我是个佛学班儿童的老师。记得有一次和几个家长谈不杀生的时候，我同他们讲堕胎是杀生，因为这就像是杀掉一个活生生的人；可是其中一些较年轻的妈妈并不以为然。这时候有一位家长就把她三岁女儿的故事说给我们听。叶妈妈说，她本来就只打算要生两个孩子，所以生完老二之后就避孕了。结果很意外的几年之后又受孕，她觉得三个孩子太多，又难带；所以征得先生同意之后，决定要把已经几个星期大的胎儿拿掉。

I teach Buddhism to children. I remember once I talked to several parents about the principle of no killing. I told them that having an abortion is a form of killing, because it is taking the life of a living human being. However, a number of younger mothers in the group disagreed. Then, a mother responded by telling us the story of her three year old daughter. Mrs. Ye told us that she always planned to have only two children, so when her second child was born, she started to use contraceptives. To her surprise, after a number of years, she got pregnant again. She felt that it would be difficult to raise three children, so after getting her husband’s consent, she decided to abort the fetus that was several weeks old.

当天晚上她就梦见一个很可爱的小女孩来跟她说：“妈妈！请你不要把我拿掉，我会很乖的。”连续三天，每天晚上小女孩都来跟她讲同样的话，她知道这是小女儿来求她，不要把她杀掉，叶妈妈于心不忍，就十月怀胎地把她生下来。

That evening, she dreamed about a cute little girl who told her, “Mom, please don’t get rid of me. I will be very good.” For three consecutive nights, Mrs. Ye had the same dream. She realized that her daughter was pleading with her not to have an abortion. After these dreams, Mrs. Ye didn’t have the heart to go through with an abortion, so she didn’t terminate her pregnancy and gave birth to a baby girl.

我见到这个小女孩时，她已经三岁了，很乖巧，很可爱，最喜欢帮妈妈洗厕所。叶妈妈的故事肯定了堕胎就是杀生的道理，杀的不是别人，正是自己的孩子。俗语说“母子连心”，不是生出来才连心，一受胎就母子连心，妈妈心里想什么，孩子完全知道。所以才有所谓的胎教。你可以想像小Baby有多可怜，当他（她）知道妈妈决定要把他（她）拿掉时，心中恐怖和无助，到最后被杀时，则转为哀愤与仇恨。唉，于心何忍！于心何忍！三思！三思！

When I met this little girl, she was already three years old. She is very obedient, clever and cute, and she really likes to clean the bathroom for her mother. Mrs. Ye’s story confirms that abortion is a form of killing; in fact, by having an abortion we would be killing not just anyone, but our own child. There is a saying that “the hearts of a mother and her child are connected.” This connection begins even before the child is born; it starts when the child is still in the womb. The child knows exactly what his or her mother is thinking. This connection is also captured by the saying, “education starts in the womb.” We can imagine how pitiful it would be for a little baby who knows that his or her mother is planning to terminate his or her life. This baby’s fear and helplessness turns into hatred and resentment when he or she is killed. How can anyone bear this? Please think carefully before you act!