Self help Buddhism and abortion

I’ve noticed that many of what I’d time “self-help Buddhist” have joined the political discussion of abortion in the United States. I can’t really see what a political opinion on whether states or the federal government should regulate abortion has to do with the Buddhist path.

The opinions are of the run-of-the-mill sky-is-falling variety.

If one is honestly looking at Buddhist ethics, I suppose very early term abortions are a grey area. The later the pregnancy goes, the more obvious it that abortion can’t be a skillful, wholesome action. Is it the same as murdering an adult — probably not, although early Buddhism wasn’t entirely into a Jesuitical ranking of “sins”.

And thus it seems sad that some Western Buddhist communities seem little more than political organizations with a self-help wing. It looks like it’s bad enough that someone with divergent political views, whether they be apolitical, moderate or wrongthink wouldn’t be welcome in these communities.

Of course the Buddha himself associated with some unsavory rulers. The reign of the ideal Buddhist Monarch, Ashoka, was nice in theory, rather rougher in practice.