Question
Dear Gramps,
A question came up in our Mormon Family History class this afternoon. We would like to know what temple work, if any, should be done for babies who were stillborn? We know that children who die before the age of eight only need to be sealed to their parents. But we don’t know what is expected for babies who never drew a breath in mortality.
Marcia
Answer
Dear Marcia,
Exactly when the pre-mortal spirit enters the body of the fetus has not been revealed, so we don’t really know if a particular stillborn child would exist as an independent entity or not. However, I would imagine that there is little doubt that near-term children would certainly be resurrected as separate individuals and would be able to continue to progress through the eternities, as would any other person born into mortality.
However, a stillborn child did not live as a mortal being, having died before birth. No membership records are made for such a person, since it did not live in the church unit to which his/her parents belonged. Since there is no official record of that person’s existence, none of the saving ordinances can be performed in his/her behalf. However, during the Millennium, that person will come forth as a resurrected, eternal being, with all the faculties, attributes and responsibilities as everyone else.
One of the great purposes of the Millennium is to provide the opportunity to perform vicariously all the ordinances required to receive all the blessings reserved by our kind and loving Father in Heaven for all of His children who would have accepted them, had they had the opportunity in mortality.
Gramps