A child should not be brought into the world if the parents, especially the mother, is not ready. Of course it is best to take precautions but still, if conception has taken place without full readiness it is always best to abort. There are several examples of this advice in the scriptures including the advice given by the sage Vedvyasa following the conception and the birth of Duryodhana. The merit of an act lies in the motive that inspires it. Otherwise an action in itself has no intrinsic value.
Secondly, the embryo actually starts living in the true sense only around 2 to 3 months. The heart activity begins around 6 weeks and the heart proper develops by 10 weeks. So actually before then the foetus is still not started ‘living’ in the true sense and of course the physical body keeps forming throughout and receives impacts from the consciousness of the mother and indirectly from the world around. But the actual enrollment that is to say contact of the baby with the soul takes place much later after birth, usually after a few years.
Bringing a child into birth should be a conscious and willed process and not as an accident. In such an instance it is better to abort timely than continue with an unwanted pregnancy as this itself has an adverse impact on the formation of the child.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
