Here is some history of the Catholic Church (Popes) on Abortion:
"From the fifth century onward, Aristotle's view that the embryo goes through stages from vegetable to animal to spiritual WAS ACCEPTED. Only in the FINAL STAGE was it HUMAN. Thus GREGORY VI (1045-6)said, "He is NOT a murderer who brings about abortion before the soul is in the body." Gregory XIII (1572-85) said it WAS NOT HOMICIDE to kill an embryo of less that 40 days SINCE IT WASN'T YET HUMAN. His successor, Sixtus V, who rewrote the Bible, disagreed. His Bull of 1588 made ALL abortions for ANY reason HOMICIDE and cause for EXCOMMUNICATION. His successor, Gregory XIV, REVERSED THAT DECREE. In 1621 the Vatican issured another pastoral directive PERMITTING ABORTION up to 40 days. As late as the eighteenth century the Church's greatest moral theologian, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, STILL DENIED THAT THE SOUL WAS INFUSED AT CONCEPTION and ALLOWED FOR FLEXIBILITY, especially WHEN THE MOTHER'S LIFE WAS IN DANGER. FINALLY, in 1869, Pius IX declared that ANY destruction of ANY embryo was an ABORTION and merited EXCOMMUNICATION-a view that remains to this day. - Dave Hunt "A Woman RIdes the Beast", Appendix F, "What About Tradition?", pp.515-16.
Sorry, your source is Dave Hunt. He is in the same category as Jax Chix. Unless I see these quotes from a Catholic source, I cannot debate them. I know the background of this discussion quite well but one cannot assume Hunt quoted any of this accurately or honestly.
The Roman Catholic Church and Abortion: An Historical Perspective - Part I
The Roman Catholic Church and Abortion: An Historical Perspective - Part II
In his desperation to paint the Catholic Church as incoherent on the issue of abortion, Hunt has adopted the polemic of the worst pro-abortion propagandists.
Despicable.