Question: Would you like to say something about these general abortion laws? Is abortion spiritually acceptable?

Sri Chinmoy: First, let us start with birth control. From the highest spiritual point of view, sex life has to be transformed, illumined, divinised and perfected. Sex life and God-realisation can never go together. It is out of the question. But perfection cannot dawn overnight. It has to be done gradually. Sex life is a human weakness or a human necessity. But if there are eight or ten children in a family, the parents cannot take proper care of them. Some parents are really poor, while some are rich. But even if they are rich, they cannot give proper attention to ten children. The mother is also a human being. How can she pay equal attention or even give adequate love and affection to so many children?

Some spiritual leaders will say that if you do something wrong, then you have to accept the consequences. I have to say that if you have done something wrong or made a mistake, the bad consequences should be prevented if it is possible. If I have touched fire and burned my finger, immediately I will run cold water on it to remove the pain. Of course, it is better for me not to touch fire and burn my finger, but if I have made a mistake, now a remedy is required. Who will be the sufferers if every family has eight or ten children? Will those who oppose birth control come and take care of the children? They will simply say that if you have done something wrong, then naturally you have to pay the penalty. But in this case, the children will also have to pay the penalty. If I have done something wrong and I know that there is a way to escape, then naturally I will try to escape in order to save myself. Sex life has to be transcended, but it is not necessary or helpful to have dozens of children in order to transcend it.

There are many women in America who want to have children. They are not afraid or ashamed to tell people that their children are illegitimate. On the contrary, they are proud. They simply want to be mothers. They do not care for a husband. They feel that they will be able to give the children the same kind of attention that two parents can. A father’s affection and love they will also give their children. If that is their attitude, I do not condemn them. If they have that kind of bravery, let them have their children.

But what if somebody feels that she has made a mistake? On the spur of the moment she has done something and now she feels miserable. She worries about what her parents will say and what society will say, and she does not want to have the responsibility of raising a child without a father. She realises that she has made a mistake and now she wants to lead a better life. In her case, I say that abortion is certainly permissible.

The only thing is, when a woman knows that she is going to have a child that she does not want, the sooner the abortion takes place the better. The soul of the child can enter into the child at any time from the day of conception to a few hours after birth. If the abortion takes place after the soul has entered into the child’s body, then that particular soul will fly away like a bird. But it will take tremendous revenge. It may torture the mother and father like anything. This may go on even for two or three incarnations. It also happens, if the soul is powerful, that in the future if the parents want to have children, this soul will curse the future children. They may be defective, or the parents may not be able to have children when they want them. So we have to know whether the soul has entered. If the soul has not entered, then the decision about abortion is up to the individual.