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Question

 

Gramps,

Can you be baptized if you have had an abortion?

Trudy

 

Answer

 

Trudy,

The short answer is yes…. Yes you can.

Baptism is about having faith in Christ and having the desire and willingness to repent, in addition to joining the Church. If you are considering baptism in the LDS Church then you will need to work with the missionaries. The missionaries’ job is to teach you what you need to know and do in order to be baptized. As you progress and after you have a date set for baptism, they will schedule a time for a baptismal interview.

Generally this interview will be done by another missionary, one who has not been involved with teaching you up to this point. This interview is to make sure the missionaries who are teaching you have done a good job, and that you have the faith, the desire to repent, and the willingness to follow the commandments that are necessary for baptism.

This first interview will ask you about your feelings and thoughts about your repentance and worthiness. Now there are some issues (abortion is one) that require a bit more experience, empathy, and understanding than your typical 19-year-old young man has. Therefore he will simply ask if you have been involved in those actions in the past. When you answer yes (which you should if you had an abortion), an interview will be set up with someone with presiding authority in the mission. The second interview will be the continuation of the first with an interviewer who is set apart to handle the more delicate issues of your particular case.

Thus the only real difference in the process for someone who has had a abortion is the second interview. As long as there is faith, repentance and willingness to keep the commandments, you can be baptized just like anyone else.

 

Gramps

 

 

 

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