# Abortion and prayer for the unborn's well being **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520 "2015-07-07T22:24:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/1 "2015-07-07T22:24:44Z")
A simple pole on a complex topic, was prayer to some sort of ‘God’ or ‘god’ offered for the well being of the entity aborted. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/2 "2015-07-07T22:39:04Z")
What entity? Is this a hypothetical? Or are you wondering about prayer and an abortion related to those who will respond? ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/3 "2015-07-07T22:41:19Z")
Entity? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/4 "2015-07-07T22:59:09Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > Entity? Child ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/5 "2015-07-07T23:03:20Z")
What do you mean “was prayer offered”? Who offered this, or where? Are you talking about some church, or an organization? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/6 "2015-07-07T23:03:44Z")
Many will bitch, nitpick, argue, and deliberately obfuscate, but few will just answer your question. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/7 "2015-07-07T23:07:42Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > What do you mean “was prayer offered”? Who offered this, or where? Are you talking about some church, or an organization? 😕 By a person, a human being. Or more specifically by a person who expresses such prayer from the heart for the well being of the child. I don’t care if they are a member of a organized political party or worker’s union. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/8 "2015-07-07T23:08:56Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Many will bitch, nitpick, argue, and deliberately obfuscate, but few will just answer your question. That’s because it’s damned confusing. Hard to answer if you aren’t sure what is being asked, about who, or under what circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/9 "2015-07-07T23:14:26Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > By a person, a human being. > > Or more specifically by a person who expresses such prayer from the heart for the well being of the child. I don’t care if they are a member of a organized political party or worker’s union. This still makes zero sense, you really need to clarify what you’re asking. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/10 "2015-07-07T23:14:36Z")
:rolleyes: Oh good Christ…this is the smartest place on the web? He is asking what prayers, if any, were offered if you had an abortion. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/11 "2015-07-07T23:16:03Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > By a person, a human being. > > Or more specifically by a person who expresses such prayer from the heart for the\*\* well being of the child\*\*. I don’t care if they are a member of a organized political party or worker’s union. Why would this be needed? An unborn child’s soul would be pure and unsullied by sin, never had the chance to know or reject God and therefore no reason not to go to heaven. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/12 "2015-07-07T23:23:03Z")
Whose abortion?? ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/13 "2015-07-07T23:37:40Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Why would this be needed? An unborn child’s soul would be pure and unsullied by sin, never had the chance to know or reject God and therefore no reason not to go to heaven. Unless you’re old-school Catholic, in which case unbaptized babies go to Limbo, not heaven. I think the question is: When you (or your babymama, or someone you know) had an abortion, did you/babymama/other person say a heartfelt prayer for the ‘soul’ of the cluster of cells that would have possibly eventually become a baby (barring miscarriage)? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/14 "2015-07-08T00:09:30Z")
My sister got pregnant when two (2) varieties of contraception failed. She obtained an abortion safely and legally. She has no religious values or beliefs, and nobody offered any prayers of any sort. (And I have her permission to relate this anecdote.) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/15 "2015-07-08T00:40:49Z")
Since prayer could be silent, and offered by anyone from the office staff to nurse, to doctor, to janitor, this is beyond silly to ask. How would anyone possibly know? How do we know every abortion Dr doesn’t say a little prayer after each procedure? Or are you trying to ask if women under going abortion pray for their lost child? Seems like something between a person and their God. And none of your affair, to be perfectly honest. Can you share what about it matters to you? ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/16 "2015-07-08T00:59:48Z")
For a somewhat serious answer, I assume aborted souls go right back to heaven/God/universe, free of original sin, so there’s no need to pray for them. In fact, of the people involved in an abortion, the baby needs prayer least of all. The mother may or may not have mental anguish that needs to be addressed, the doctor may or may not want to seek spiritual guidance for moral choices, any aware family/friends may or may not need help letting go of someone they’ll never get to meet. If there’s incest or rape or disease then there’s another spider-branching of forgiveness to reconcile. The baby, however, is free from pain, quandary, conflict, and is perfectly with God. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/17 "2015-07-08T01:20:43Z")
Catholics believe that there is a period after death when a baptism is still valid. I have heard of people who will babtise aborted babies ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/18 "2015-07-08T01:36:37Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > :rolleyes: Oh good Christ…this is the smartest place on the web? > > He is asking what prayers, if any, were offered if you had an abortion. then why didn’t he say that? good Christ, you’d think someone on the “smartest place on the web” could put together a coherent question. as far as I can see, the OP was a drunkpost. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/19 "2015-07-08T01:42:00Z")
I think - maybe - the question is “If you have been involved in, or personally had, an abortion have prayers been offered for any of those involved including (or possible “especially”) the fetus” but I’m so confused that I’m not willing to go much further. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520/20 "2015-07-08T01:42:40Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > then why didn’t he say that? good Christ, you’d think someone on the “smartest place on the web” could put together a coherent question. as far as I can see, the OP was a drunkpost. Thank you. He put together a coherent poll, but left us to infer the question. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-and-prayer-for-the-unborns-well-being/724520.md?page=2)