Abortion: From “No Forgiveness” to “May Repent and Be Forgiven”
In 1884, First Presidency counselor George Q. Cannon called abortion the shedding of innocent blood “for which there is no forgiveness” and said participants were outside salvation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now distinguishes abortion from murder for specified ecclesiastical procedures, recognizes three possible exceptions, and says a person involved in abortion may repent and be forgiven.
The short answer
Did a senior Church leader teach that abortion could not be forgiven?
Yes. George Q. Cannon, a First Presidency counselor, did so in a published 1884 sermon. He described participants as excluded from salvation and ordinances. This was his sermon, not a jointly issued First Presidency statement.
The defining contrast
Outside salvation. Forgiveness expressly available.
Cannon classified prenatal killing as murder and innocent blood that could not be forgiven. The current handbook preserves a severe moral judgment but rejects that final classification in its rules on repentance, councils, and baptism.
“Now just as sure as it is done, and people yield to it, so sure will they be damned, they will be damned with the deepest damnation; because it will be the damnation of shedding innocent blood, for which there is no forgiveness; and I would no more, as I say, administer to such women, baptize them, or perform any ordinance of the Gospel for them, than I would for a reptile. They are outside the pale of salvation. They are in a position that nothing can be done for them. They cut themselves off by such acts from all hopes of salvation.”Journal of Discourses 26:15
“As used here, murder does not include abortion. …”“A person who seeks forgiveness with ‘godly sorrow’ … and ‘full purpose of heart’ … may repent and be forgiven for the sin of abortion.”General Handbook 38.2.8.7; 38.6.1
Scope of this caseThis is a documentary comparison of religious classifications, not medical, legal, or political guidance. The sources do not treat miscarriage or stillbirth as elective abortion, and this case does not infer rules for procedures the handbook does not expressly address.
“No forgiveness”
Cannon named murder, damnation, and refused ordinances
Cannon was an apostle serving as First Counselor in the First Presidency under John Taylor. He spoke publicly as a senior Church leader and framed the issue in terms of innocent blood, priesthood ordinances, damnation, and salvation.
“Prenatal murder” and shared guilt
The broader sermon defended Latter-day Saint families and plural marriage against federal opposition. It moved between limiting family growth generally and killing offspring before birth. The passage used here begins where Cannon expressly described women who “murder their offspring before they are born” as guilty of “prenatal murder.”
“I say to you, my sisters, you teach your daughters against this accursed practice, or they will go to hell, they will be damned, they will be murderers, and the blood of innocence will be found upon them. A man that would sanction such a thing in his family, or that would live with a woman guilty of such acts, shares in the crime of murder.”
Cannon then said he would not lay hands on a woman he knew to be guilty, baptize her, or perform any gospel ordinance for her. His categorical warning named no exception for rape, incest, fetal condition, or danger to the mother.
A First Presidency member’s sermon, not a Presidency statement
The address matters because a First Presidency counselor repeatedly attached salvific certainty to the classification. It was not a canonized revelation, a jointly signed First Presidency statement, or a text approved by the full Presidency. The Journal of Discourses is a published sermon report, not today’s official doctrinal standard.
The volume credits John Irvine as reporter. The Church’s current topic on the Journal of Discourses says its sermons were transcribed, “sometimes inaccurately,” and that the compilation by itself is not authoritative doctrine. No surviving shorthand transcript for this sermon was located in the accessible catalogs searched for this review. The printed volume is therefore the best accessible contemporaneous text, and pages 14–15 show the statements as a continuous passage.
Gospel Truth, selected and arranged by Jerreld L. Newquist in 1957, later placed this material under the heading “Abortion—an unforgivable sin.” That heading is the editor’s label, not words in Cannon’s 1884 sermon. This case does not quote it as Cannon’s wording.
Date qualificationThe printed header says the Provo sermon occurred “Sunday Afternoon, Nov. 20, 1884,” but November 20 was a Thursday, and Cannon’s journal places him at his office and in Ogden that day. His journal records that he spoke in Provo on Sunday afternoon, November 30. The volume’s exact date is therefore internally inconsistent; this case cites the printed bibliographic date while preserving the likely November 30 correction.
“No definite statement … by the Lord”
A later First Presidency rejected the asserted class
In March 1973, the First Presidency of Harold B. Lee, N. Eldon Tanner, and Marion G. Romney called abortion “one of the most revolting and sinful practices,” allowed two rare possible exceptions, and made discipline dependent on circumstances.
It then quoted a statement by the earlier First Presidency of David O. McKay, Stephen L Richards, and J. Reuben Clark Jr. The quoted statement directly addressed the question Cannon had answered categorically.
The institutional contradiction
One leader claimed certainty where a Presidency said none was known
This was more than a change in tone. Cannon said abortion was the shedding of innocent blood and therefore beyond forgiveness. The later First Presidency said no divine statement was known to place it in that class and drew the opposite conclusion about repentance.
Cannon: innocent blood “for which there is no forgiveness.”Journal of Discourses 26:15 · Ensign, March 1973, p. 64
Later First Presidency: “not in that class of crime” and “amenable to the laws of repentance and forgiveness.”
Exceptions emerge
From no stated exceptions to three possible exceptions
The later policy did not recommend abortion or make any listed circumstance automatic. It did acknowledge that an abortion might be justified in circumstances Cannon’s published sermon did not identify.
- First Presidency statement
Life or good health in serious danger; rape with serious trauma
Read the March 1973 statementThe statement opposed abortion except where competent medical counsel judged the mother’s life or good health seriously endangered, or where rape caused the pregnancy and produced serious emotional trauma. Even then it called for counseling with the local presiding priesthood authority and divine confirmation through prayer.
- Spencer W. Kimball · general conference
Two rare instances restated
Read the October 1976 addressKimball named conception by “forcible rape” and serious jeopardy to the mother’s health. He called abortion “one of the most grievous of sins” while retaining possible exceptions.
- Gordon B. Hinckley · general conference
Incest and fatal fetal conditions appear expressly
Read the October 1998 addressHinckley listed rape or incest, serious jeopardy to the mother’s life or health, and fetal defects that would not allow survival beyond birth. He required consultation with local leaders and confirmation through prayer.
- General Handbook § 38.6.1
The three-part formulation remains current
Read the live handbookThe current list is pregnancy resulting from rape or incest; a competent physician’s determination that the mother’s life or health is in serious jeopardy; or a competent physician’s determination that severe fetal defects will not allow survival beyond birth. The handbook calls these “the only possible exceptions,” then requires prayerful deliberation rather than an automatic decision.
The current classification
Murder, unjustified abortion, and recognized exceptions are separate procedures
The handbook’s administrative rules show the distinction most precisely. The phrase “as used here” limits the claim: the handbook excludes abortion from murder for the baptismal and membership-council procedures being defined.
| Conduct or circumstance | Membership council | Baptismal authorization | Stated path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murder, as defined in §§ 32.6.1.1 and 38.2.8.7 | Required; membership withdrawal is required | First Presidency approval | Governed by the handbook’s murder procedures |
| Unjustified abortion by a Church member | “May be necessary”; circumstances are reviewed | Mission-president authorization if baptism is later sought | May repent and be forgiven |
| Abortion within one of the three possible exceptions | No council or membership restrictions should be considered | Mission-president authorization still applies before baptism | Decision requires prayerful deliberation; not automatic |
| Abortion before baptism | No membership council should be considered afterward | Mission-president authorization | Baptism remains subject to the authorization just described |
“As used here, murder does not include abortion”
The baptism section requires First Presidency approval for a person who committed murder. Participation in abortion is listed separately and requires authorization from the mission president. Section 32.6.1.1 likewise says abortion “is not defined as murder in this context.” The distinction applies to these specified procedures.
“May be necessary” is different from “required”
The handbook says, “A membership council may be necessary” after an unjustified abortion, particularly when temple covenants were violated or conduct was repetitive. By contrast, murder appears in the list for which a council is required. The handbook bars councils or restrictions for abortions within a recognized exception.
“A person who seeks forgiveness with ‘godly sorrow’ … and ‘full purpose of heart’ … may repent and be forgiven for the sin of abortion.”Checked August 29, 2026
The later assurance
Packer stated the contradiction without qualification
In April 1992, Boyd K. Packer was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In a general conference section headed “Repentance,” he said the power of repentance and forgiveness exceeded the adversary’s power and then named abortion specifically.
The current Topics and Questions page gives the same assurance directly to readers who have had or participated in an unjustified abortion: God’s love provides an opportunity to repent and be forgiven.
What changed
Category, salvation, ordinances, and exceptions
Cannon’s published classifications conflict with the later First Presidency statement and current rules in six respects.
Moral category
Categorical “prenatal murder” became a distinct category from murder in the specified ecclesiastical procedures.
Forgivability
“No forgiveness” became an express assurance that a person may repent and be forgiven.
Salvation
“Outside the pale of salvation” became a return through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.
Ordinance access
Categorical refusal became case-specific baptismal authorization and membership procedures.
Exceptions
No stated exception became three circumstances in which abortion may be justified after individual deliberation.
Participation
Automatic shared murder in Cannon’s formulation became review of conduct, covenants, timing, and circumstances.
What remained
The present policy still condemns elective abortion
The change is categorical, but it is not a movement from condemnation to moral neutrality. The current sources retain a serious prohibition and sanctity-of-life rationale.
Opposition, seriousness, and possible discipline remain
The handbook calls elective abortion for personal or social convenience contrary to God’s plan and commandments. It says members must not submit to, perform, arrange for, pay for, consent to, or encourage abortion, and it calls abortion “a most serious matter.” An unjustified abortion may still lead to a membership council.
Possible does not mean automatic
The three circumstances do not themselves decide the case. The handbook directs members to prayerful deliberation and says they may counsel with their bishops. The policy neither recommends abortion in those circumstances nor supplies a medical rule for every pregnancy complication.
The institutional explanation—or absence of one
The current sources state the rule but do not explain Cannon
The 1973 First Presidency statement supplied a different claimed basis: no definite statement by the Lord was known to place abortion beside the unpardonable sin or shedding innocent blood. That explains its conclusion about forgiveness in its own terms.
The official handbook and topic page cited in this case do not acknowledge George Q. Cannon’s contrary declaration or explain why a First Presidency counselor had declared abortion unforgivable and its participants beyond salvation. A member taught Cannon’s sermon and a member taught today’s handbook would hold opposite beliefs about whether God forgives this sin.
New Testament context
Forgiveness is the biblical issue this case raises
These passages do not declare abortion morally acceptable. Their narrower relevance is Cannon’s addition of abortion to a class for which no forgiveness or salvation remained.
Jesus identifies one eternal exception
“Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven.”
In both accounts, religious opponents attribute Jesus’s Spirit-empowered work to an unclean power. Jesus distinguishes blasphemy against the Holy Spirit from other sins that may be forgiven. Neither passage names abortion as another exception.
Read the passages in the ESV ↗Cleansing is addressed to people guilty of serious sin
“The blood of Jesus … cleanses us from all sin.”
First John joins confession with God’s faithfulness to forgive and cleanse. Paul’s Corinthian list includes grave conduct but turns to the community’s changed status: “you were washed … sanctified … justified.” The point is forgiveness and transformation, not approval of the prior acts.
Read the passages in the ESV ↗Christ’s offering and apostolic repentance
“By a single offering he has perfected for all time.”
Hebrews contrasts Christ’s sufficient sacrifice with repeated offerings. In Acts, hearers cut to the heart are directed to repent and receive forgiveness. The New Testament does not directly discuss modern abortion procedures or establish when a spirit enters a fetus; these texts address the availability and basis of forgiveness.
Read the passages in the ESV ↗Biblical quotations use the English Standard Version. Christian traditions differ over abortion’s moral and legal treatment, but these passages make a narrower comparison possible: the New Testament names blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as the stated unforgivable sin and repeatedly presents cleansing through Christ to repentant sinners.
Documentary finding
The classification did not merely soften; it changed
The 1884 record classifies abortion as prenatal murder, the shedding of innocent blood, unforgivable, outside salvation, and incompatible with baptism or other ordinances. It extends the murder classification to a man who sanctioned the act.
The present record keeps a strong condemnation of unjustified abortion but distinguishes abortion from murder in defined ecclesiastical procedures, recognizes three possible exceptions, withholds councils and restrictions within those exceptions, and promises that a person may repent and be forgiven.
Primary record and source notes
Read the sources
Central quotations link to original page scans or official Church publications. The supplied 2016 compilation was used only as a research index and is not cited as authority.
The historical wording was checked against original volume scans and read in its surrounding sermon. The current rules were checked in the live General Handbook on August 29, 2026. Reported-sermon status, the inconsistent printed date, the later editorial heading, and every limitation on present exceptions and discipline are preserved rather than silently harmonized.