Abstract: This article discusses, from ethnographic and bibliographic material, how kardecism conceives the moral and spiritual implications of abortion. The voluntary termination of pregnancy mobilizes problems about the notions of self, free will, and the designs of spiritual agents, hindering a discussion centered on the notion of individual choice. Kardecism postulates a relational chain of spirits in-between incarnations that goes beyond personal or biological affinity, leading to karmic debts that culminate at birth. Abortion thus poses a problem for spiritual evolution, breaking what kardecists consider one of the greatest laws in the universe. I seek to explore such implications, relating them to the discourses of medical entities linked to spiritism and tensioning the ambiguous spiritist articulation between free will, science and morality.
Keywords:
Abortion; Public Discourse; Spiritism; Moral; Person