Soul Matters: Reframing LDS Abortion Policy after Dobbs
Courtney Campbell, PhD, Hundere Professor of Religion and Culture and Director of the Program in Medical Humanities, Oregon State University
The position of the restorationist Latter-day Saint (LDS) religious tradition on abortion has continually been complicated by its agnostic theology regarding the timing and nature of ensoulment. Some ecclesiastical leaders have argued that the presence of soul in the bodily organism may occur at conception, while others have affirmed birth. Consequently, LDS teaching on abortion has presumed a consensus on ethical principles regarding elective and therapeutic abortion even as the metaphysical or theological dispute persists.
In the wake of the Dobbs decision that returned the determination of abortion policy to state legislatures, the pragmatic LDS ethics of abortion now faces a paradox: Abortion in some states with significant LDS populations, such as Idaho and Texas, now have more restrictive laws on abortion access than the official policy on abortion of the LDS church. The LDS permissions for abortion to preserve the life or health of a pregnant women, or in circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or in circumstances of a fetal genetic anomaly likely to end life, are more expansive than laws in several states. This conflict between ecclesiastical teaching and civil law has led to a reframing of civic responsibility on abortion as an issue of religious liberty.
This presentation will discuss the concept of soul in LDS teaching, examine the variety of LDS ecclesiastical perspectives and its agnostic theology of ensoulment, and consider the ethical principles that underlie a religious liberty approach to abortion.
In the wake of the Dobbs decision that returned the determination of abortion policy to state legislatures, the pragmatic LDS ethics of abortion now faces a paradox: Abortion in some states with significant LDS populations, such as Idaho and Texas, now have more restrictive laws on abortion access than the official policy on abortion of the LDS church. The LDS permissions for abortion to preserve the life or health of a pregnant women, or in circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or in circumstances of a fetal genetic anomaly likely to end life, are more expansive than laws in several states. This conflict between ecclesiastical teaching and civil law has led to a reframing of civic responsibility on abortion as an issue of religious liberty.
This presentation will discuss the concept of soul in LDS teaching, examine the variety of LDS ecclesiastical perspectives and its agnostic theology of ensoulment, and consider the ethical principles that underlie a religious liberty approach to abortion.