ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 468

If possibility of defective delivery is the reason of abortion, Jainism will take into account the theory of karma and will argue that as the child will have to suffer because of his-her own past karmas, child will live or die of natural causes and hence deliberate killing of a child is not justified.
Jainism will also support saving the pre-maturely delivered babies at any cost even though there is every possibility that such a child does grow with disabilities from slow learning to overt physical disabilities.
If the reason of abortion is social, e.g. poverty or getting rid of un-wanted or illegal child, Jainism will respond with the support of two principles of non-violence and doctrine of karma and argue that as the child has to bear the fruits of past karmas and hence aborting the child will be a sin of interfering with other karma.
2. Artificial Womb This device is adopted when the natural pregnancy is not possible due to the organic defects either in male or female. In-vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood is some ways that can be adopted when the wife in the couple cannot give birth to a child in a natural way. For the couple, which is craving for a child and cannot get it naturally, these medical inventions are like a boon. It would be interesting to see what Jainism would think about this.
First of all, arguing on the basis of the theory of karma, Jainism will entirely repudiate the idea of artificial procreation. It will point out that due to the past karmas of either wife or husband or both of them, natural pregnancy is not possible and hence the couple should accept it as their destiny.
Secondly, it will also oppose using either eggs or sperms or a womb of any other mother as a commodity for anyone's selfish purpose.
3. Contraception The idea of contraception, specifically is to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, and in general to control the population.
Jainism might see the use of contraceptives as redundant in the light of the vow of celibacy. According to the fourth vow, Monks and Nuns are supposed to control their sexual passions completely, while householder males and females are supposed to control the same to a certain extent. For example, sexual relation with anyone other than spouse, or sexual relations when there is no motive for a child etc. is prohibited by Jainism. In this context, a true follower of Jainism will not require any contraceptive as he/she would have been already controlling the sexual passions. Jainism will prefer one's own decision to control the passion rather than any external means to fulfil that passion without bearing the results of the same.
4. Euthanasia Euthanasia means voluntary death. Specifically, when a person is suffering from some incurable disease, there being no possibility of his/her living, for long and moreover the same person is either undergoing enormous quantity of physical pain or is in no position to give any response to any stimuli, a doctor may help this person, with either the permission of that person or a family member, to die peacefully. The issue of euthanasia is a highly discussed and debated bio-ethical issue and in the religion-neutral field like medical science also there is no unanimity about the sanction or opposition to voluntary death. Jainism definitely rules out any possibility of giving any sanction to euthanasia for at least two reasons: O Birth and death of a person is determined by his/her previous karmas, and hence no
artificial means or deliberate attempt could be employed for either preparing or postponing
the death O No living being has right to take away the life of any other being for any reason whatsoever.
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STUDY NOTES version 4.0