History of Church Teaching on Abortion

Zenit ^ | 9/4/08 | Zenit

[wagglebee]

US Bishops Issue Fact Sheet

WASHINGTON, D.C., SEPT. 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a fact sheet issued by the U.S. episcopal conference's Committee on Pro-Life Activities, which clarifies the Church's constant teaching on abortion.

The fact sheet responds to a misrepresentation of Church teaching made in remarks by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during an Aug. 24 interview on national TV.

* * *

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law” (No. 2271).

In response to those who say this teaching has changed or is of recent origin, here are the facts:

-- From earliest times, Christians sharply distinguished themselves from surrounding pagan cultures by rejecting abortion and infanticide. The earliest widely used documents of Christian teaching and practice after the New Testament in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) and Letter of Barnabas, condemned both practices, as did early regional and particular Church councils.

-- To be sure, knowledge of human embryology was very limited until recent times. Many Christian thinkers accepted the biological theories of their time, based on the writings of Aristotle (4th century BC) and other philosophers. Aristotle assumed a process was needed over time to turn the matter from a woman’s womb into a being that could receive a specifically human form or soul. The active formative power for this process was thought to come entirely from the man -- the existence of the human ovum (egg), like so much of basic biology, was unknown.

-- However, such mistaken biological theories never changed the Church’s common conviction that abortion is gravely wrong at every stage. At the very least, early abortion was seen as attacking a being with a human destiny, being prepared by God to receive an immortal soul (cf. Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you”).

-- In the 5th century AD this rejection of abortion at every stage was affirmed by the great bishop-theologian St. Augustine. He knew of theories about the human soul not being present until some weeks into pregnancy. Because he used the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, he also thought the ancient Israelites had imposed a more severe penalty for accidentally causing a miscarriage if the fetus was “fully formed” (Exodus 21: 22-23), language not found in any known Hebrew version of this passage. But he also held that human knowledge of biology was very limited, and he wisely warned against misusing such theories to risk committing homicide. He added that God has the power to make up all human deficiencies or lack of development in the Resurrection, so we cannot assume that the earliest aborted children will be excluded from enjoying eternal life with God.

-- In the 13th century, St. Thomas Aquinas made extensive use of Aristotle’s thought, including his theory that the rational human soul is not present in the first few weeks of pregnancy. But he also rejected abortion as gravely wrong at every stage, observing that it is a sin “against nature” to reject God’s gift of a new life.

-- During these centuries, theories derived from Aristotle and others influenced the grading of penalties for abortion in Church law. Some canonical penalties were more severe for a direct abortion after the stage when the human soul was thought to be present. However, abortion at all stages continued to be seen as a grave moral evil.

-- From the 13th to 19th centuries, some theologians speculated about rare and difficult cases where they thought an abortion before “formation” or “ensoulment” might be morally justified. But these theories were discussed and then always rejected, as the Church refined and reaffirmed its understanding of abortion as an intrinsically evil act that can never be morally right.

-- In 1827, with the discovery of the human ovum, the mistaken biology of Aristotle was discredited. Scientists increasingly understood that the union of sperm and egg at conception produces a new living being that is distinct from both mother and father. Modern genetics demonstrated that this individual is, at the outset, distinctively human, with the inherent and active potential to mature into a human fetus, infant, child and adult. From 1869 onward the obsolete distinction between the “ensouled” and “unensouled” fetus was permanently removed from canon law on abortion.

-- Secular laws against abortion were being reformed at the same time and in the same way, based on secular medical experts’ realization that “no other doctrine appears to be consonant with reason or physiology but that which admits the embryo to possess vitality from the very moment of conception” (American Medical Association, Report on Criminal Abortion, 1871).

-- Thus modern science has not changed the Church’s constant teaching against abortion, but has underscored how important and reasonable it is, by confirming that the life of each individual of the human species begins with the earliest embryo.

-- Given the scientific fact that a human life begins at conception, the only moral norm needed to understand the Church’s opposition to abortion is the principle that each and every human life has inherent dignity, and thus must be treated with the respect due to a human person. This is the foundation for the Church’s social doctrine, including its teachings on war, the use of capital punishment, euthanasia, health care, poverty and immigration. Conversely, to claim that some live human beings do not deserve respect or should not be treated as “persons” (based on changeable factors such as age, condition, location, or lack of mental or physical abilities) is to deny the very idea of inherent human rights. Such a claim undermines respect for the lives of many vulnerable people before and after birth.

--- --- ---

Statement in pdf format: www.usccb.org/prolife/constantchurchteaching.shtml

[wagglebee]

Given the scientific fact that a human life begins at conception, the only moral norm needed to understand the Church’s opposition to abortion is the principle that each and every human life has inherent dignity, and thus must be treated with the respect due to a human person.

How ANYBODY could logically conclude otherwise is beyond me.

[wagglebee]

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[Redmen4ever]

Kudos to the Catholic Bishops of America. They have published a document that beautifully states the teaching of the church on this matter all through history.

We know scientific certainty that at concept the matter of a human being is present. And, we know with moral certainty that God infuses this matter with a human soul sometime early during the pregnancy. As Christians, we combine these two things, in the words of St. Jerome, that which has the potential to be human is to be treated as human. Therefore, it is a grave moral matter whether or not God infuses a human sould into the matter at conception or a buit later. (For that matter, human sexuality and the female are to be venerated as the vessels through which God sends his children into this world.) As to whether abortion during the first few weeks of a pregnancy is to be treated as a crime or something else, the church cannot say.

A person who does not believe in God or in the human soul or in the sacredness of each person as a child of God, would have a different position. Such a person, being completely materialistic, could say that a person is defined merely as the physical stuff of a person, and therefore have to defend the rights of all human beings from conception. Of course, we do not know of any godless socialists who actually say this. And, the reason why we don’t is because without God there are no rights for anybody. We all have equal rights in having no rights. The only so-called rights we have are those that the state gives us. Accordingly, not only abortion, but euthanasia or mercy-killing, population control, eugenics, and all kinds of state-sanctioned killing is conceivable.

That’s it. It’s either the culture of life or the culture of death. We are either the children of God or else the state devolves to way in which we organize the war of all against all, and is little different from anarchy. Christians and all people of faith look into the abyss of godless socialism and are horrified. Godless socialists look into the abyss and love it.

[wagglebee]

As Christians, we combine these two things, in the words of St. Jerome, that which has the potential to be human is to be treated as human.

Very true. EVERYONE realizes that, in the absence of medical complications or trauma, a fertilized egg WILL become a human being and NOTHING ELSE.

It’s either the culture of life or the culture of death. We are either the children of God or else the state devolves to way in which we organize the war of all against all, and is little different from anarchy. Christians and all people of faith look into the abyss of godless socialism and are horrified. Godless socialists look into the abyss and love it.

Very well stated.

[Redmen4ever]

I am not sure that a fertilized egg that is not implanted becomes a human being. I do accept that it has the potential to become a human being.

I believe God knows which fertilized eggs will be implanted and which will not. Therefore, I think it is possible, God infuses a soul at fertilization only in the eggs that will be implanted and not in those that will not be implanted.

I also believe it is possible God infuses a soul at implantation, or at some other point later, but not much later during pregnancy.

I may be exaggerating, but you seem to express a view common to many American Indian tribes of the northeast at the time of the arrival of the Europeans. With them, a stillborn child would be buried next to a footpath, to facilaite the soul of the stillborn baby finding its way to a newly-fertilized egg within a passing woman. This way, the soul of that stillborn baby would not wander forever in limbo, but would have the opportunity to choose good over evil, and be able to join with God and all the spirits in heaven.

I don’t know God’s plan of salvation for each person, including stillborn and aborted babies. I believe that God has a plan for each and every one, and that the arm of the Lor is not so short that he cannot save anyone. We now know that it is entirely possible for a late term but still not delivered baby to make some choices. Perhaps God presents the choice of good or evil to them.

I would also like to say this about praying for the immortal souls of those who have gone on before us. We pray to a transcendent God. He exists all through time and independently of time. All of history, past and future, is “now” to him. So, if we pray for the salvation of a stillborn or aborted baby, or anybody about whom we have a doubt concerning their salvation, God can respond to our prayer.

What a mighty God is our God!

[wagglebee]

I misspoke when I said “fertilized egg,” I should have said “implanted fertilized egg.”

[NYer]

Should have been posted in the News/Activism Forum.

[wagglebee]

Should have been posted in the News/Activism Forum.

I figured that it could go either way and chose the Religion Forum. If the moderators would like to move it, it's fine with me.

[Salvation]

This is great news.

Vote pro-life.

Vote McCain-Palin!

[Salvation]

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[wagglebee]

Thanks for moving it.

[narses]

Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment

Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

[narses]

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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment

Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

[bdeaner]

Fantastic document.

[8mmMauser]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

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