“We invited the child’s spirit to revisit Earth another time.”

The abortion debate is often described as anti-choice people opposing abortion for religious reasons on the one side and pro-choice people supporting abortion for more secular, pluralistic reasons on the other.

In reality, the different sides are more complex. Of course, we at Secular Pro-Life often focus on the secular bases for opposing abortion. But it’s also interesting to note some of the religious reasoning for supporting it.

One variation of the latter is a belief in some kind of reincarnation or other unspecified phenomenon where the soul of the baby being aborted can return at some other time to the mother choosing abortion.

Speaking as an atheist, I find this view incredibly dark. I believe we each get one and only one opportunity to experience life, and abortion takes that opportunity away permanently. In fact, this thought is why, on occasion, we’ve had people tell us that they became more opposed to abortion as they deconverted from religion.

[Read more – Ask an Atheist interview series]

Nevertheless, many women choosing abortion have comforted themselves with the idea they might get a second chance with their aborted children someday in the future. Here are quotes from Shout Your Abortion testimonials where the women processing their abortions hope for their children’s souls to return at another time to either them personally or the world generally.

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