reincarnation - reinforces these views and provides us with new perspectives on “life” in the womb.
THE LESSON OF LIFE -
“Woe to you, for you have not learned the lesson that they rise from death.”16
Jesus, Gospel of Thomas
The Fetus & The Soul 17
In the west, what do we know by cultural tradition and histo- ry of any “Life before Life,” or of what other more ancient tradi- tions have discovered/perceived as the soul’s great number of lives lived in different bodies and different times? To date, the answer is little.
Regardless, there is a growing body of experiment, and many fascinating cases which strongly suggest we are not simply bodies but, rather, living electrical phantoms inhabiting our bodies within a material plane. In fact, a new generation of physicists have become the new mystics today, and have embraced this non-mate- rial and energy-like essence of every living thing in the universe.
As for what happens at “death,” other sources reveal the ener- gy-body-soul, or bundle of electrons with a unique set of spin states that we sense to be a unique and isolated self and which simply exits our earthbound body. The body begins to decay due to the diminishment, and then loss, of a unifying force-field - i.e., the very stuff of life. Having lost this life-giving energy-force, the cells of the body begin to disintegrate and we “die” - upon and within this particular spectrum of existence as matter and mind continually change form, state, and location.
As for life in this plane of existence, when do we inhabit the womb or fetus? Is it from the moment of conception, when cells and DNA from mother and father come together to multiply and prepare a new body? Or, is it likely later when a fetal body is more developed and substantially human? Or, even at the moment of birth?
Is the answer to this question perhaps locked inside “our” elec- tron memories? Is there only one answer?
In sum, if the soul does not inhabit the fetus until just before birth, how can we say we are taking a life in aborting a fetus prior to this point? If a soul is not in the womb, how can we equate abor- tion with murder or death, and loss of all future incarnations - par- ticularly in a world where no matter ever dies but simply changes form, as water to steam? These are the questions which few both- er to address or attempt to answer, precisely because, in their own experience and worldview, they are “objectively” unanswerable. But are they?
18 Abortion Is Not A Sin
THE BREATH OF LIFE -
“God built the human body from the sand of earth. Then God blew the breath of life into his nose. So Man became a living soul.”17
Genesis II:7
Even the Bible, in the book of Genesis, tells us life is a two- stage process, the building of the body and then infusion of the soul to animate and bring “life” to the fetus. Similarly, Jesus tells his disciples in John 6:63 that “it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.”18
For many, one essential question surrounding abortion might well be this: Once our bodies are forming, or substantially built in the womb, when does the “breath” or soul of life arrive in what was once called a the “quickening?”
Today, we may find more answers than ever before to many such questions. Most importantly, no one answer or belief may be “right” in all cases, or considered moral when used to deny the rights of others to their own understanding, truth, and perspective - this being a clear form of religious discrimination when belief becomes law.
IF A FETUS COULD COMMUNICATE -
“Hey, I don’t want to go where I’m not wanted.... I’ll gladly wait for the right time and circumstances...
Have me when your life is in order and you are ready, not when you just happen to get it on in the back seat of a car... I don’t want to be a burden...
I want the best deal I can get, I’ll wait thank you....
If you don’t care enough to do the very best for me, forget it...
I would like not to be an “accident” forced on somebody... Take your time, There is no rush. I have all the time in the world...
Don’t ruin your life on my account, there’s plenty of time ahead...
The Fetus & The Soul 19
I don’t want to think that my mother sacrificed her life for mine...
I want to be wanted, and have my parents want me and be
able to provide for me.... Why else would I come? To hurt them? What good does that do me?”18
Is it so hard for us, the living-here-in-this-dimension, to imag- ine exactly such responses from soul-beings in the beyond? Is heaven so bad, and impulse for rebirth so frantic, that discarnate souls are rushing headlong into any birth opportunity regardless of circumstances or outcome? Are souls fighting over available wombs in the netherworld, anxiously awaiting any energy-wave- love conception transaction to ride into a womb without even a mother’s conscious permission?
Or, might we assume there is a more orderly and thoughtful process involved in a descent into matter? Is that process also linked with the mother’s thought processes? Lastly, can she not change her mind?
Understandably, the comments of such not-yet people would likely vary with the circumstances of their incarnation but, never- theless, might well be as we have imagined here.
Regardless of whether any new-old souls hold such views in their between-life estates, in the attempt to ban a woman’s right to abortion, why is it no one asks the soul - who eventually will reside in the fetus - how they might relate to a mother’s decision to ter- minate a pregnancy? Is the answer so obvious, so dogmatic? Could there not be classic elements of Christian charity within the unborn indicating a great range of sympathy and latitude for the plight of a reluctant mother - particularly those who did not intend conception and pregnancy?
Simply because we ourselves cannot hear such answers from the beyond, or from the confines of the womb as the case may be, does not mean we should not ask these same questions and imag- ine the responses. In our exploration of personhood and “life” in the womb, imagine for a moment if a developing fetus could speak... to the mother.
Aside from wondering about the where and when of pre-natal existence, may we not also speculate on the how and the why of its circumstance, and reasons for appearance at a particular conception
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event? In any case, were it able to be heard, we might inquire what a new soul would say about the conditions of its new, or next, exis- tence? If a fetus-soul were conscious and in control during con- ception, would he/she have chosen a particular mother’s situation? Would he/she have picked you? Would he/she have picked now as the time? Would he/she be considerate and understanding, one soul to another, or desirous of your womb regardless of circumstances and mother’s feelings?
In short, does a “new” being then have a choice or simply an
“unconscious” propensity to invade the mother’s womb?
Looking at the conception event from other cosmologies and viewpoints, we must inquire here whether a “new” being has not picked the time and circumstances of its birth - with foreknowledge of the future and probable outcome of the pregnancy? Could not an abortion also be part of an incarnating soul’s karmic fore-knowl- edge and design?
Or, is the incarnation simply a result of an unconscious affin- ity - wherein souls are either pulled or racing headlong to a con- ception event like sperm to an egg? Further, where did a soul, or “new” consciousness, come from? Is there previous relation to mother, or father? Or neither?
Indeed, how do we know these “new” souls are not conscious, or completely unconscious, of their circumstances until a birth event? Again, is life only “in” the confines of physical matter or, also, within a free-floating electron consciousness? Are all souls, or only an advanced few, aware of their predicament and capable of choosing parents and incarnation? Are they aware of their/your sit- uation? Is this the way you would want your parents to conceive you the next time around? Does a real home, a ready and waiting world, await this new soul? What exactly are we doing either to, or for, this new life by continuing a pregnancy against our better judg- ment?
What might a tiny bundle of cells, as “hovering” soul or fetus, conclude and state if conscious and able to communicate or be per- ceived? What might their responses be? Clearly, the questions and answers here are endless. Regardless of answers, or a soul’s aware- ness and karma, should an incarnating soul’s fetal rights ever supercede a living mother’s human, and here-now, rights?
The Fetus & The Soul 21
In sum, if there are those who presume their own religion and morality give them the right to speak for others and pregnant women, why cannot we presume to speak for the well-being and moral perspective of a fetus/soul - according to our own religious or scientific perspectives and cultural beliefs? When it comes to terminating a pregnancy and deciding your own reproductive future, the beliefs and dogma of others often prevent you from exercising this very right and duty.
WRONGFUL BIRTH? -
“We [the authors of the study] concluded that unwanted children are most likely to commit crimes as adults, and those most likely to give birth to unwanted children are teenagers, minorities, and the poor. Those are also the peo- ple most likely to choose abortion.”19
Steven Levitt & John Donohue, Legalized Abortion & Crime
Aside from speculation about the other-worldly dimensions of life, problems with pregnancy remain here and now... not to men- tion later on. In dealing with here-now, as well as ongoing prob- lems of child care, we must inquire whether the children of young, unprepared, and immature teenagers will not be deprived and abused early on, as well as later in their lives? Will they grow up to ask why their mothers did not prevent or postpone birth until cir- cumstances were better? Will these children later blame their par- ents for their mistakes and lack of courage in not postponing child- birth? Will society continue to pay the costs of such “mistakes”and environment-crushing new billions of beings?
As the Levitt-Donohue study suggests, both the personal and societal consequences of less than optimum births are considerable. In fact, they concluded that legalization of abortion in the early
1970’s contributed to a drop in crime. Research revealed many women whose children would have been most likely to commit crimes as young adults instead chose to abort their pregnancies. As a result, a disproportionately small number of would-be criminals
22 Abortion Is Not A Sin
were born in the 1990’s - a period with an “unexplained” drop in crime as a result of the greater availability of abortion services in the 1970’s, after Roe v. Wade.20
This study, and others, reveal that unwanted children are most likely to commit crimes as adults, and those most likely to give birth to unwanted children are teenagers, minorities and the poor.
In view of this reality, we must ask whether a soul/fetus would be thankful for birth under any circumstances? Or, given a choice, would they prefer a second chance in a better place and time? Again, how do we know a new-old soul may not be picking the cir- cumstances of its birth or have foreknowledge of an abortion - assuming “ensoulment” has occurred? Is a fortunate and conscious birth only within the domain of advanced and “enlightened” beings, with the help of chosen parents, or is it an ability within everyone’s greater self?
If we put ourselves in the position of a new soul, would we not prefer to come into this world in a secure environment, via two people in love consciously coming together for the purpose of giv- ing birth - to a child that will be greeted with love and respect in a caring and conserved world? Can we not say this is vastly prefer- able to being forcibly yanked out of a peaceful limbo into a cold and cruel world under the worst of circumstances, and forced into the arms of reluctant “parents” only to harbor deep-seated anger and later, however unconsciously, seek revenge for our wrongful birth?
Who would seek an inferior, or against the will of the mother, birth assuming they were conscious of their predicament? Or, is assuming the worst of births part of the cosmic school we must all attend? In any case, should not the mother, the school marm, deter- mine when class begins?