Q: Does The Urantia Book say anything about the babies that die before birth? I believe it says that babies, once born are resurrected and progress on the mansion worlds. I have found no mention of death in utero.

A: Thanks so much for this question. It is one that has great importance—especially to parents who have lost a child before birth.

Some time ago, we received a letter from a woman who had had an abortion. After coming to a place of regret over her decision, she was concerned whether her child may have survived to enjoy eternal life. I am giving you a condensed version of our answer, which deals with this issue:

Q: 10 years ago I had an abortion. I wonder what has happened to the soul of the child…will I meet my child after death?

A: First of all, let me try to put your mind to rest regarding the fate of your child. According the the teachings of The Urantia Book, your child is safe. While your child was not old enough to have possessed a soul (and this is true of any child under the general age of five years), it does have a potential soul, and a potential identity. Your child is located at the Probationary Nursery, and is being lovingly cared for by the cherubim until such time as either of its parents arrive on the Mansion Worlds.

Here’s a wonderful quote from The Urantia Book regarding your possible future experience with your child:

But irrespective of parental experience, mansion world parents who have growing children in the probation nursery are given every opportunity to collaborate with the morontia custodians of such children regarding their instruction and training. These parents are permitted to journey there for visits as often as four times a year. And it is one of the most touchingly beautiful scenes of all the ascending career to observe the mansion world parents embrace their material offspring on the occasions of their periodic pilgrimages to the finaliter world. While one or both parents may leave a mansion world ahead of the child, they are quite often contemporary for a season. (47:1.5)

In any event, your child is not lost, so please try to take heart from this information. Our Father is not willing that any should perish, and knowing that, we have to trust that even unborn mortals are given the same opportunity for eternal life that all mortals enjoy. I like to think that there are special places in the nursery where the unborn are nurtured and grown in safety and love. That is my own imagining, since this specific circumstance is not covered in The Urantia Book, but I feel sure that some provision is made, so that eventually, he or she will be able to choose to advance…and that you will sometime be able to meet. There is nowhere in The Urantia Book that teaches otherwise.

And, just in case you have questions about your own survival, please see our featured page on Life After Death.”

This answer was largely personal opinion regarding the survival of a child who dies before birth, but I am still convinced that these as-yet-unformed.souls do have a chance at survival.

Thanks again for writing to us, and please write back any time!