Taiwanese seek reincarnation for aborted babies

Thick incense smoke fills the gilded, elaborately carved temple. A 50-year-old woman kneels down and bows before a table piled with plastic toys and baby bottles. Clasping her hands in supplication, Lin Shu-wen utters a short prayer for the two abortions she had more than 20 years ago. The retired history teacher is one of scores of women who have come to Ching Shui Temple in Taipei this month to make similar prayers. With abortion becoming less taboo in Taiwan, several dozen Buddhist and Taoist temples are offering a “baby souls mourning” service during ghost month, a time when Taiwanese honor wandering ghosts in the hope they will be placated and cease to haunt the living. In offering the baby souls service, the temples — longtime opponents of abortion — are recognizing a reality they nonetheless regret: Abortion is on the rise. Many Taiwanese ridicule the new ritual, seeing it as a backward superstition. Some respected monks condemn it for not reflecting official Buddhist doctrine. Read Article