The Lord Doth Not Will That Man Should Shed Blood

Bryan Richards

Boyd K. Packer

“Every time physical conditions are met, conception will take place, whether in wedlock or out. Once a life is conceived, to destroy that life, even before birth, is a major transgression, save conception results from rape, the mother’s life hangs in the balance, or the life of the unborn is certified to be hopeless. We do not know all about when a spirit enters the body, but we do know that life, in any form, is very precious. While we are given the power to generate life and commanded to do so, we have no license to destroy it. ’For the Lord … in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man’ (Ether 8:19). And the commandment given at Sinai was renewed in this dispensation: ‘Thou shalt not kill’ (Exodus 20:13; see also 2 Nephi 9:35) ‘nor do anything like unto it’ (D&C 59:6).” (The Things of the Soul, p. 108)

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