Congrats on finishing 2nd year! What’s your first rotation?

For the Orthodox, abortion is always sinful, even if it’s necessary. Sometimes, it’s the only option (e.g., an ectopic pregnancy), but it’s still sinful.

Perhaps some folks live in a world where every choice is always between absolute evil and absolute pure and perfect good. But I don’t think most people live in that world. Sometimes, we really have to choose a lesser evil.

But from the Orthodox point of view, it means we still have to repent. After all, our whole life is one of repentance, so it should be no surprise that choosing a lesser evil should require it, as well. Repentance is simply the whole person turning once more toward God and away from evil, so we really should not be scared to live in such a way that means we accept repentance.

I know of no Orthodox confessor who would tell a woman that she MUST die in order that her child might live. If she wants to choose to do that, it is quite noble and good, but if she cannot, then she will need to repent. Either way, though, she’ll need to repent, because choosing to give her life will probably also hurt people.

As for the question of whether we “ought” to be able to “choose” in most cases (i.e., the vast majority of abortion cases, which are not the result of rape, incest, etc., or threaten the mother’s life), we have to ask ourselves what makes such a “choice” any different from allowing infanticide outside the womb. If a woman can “choose” to kill her as-yet unborn child, why should she not be allowed to choose to kill her 1-month-old? Or 10-year-old? (In Belgium, if the child is “deficient,” it can be killed up to 12 months old, often without parental consent.)

For the Orthodox, human life and identity begins at conception. There is no way around that. And of course, for the Orthodox Christian, there is no time in our lives in which we should say, “Okay, now I must function outside of my faith.” Our faith is a 24/7/366 faith, not a Sunday morning faith.

I can understand how people can conclude that what is inside a pregnant woman is not a person (though I believe they’re wrong on several grounds, including scientific). But from the Orthodox Christian point of view, that isn’t a conclusion that is anything but deeply antithetical to our 2000-year moral tradition.

Anyway, for more of the theology and practical reality on why we as Orthodox believe that humanity begins at conception, see this sermon which was recently preached.

I’m glad you got such a great deal on your coat, though! I’ll definitely have to bookmark that Deal Linker site to find more great bargains like this in the future. :)