On Monday, Eric Rudolph was given two life sentences after pleading guilty to bombing an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.  He was unrepentant, saying: "Abortion on demand is a return to the ancient practice of infanticide."  Those who provide abortions, and those who help them, he argued, should be fought with "deadly force." 

    The judge, in handing down the sentence, observed: "In the name of faith, you hate… For the professed goal of saving human life, you killed. Those are riddles I cannot resolve."

     It really isn’t much of a riddle, actually.  Killing in the name of faith or ideology is all too common in the world today.  But Randolph focused on abortion providers and that leads us to the question: what would Taoists and Confucians have to say about abortion and, also, about those who would kill to stop abortion?

     Taoists would be generally against abortion, in keeping with their aversion to intervening in the natural unfolding of events.  If a pregnancy has started, they would just as soon allow it to run its course.  They would not accept the assertion that "human life begins at conception" because their notion of "being" is more open-ended than what is commonly assumed in the modern West.   Contemplate this excerpt from the opening passage of the Tao Te Ching:

In perennial nonbeing you see mystery; and in perennial being you see appearance.  Though the two are one and the same, once they arise, the differ in name.

   So, being and nonbeing are "one and the same," differing only in name.  If you take that seriously, and Taoists do, you do not recognize a strict line between life and death.  Hence, the line in passage 50: People born into life enter death.

   This seems rather depressing, and Western idealists would probably worry that this attitude is a prelude to nihilism.  But it is not meant to inspire either sadness or apathy, just humility.

   When applied to the abortion debate, the Taoist cosmology – the recognition of the simultaneity of being and nonbeing – would lead one away from the idea that "life" begins at conception; "life," rather, is a never-ending continuum.  But a Taoist would still be skeptical about trying to interfere with the mysterious interplay of being and nonbeing.

   Yet while a Taoist would be generally against abortion, he or she would be absolutely against killing in the name of abortion.  If one should not intervene into the life/death process of the evolving fetus, neither should one intervene in the life/death process of an adult human, whatever he or she is doing.  A consistent non-violent pacifism emerges from the foundational Taoist texts.  And in that consistency, a Taoist would likely agree that Rudolph, himself, should not be put to death.

   Confucians might accept abortions under certain circumstances.  If it could be shown that a potential new life would somehow undermine the conscientious cultivation of existing social relationships, then that potential new life might be relinquished in the interest of maintaining the Humanity-generating cohesion of the present social whole.

   In ancient China, of course, Confucian thought was filtered through, and used to reproduce, existing social biases, especially biases against women.  Female infanticide, and the killing of disabled babies, was tolerated, though perhaps not fully condoned.  In a modern context, this old prejudice would certainly have to be jettisoned.  The gender of the fetus alone would not, in and of itself, be sufficient grounds for abortion.

   Nor would the personal fulfillment of the parents, in and of itself, be sufficient.  Instead, the first question would be: how will this birth affect the performance of daily activities of care and affection that are the source of Humanity?  If we were already fully engaged in such duties – with several children already and/or caring for elderly relatives – then a new child might be justifiably avoided.  There would be no hard and fast rule; each instance would have to judged on its particulars.  But it is conceivable that Confucians would accept abortion in certain cases.

   Confucians would not accept killing in the name of abortion, however.  In a broad sense, our obligations to the already born are greater than our obligations to the not yet born; so, taking the life of a socially alive person could not be justified in terms of defending a socially unborn person.  Moreover, Confucians are generally averse to the death penalty or harsh punishments in general:

Asking Confucius abut governing, Lord Chi K’ang said: "What if I secure those who abide in Way by killing those who ignore Way – will that work?

"How can you govern by killing?" replied Confucius.  "Just set your heart on what is virtuous and benevolent, and the people will be virtuous and benevolent.  The noble-minded have the Integrity of wind, and little people the Integrity of grass.  When the wind sweeps over grass, it bends.  (Analects 12:19)

   Confucians and Taoists, regardless of their differing views on abortion, would both condemn Rudolph but not give him the death penalty.