Does support of abortion preclude conversion to Buddhism?

[befriend]

The goal of Buddhism is to destroy greed hate and delusion. I would find it hard to get rid of greed hate and delusion when you don't even believe in the first precept. In an act of abortion there is greed and aversive thinking I'll will or wanting living beings to perish or die is one of the ten unwholesome actions. It is wrong view also.

[Goofaholix]

People also need to know what they are getting themselves into in terms of Buddhism (ie. they need to know what the Buddha taught), as opposed to spending decades believing that Buddhism is whatever one wants it to be.

yes

[asymmetric]

I don't know what you're talking about. I've not mentioned sex at all and anyway sex does not necessarily lead to procreation and should not for that matter given how easily obtainable contraception is.

Then you need to educate yourself about the failure rate of various contraceptives.

Which makes the case for abortion all the more compelling. Compulsory even.

[justpractice]

I'm a supporter of abortion, it is something I'm quite passionate about despite being male. I make no equivalence between a foetus at any stage of development and an adult human who is already invested in existence. An embryo or foetus has no claim to any right to exist. Spontaneous abortions happen frequently so inducing one using artificial means is only exploiting something that occurs naturally anyway. Also as a utilitarian I don't think there is any intrinsic value to life but only on the quality or lack thereof of life. So abortion can be imperative if the potential person will have no quality of life.

We "convert" to Buddhism - or take up practicing the Buddha's teaching - with all kinds of passions already in place. If the practice is done rightly, however, those passions will be undermined by understanding the nature of things. So, no, supporting abortion or any other worldly concern will not preclude you from taking up the teaching. Prioritizing those concerns over the practice will preclude you from practicing rightly, and thus prevent you from understanding liberation.

[TRobinson465]

Most Buddhists are probably pro-choice. The First Precept states no killing, but there are a variety of views among Buddhists regarding this and some other controversial subjects. An informal poll was done here and most appear to be pro-choice:

viewtopic.php?p=437206#p437206

Over at Mahayana forum it appears that there is an even greater percentage favoring pro-choice.
https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=111&t=33236

This is not just true with online polls. actual scientific polls show this as well. although this is probably mostly due to the fact that Buddhists in English speaking countries are overwhelmingly left leaning anyways.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/re ... -abortion/

[TRobinson465]

I'm a supporter of abortion, it is something I'm quite passionate about despite being male. I make no equivalence between a foetus at any stage of development and an adult human who is already invested in existence. An embryo or foetus has no claim to any right to exist. Spontaneous abortions happen frequently so inducing one using artificial means is only exploiting something that occurs naturally anyway. Also as a utilitarian I don't think there is any intrinsic value to life but only on the quality or lack thereof of life. So abortion can be imperative if the potential person will have no quality of life.

being pro choice does not bar you from being Buddhist. It is a religion of personal practice, not one of political ideaology. A good Buddhist should not get an abortion but can think it should be legal. In the same way a good Buddhist should not kill animals or drink alcohol but think slaughterhouses and alcohol should be legal.

[Radix]

Which makes the case for abortion all the more compelling. Compulsory even.

No, what you need to do is to make a compelling case for sex. Compulsory even.

Who is holding a gun to your head, threatening to pull the trigger, if you don't have sex (heterosexual relations, and when you don't want to have children)?