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Which would of course indicate that no new bio-science was necessary for the determination. Nor do I believe Augustine and Thomas among many others during that time and for the next 1200 years were evil. They were some of the best minds within the Church. Suffice it to say that for more than a millennium, it was an arguable position, just as it is today.

Nobody claimed they were "evil" Mac. And I would be careful lumping St Thomas and St Augustines views together. St Thomas wrote that abortion was always a grave moral evil but that it only became murder after an Aristotelian time period. There is ample reason to believe that given todays science, St Thomas would have modified his views to those embraced by the Church today and I happen to believe that Augustine would as well.

So yes science has a place in the development of a theological view and the better the science the firmer the theology vis a vis aborting human beings.

Nobody claimed they were "evil" Mac.

Of course they have. Almost any thread that attempts to discuss this issue considers anyone who approves of an abortion as evil. If these people believe the same as Augustine, that a soul does not exist for at least some period during the development, and if they are evil, by definition, so must Augustine be.

St Thomas wrote that abortion was always a grave moral evil but that it only became murder after an Aristotelian time period.

That was because many during that time believed also that both birth control and other methods of sexual gratification stopped the process God intended, and was therefore evil. The issue is the concept of ensoulment, not the moral implications of birth control and other methods.

There is ample reason to believe that given todays science, St Thomas would have modified his views to those embraced by the Church today and I happen to believe that Augustine would as well.

Perhaps, but only because today it is Church doctrine, not subject to any disagreement by the faithful. The issue raised though, is still valid if one feels that doctrine does not hinder his thinking.

So yes science has a place in the development of a theological view and the better the science the firmer the theology vis a vis aborting human beings.

Well, again, what information did Pius IX have that Augustine did not have? Certainly had the Pope determined that ensoulment takes place at an earlier stage than 16 to 30 weeks, I would agree. But the Pope decreed that ensoulment takes place at the moment of conception. That eliminates science as a basis for the later determination, and depends completely on faith.