Essay

Abortion: What God Teaches, and the Hard Cases

Maybe you have heard abortion described as a personal medical decision: My body, my choice. Maybe you have also wondered what the Church actually teaches about a developing baby before birth. Or perhaps this question is much more personal. You may be pregnant and unmarried and wondering how you could possibly tell your parents, what this means for your future, or whether there is any way forward that does not leave you feeling ashamed and alone.

There’s a lot wrapped up in this question. Let’s look at it clearly and carefully through the lens of Jesus Christ.

What Does Heavenly Father Teach About the Sanctity of Life?

In The Family: A Proclamation to the World, Jesus Christ’s prophets and apostles “affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan” and teach that “children are entitled to birth …”

Before coming to earth, everyone lives with their Heavenly Parents; they are real people in the Spirit World waiting to come to earth. Receiving a physical body through birth is an essential part of His plan—and their plan for their life. That gives us a very different way to think about life developing in the womb than the rest of the world.

This teaching begins with something even deeper: every person existed before mortality as a son or daughter of heavenly parents, came to earth to receive a body, and has an eternal future made possible through Jesus Christ. This is why protecting unborn life matters so deeply to God

What have Prophets said?

Prophets and apostles have spoken very strongly about abortion. Removing their strongest language can actually make it harder to understand how seriously they view the doctrine. At the same time, their warnings should be read together with what they teach about repentance, forgiveness, and God’s mercy.

President Russell M. Nelson — a medical doctor before he was a prophet — has taught this with unusual authority. In his general conference message Abortion: An Assault on the Defenseless he taught:

“When the controversies about abortion are debated, “individual right of choice” is invoked as though it were the one supreme virtue. … Terminating the life of a developing baby involves two individuals with separate bodies, brains, and hearts. A woman’s choice for her own body does not include the right to deprive her baby of life—and a lifetime of choices that her child would make.”

Questions We’ll Work Through

As we look at what God teaches about abortion and the sanctity of life, we’ll work through some of the questions that can make this issue difficult:

• What does abortion actually mean, and how is it different from miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, D&C, or medically necessary early delivery?
• What happens when a mother’s life or health is seriously at risk? Does ending the pregnancy always require intentionally ending the baby’s life?
• What if the baby is extremely premature, has a serious disability, or is not expected to survive long after birth? What can NICU care, palliative care, or perinatal hospice provide?
• What about pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, or an unexpected pregnancy outside of marriage?
• What if abortion is already part of my story? What does Jesus Christ teach about repentance, forgiveness, and healing?
• What cultural messages about abortion have I absorbed, and how do they compare with what Heavenly Father and His prophets teach about the worth of the mother and the baby?

What Really Happens During Pregnancy and Abortion?

You might wonder why it matters to understand what happens during pregnancy and abortion. Elder David A. Bednar taught that “truth is knowledge of things as they really are.” He also explained that our moral agency is meant to help us seek and act according to eternal truth. That matters here because we are better able to make thoughtful, morally responsible choices when we understand clearly what those choices involve.

That is true in our own decisions, and it is also true in the messages we absorb from the culture around us. Some ideas can sound compassionate, reasonable, or merciful, especially when they focus on fear, hardship, or individual freedom. Discipleship asks us to look carefully at those messages, seek to understand “things as they really are,” and consider what God has revealed about the mother, the developing life within her, and the sanctity of life.

That kind of clarity can require humility and courage. It can take courage to reconsider or change deeply held political or cultural beliefs. But it is also true that when you learn that you might be supporting something that does not align with your Father in Heaven, you can choose to become more closely aligned with Him and His doctrine. This is why it is so important to really understand a baby’s development in each trimester—and what an abortion actually entails so you can use your agency to make a decision to become more closely aligned to Heavenly Father.

The First Trimester: An Astonishing Amount of Development

• Week 5: The baby’s major body systems and structures are already beginning to develop, including the brain, spinal cord, heart, digestive tract, arms, legs, eyes, and ears.
• Weeks 6–7: The baby’s developing heart has a regular rhythm that may be seen by ultrasound.
• Weeks 9–10: The baby can squint, swallow, move the tongue, and respond to touch. When the palm is stroked, the hand can close tightly around an object.
• Weeks 11–14: The baby’s face is well formed, the limbs have developed further, nails are forming on the fingers and toes, and the baby can make a fist.
• Most abortions occur during this time, countering the claim that the developing baby is a “clump of cells.”

Source: H. B. Valman and J. F. Pearson, “What the Fetus Feels,” British Medical Journal

What typically happens during a first trimester abortion

The abortion pill regimen consists of two steps. At the abortion facility or at home, the woman swallows pills. The lining of the mother’s uterus breaks down, cutting off oxygen and vital nutrients to the developing baby, who then dies inside the mother’s womb. It is important to note that even after it has been taken, it is possible to stop the effects of Mifepristone and save the developing baby if Progesterone is administered. If the woman wants to stop the effects of the Mifepristone, she needs Progesterone as soon as possible. The second pill, misoprostol, is taken 24–48 hours later and causes the uterus to contract and expel the developing baby.

Veronica courageously shares her story of abortion, the hidden wounds that followed, and how Jesus met her with grace, healing, and redemption:

The Second Trimester: Development Becomes Easier to See

• Weeks 13–14: The baby’s body is growing rapidly. Bones are hardening, the baby is moving actively, and the skin remains thin enough that developing structures beneath it can be seen.
• Weeks 15–18: Bones and muscles continue to develop, movements become stronger and more coordinated, and the baby begins to hear sounds.
• Weeks 19–21: The baby can hear, swallow, and move regularly. Many mothers begin feeling these movements during this period, and the baby develops increasingly regular periods of sleeping and waking.
• Weeks 23–24: The ridges that will form the baby’s unique fingerprints and footprints are developing, and the lungs and nervous system continue to mature. (BabyCenter)
• By 24 weeks: Many babies born prematurely can survive with intensive medical care, with improving survival even among babies born at 22 weeks (Live Action).

What Typically Happens During a Second-Trimester Abortion

• By this point in pregnancy, the contrast with the baby’s visible development is significant: the same weeks in which a mother may begin feeling her baby move and hearing is developing are also weeks during which D&E abortions may be performed. (Source)
• As pregnancy advances, dilation and evacuation (D&E) becomes a common surgical abortion procedure. The cervix is first dilated, and suction and surgical instruments like forceps are used to grasp the baby while alive. The abortionist then removes baby’s arms and legs, and the skull is compressed so it can be removed through the cervix. The abortion provider then examines the deceased baby’s removed parts to make sure the uterus has been emptied. (Live Action)

The Third Trimester: Preparing for Birth

• Weeks 28–30: The baby’s eyes can open, eyelashes are present, and vision continues developing. The baby can kick, stretch, grasp, and respond to changes in light.
• Weeks 31–33: Much of the baby’s major development is complete, while the brain continues developing rapidly and the baby gains weight. The bones are formed and continue hardening, although the skull remains flexible for birth, and the lungs are still maturing.
• Weeks 34–36: The baby can respond to sound, light, and touch, has increasingly regular sleeping and waking patterns, and continues gaining body fat as the lungs and other organs prepare for life outside the womb.
• Weeks 37–40: The baby continues gaining weight and preparing for birth, often moving lower into the mother’s pelvis. At 39 weeks, the pregnancy is considered full term, and the baby is developed enough for birth while the brain, lungs, and other organs continue their final maturation.

Source: BabyCenter’s week-by-week fetal development information, as reflected in its third-trimester pregnancy guides.

What Typically Happens During a Third-Trimester Abortion

Abortions during the third trimester are uncommon, and there is not one single procedure used in every case. According to Live Action, induction abortion is more often used during the third trimester. While alive, baby is typically given an injection in the heart intended to cause cardiac arrest and death—often digoxin or potassium chloride—before delivery. The woman’s cervix is then gradually dilated, labor is induced, and she delivers the baby stillborn.

These abortions occur after the point when a premature baby could survive outside the womb. An important distinction is the difference between induced labor from an early delivery to save the life of the mother (because an abortion intentionally causes the baby’s death before birth), while an emergency delivery attempts to preserve both lives whenever possible.

In “partial-birth abortion,” a living baby is partially delivered, and then an act is performed to cause death before the delivery is completed—historically described as puncturing the skull of the living baby and removing its brain so the skull collapses and the baby can be delivered.

In Canada, abortion is legal throughout pregnancy up until birth, including partial birth. Currently, 13 states in the United States have no legal age limit on abortion and permit abortion throughout the pregnancy up until birth. For example, Massachusetts enacted a law in August 2026 that allows for a mother to have an abortion at 24 weeks or later until the birth of her full term baby.

These descriptions listed above are intentionally not graphic, but clinical language should not obscure what occurs: in an abortion, the baby’s death is intentionally caused, while early delivery to save the life of the mother is not considered an abortion by physicians.

How Does an Abortion Affect the Woman in the First Trimester and other Trimesters?

A 30-year longitudinal study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry determined that women who have abortions face a significantly higher risk of psychological effects often associated with post-abortion syndrome (PAS), which mirrors symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For women and even men, the experience is devastating, causing severe and long-lasting emotional, psychological, and spiritual distress. Women who experience post-abortion trauma need significant compassion and professional therapy to address grief, anxiety, depression, intrusive memories, or symptoms of PTSD.  Women suffering from PAS may experience flashbacks, emotional numbness, and difficulty coping for many years to come. Healing is possible through intensive spiritual and religious care, therapy, counseling, and compassionate acknowledgment of the loss of the baby. (British Journal of Psychiatry)

What Changed Jillian’s Mind from Pro-Abortion to Pro-Life?

What About …?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes a firmly pro-life, sanctity of life position, teaching that human life is sacred, opposing elective abortion, and encouraging its members to protect unborn life and support mothers facing difficult pregnancies.

Elder Neil L. Andersen made the position especially explicit in April 2025. He taught that “by His decree we cherish and preserve life” and said that “nurturing and protecting life that is yet unborn is not a political position. It is a moral law confirmed by the Lord through His prophets.”

The Church’s strong defense of unborn life can raise an understandable question: if life in the womb is sacred and abortion intentionally ends that developing life, why does the General Handbook identify a small number of circumstances in which abortion may be considered?

The Church’s official statement says it “believes in the sanctity of human life” and therefore opposes elective abortion for personal or social convenience. It is also important to read the Handbook’s language carefully. The circumstances it lists are described as “possible exceptions,” but these “do not automatically justify abortion.”

The Church’s current policy on possible exceptions has remained largely the same since 1972. Today, however, prenatal medicine and neonatal intensive care have advanced considerably. Physicians can diagnose conditions earlier, manage complicated pregnancies with greater precision, and sustain extremely premature infants at gestational ages that once offered far fewer possibilities for survival. As a result, circumstances in which a very unusual exception might be considered are becoming increasingly rare, and families and physicians often have options that were not available in earlier generations:

What About the Life of the Mother?

When a pregnancy becomes medically dangerous or a baby receives a life-limiting diagnosis, advances in obstetric and neonatal care can offer ways to care for both mother and child without intentionally ending the baby’s life:

“In cases where the mother’s life actually is in danger, this is not the time for an abortion. … We can, and do, save the life of the mother through delivery of an intact infant in a hospital where both the mother and her newborn can receive the care that they need. There is no medical reason to intentionally kill that fetal human being. … Perinatal hospice is compassionate and comprehensive health care for women whose fetuses have life-limiting diagnoses.” (Harrison, D., Cretella, M., Schirger, J., Stevens, D., & Orient, J.).

In this short clip, Dr. William Lile explains an important perspective on protecting both a mother’s life and the life of her unborn child:

What About a Tubal or Ectopic Pregnancy?

A tubal or ectopic pregnancy is a heartbreaking medical emergency in which the developing baby implants outside the uterus, most often in the fallopian tube, where the pregnancy cannot safely continue and can become life-threatening for the mother.

Physicians distinguish treatment for an ectopic pregnancy from an induced abortion because the medical purpose is to save the mother’s life, not to intentionally cause the baby’s death. One approach it highlights is a salpingectomy, in which the damaged fallopian tube containing the pregnancy is removed; the baby sadly cannot survive, but the death is an unavoidable consequence of treating a dangerous condition rather than the intended purpose of the procedure. Treating an ectopic pregnancy is not doing an abortion—it is saving that woman’s life.

What About Rape or Incest?

A pregnancy resulting from rape or incest can bring profound trauma, fear, and anguish, and a woman in this situation deserves immediate protection, compassionate support, and careful care.

In cases of incest, especially when the victim is a minor, the need for protection is even more urgent. Protecting the victim also means stopping the abuse itself. Abortion removes evidence of pregnancy, allowing the abuse to continue undiscovered. A woman or girl in this situation needs safety, trauma-informed care, accountability for the perpetrator, and compassionate support for both her and her unborn child. See American Life League legislative policy: Rape and incest exceptions to abortion law, American Life League.

For a woman who becomes pregnant through rape, the trauma is real, and she deserves care that helps her heal from the violence she has endured rather than assuming abortion will erase it. Dr. Sandra Mahkorn’s research reports that about 75 percent of pregnant rape victims chose against abortion, and that women who continued their pregnancies often experienced emotional improvement with appropriate support. In survivor accounts gathered, some women describe abortion as compounding rather than resolving their trauma, while additional research and testimony found that many women who carried pregnancies resulting from rape did not regret having their babies, and often described their children as part of their healing rather than a continuation of the assault. Women are increasingly telling their stories, as are their children:

What About Fetal Defects or the Baby Won’t Survive After Birth?

Few things could be more devastating for expectant parents than walking into an ultrasound hoping to see their baby growing and leaving with the news that something is seriously wrong—or that their child may live only a short time after birth. But could there be a way forward that is healing?

When a diagnosis truly is life-limiting, perinatal hospice allows parents to continue the pregnancy while receiving medical, emotional, and practical support, making a plan for their baby’s birth and providing comfort and care for however much time they have together. Ava’s story sheds light onto this. When an ultrasound brought a devastating diagnosis about her baby. In this reel, Ava explains why she chose to continue carrying her baby:

What Research Shows About Parents Learned When They Chose Not Abort

In the study “I Would Do It All Over Again”: Cherishing Time and the Absence of Regret in Continuing a Pregnancy after a Life-Limiting Diagnosis. It included 405 parents who continued pregnancies after receiving a life-limiting prenatal diagnosis. Among the parents who answered the question about regret, 97.5% expressed no regret for continuing their pregnancy instead of choosing to abort. The researchers found that parents particularly valued being able to recognize the baby as part of their family and to “love, hold, meet, and cherish their child.”

Here, Dr. Jenet Jacob Erikson discusses the stories of parents whose babies were expected to live only briefly after birth:

What If I Have Had an Abortion?

If you have had an abortion, you are not beyond the reach of Jesus Christ. The Church teaches that abortion is a serious matter, but it also teaches clearly that repentance, forgiveness, and healing are possible. In “Abortion: An Assault on the Defenseless,” President Russell M. Nelson asked whether there is hope for someone who has participated in an abortion and answered, “The answer is yes.” He taught that a person can repent and be forgiven. (The Church of Jesus Christ)

The Lord gives the same promise in Doctrine and Covenants 58:42: “He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.” (The Church of Jesus Christ) If this is part of your life, you can turn to the Savior, talk with your bishop when appropriate, and seek His help as you repent and heal. You do not have to let this one decision define who you are. Through Jesus Christ, you can be forgiven, find peace, and move forward as a beloved daughter of God.

What If I Am Pregnant and I Am Not Married?

An unexpected pregnancy can bring a lot of fear at once. You may wonder what your parents will think, whether the father will stay, how you will finish school, how you will afford a baby, or how people at church will respond. In that moment, abortion can feel like a way to make the immediate problem go away. But your pregnancy has not changed your identity as a child of God, and it has not changed the worth of your baby. The Church’s guidance on unwed pregnancy teaches that expectant mothers and fathers should be met with love and support as they prayerfully consider what comes next.

That support can make a real difference. Research cited by David Reardon found that more than 80 percent of women who reported post-abortion problems said they would have continued their pregnancies under better circumstances or with more support from the people they loved. (David Reardon, Aborted Women: Silent No More) The finding does not describe every woman’s experience, but it reminds us how important it is for a pregnant woman to know she is not alone. Family and friends can help with housing, school, finances, appointments, childcare, and the decisions ahead. Adoption can also be a loving option when parenting is not the right choice for her circumstances. An unexpected pregnancy may change your plans, but it does not take away your relationship with God, your ability to repent and move forward, or the good future still available to you and your child.

Jesus Christ Is the Way

Whatever brings you to this question—an unexpected pregnancy, a difficult diagnosis, concern for someone you love, or a decision already made—Jesus Christ offers a way forward. He knows the mother, He knows the child, and He understands the fear, grief, and uncertainty that can surround these decisions. His gospel teaches us to protect life, seek truth, care for people in difficult circumstances, and trust that repentance and healing are real. When the path is not clear, you can ask good questions, seek wise medical and spiritual counsel, and turn to Heavenly Father in prayer. And when an outcome is painful or beyond your control, you can still trust in the Savior, whose Atonement brings forgiveness and healing and whose Resurrection promises that death is not the end.