Did Tertullian and Augustine have real-time ultrasound vision into the womb? and did they have the advantage of knowing that the child has separate and distinct DNA from every other person who has ever lived? or that as far as “formed” vs “unformed” that the new child has a functioning heart at 6 weeks...
I’m not the biggest bible scholar around but I know that infanticide was VERY common in ancient times ,, especially in the Roman empire ... and abortion being invasive and far more dangerous was less common and likely less of a conundrum for the scholars... I do not know of any early Christian writings against the most common birth control measure used in Rome ,, namely a primitive version of the IUD where a womans uterus would be packed with small smooth river rocks ... I think perhaps that Tertullian and Augustine’s writings are based on less complete knowledge than we have today.
I can’t help but think of “Bones” McCoy calling us savages as he walked through that SF hospital and performed a “miracle” by giving that woman a single pill that cured her...
The soul isn’t manifest by ultrasound. Ultrasound imaging focuses on the physical, not the soul.
Christianity is trichotomous. Even Platonic atheistic understanding of anthropology grasped the dichotomous nature of fallen man. Too many modern academics ignore everything other than the physical, thinking both soul and spirit are merely confused unskilled misunderstanding of physical phenomenon as empiricists stumbled into several centuries ago.
Even physical definitions of life for mature adults are measurables found in the third trimester, and some neurological functions are operational in the second trimester, but the soul, which is separable from the body, is also associated with the life breathed into the body as an image of God.
A stillbirth is also an example of a physical baby, not having received the soul, not a killing or murder.
The concepts have meanings and they are interconnected for a meaningful understanding of life as given to us by God Himself.