Can aborted babies go to heaven?

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Allegra said:
I guess we can’t really know for sure until we are there. I only observe that we believe in a just God and we have a feast day of the Holy Innocents due to their martyrdom. If being a victim of abortion isn’t martyrdom, I don’t know what is.
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Martyrdom (at least the kind attributed to Church martyrs) means dying for the faith from persecution. An aborted person is a victim of indifference of dehumanization but I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to call them martyrs. For example, if somebody is murdered for money or for sport or from rage they aren’t a martyr. In that case, anybody ever intentionally killed would be a martyr .
 
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LovelyLadybug said:
I know those babies never get a chance to be baptized or a chance to pray because they die before they are born. But this isn’t their fault. Can they still go to heaven? Any thoughts on this? Thanks!!!
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When King David’s infant son died, he went from being inconsolable to washing himself up & returning to his way of life. He stated that he would go to him. The reason I don’t believe this merely means “going” to the grave, is because when his adult son, Absalom, died, he was inconsolable after his death, because he would never see him again. When David’s infant son died, his reaction was different (“I will go to him”), and Scripture tells us David is in Heaven. Plus, his infant son died before he was circumcised, despite being a “sign” of the OT covenant.

There is a really good book out titled, “Safe in the Arms of God,” that addresses this utilizing both OT & NT passages. It’s on Amazon if you are interested.
 
“Can aborted babies go to heaven?”

The Church teaches that GOD is not bound by His sacraments. And so, for example, a penitent may receive GOD’s forgiveness in the absence of the sacrament of reconciliation, and so it follows logically this same principle for unborn souls in the absence of a baptism as well, GOD willing, as He is not bound by the sacraments.

Therefore I believe that we have a very reasonable hope that aborted babies do indeed go to heaven.
 
IterumEgoVeniam said:
We don’t know where they end up. Could be heaven, could be hell, could be purgatory or limbo.

That they die without being baptized is a certainty and due to the uncertainty of where their souls will spend eternity it adds to the horrific nature of abortion.
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Yes, it does. I had never thought of this until, once upon a time, I read an explanation of this from a Catholic pro-life apostolate in Kentucky — the very real likelihood that aborted babies are robbed of heaven because they were never able to be baptized.

Of course, this would also happen if a woman used an abortifacient method of contraception, and had a “silent abortion”. Let this soak in, when you contemplate a modern, dissenting Catholic woman who uses one of these methods, yet maintains she is in “good conscience” and receives the sacraments without repenting of this — because she doesn’t believe it’s a sin. How sure is she, that she is not killing a newly conceived baby?

I will give the Orthodox credit — when they permit contraception (some do, some don’t), at least they insist that it not be abortifacient contraception. That’s better than giving carte blanche to do whatever one wishes under the rubric of “conscience”.

http://thepillkills.org/

http://thepillkills.org/images/2014/PK12talkingpoints.pdf
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
Of course, this would also happen if a woman used an abortifacient method of contraception, and had a “silent abortion”. Let this soak in, when you contemplate a modern, dissenting Catholic woman who uses one of these methods, yet maintains she is in “good conscience” and receives the sacraments without repenting of this — because she doesn’t believe it’s a sin. How sure is she, that she is not killing a newly conceived baby?
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There’s also the pregnancies that fail to implant not due to our action but just due to our reproductive systems being what they are, or pregnancies that miscarry early on, sometimes before the woman even knows.
 
IterumEgoVeniam said:
That they die without being baptized is a certainty and due to the uncertainty of where their souls will spend eternity it adds to the horrific nature of abortion.
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This is so true!!! Those babies should have the chance to live and it’s very sad when they aren’t given that chance.
 
Maybe they are among the Just who are/were taught when Jesus descended to the dead, since God isn’t bound by time.
 
This bothers me because it might dissuade women who really need to use these medications.

Just doing nothing around 50%of conceptions will fail to implant. The primary action of hormonal medication is to suppress ovulation. Therefore there will be far fewer miscarriages on the meds than off.

The secondary effect is to thin the uterine lining. For women who start out with a thick lining it’s a very good thing. It can mean being able to leave the house, not being anemic, not having to wake up in a pool of blood, spend the night in the ER getting a transfusion and possibly avoid hysterectomy.
 
JanR said:
Attending Catechism classes in the 1950s and early 60s, they pushed the concept of Limbo for unbaptized babies, and I was one of those who could never accept that. No loving God would ever punish a little baby who died before he or she could be baptized.

Truth is, we don’t know. But I can’t imagine innocent little babies going anywhere but heaven.

I think the current teaching is that we leave that up to the mercy and love of God.

Still, we don’t really know. We just have to trust Him.
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Limbo is theorized because merit is required for the Beatific Vision, so limbo is proposed as a state of natural peace without the Beatific Vision.
… a supernatural merit can only be a salutary act (actus salutaris), to which God in consequence of his infallible promise owes a supernatural reward, consisting ultimately in eternal life, which is the beatific vision in heaven.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus may be taken as representative: “It will happen, I believe”, he writes, that those last mentioned [i.e. infants dying without baptism] will neither be admitted by the just judge to the glory of heaven nor condemned to suffer punishment, since, though unsealed [by baptism], they are not wicked. … For from the fact that one does not merit punishment it does not follow that he is worthy of being honored, any more than it follows that one who is not worthy of a certain honor deserves on that account to be punished”.
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www.catholic.com

Merit

Merit. —By merit (meritum) in general is understood that property of a good work which entitles the doer to receive a reward (praemium, merces) from him in whos...
www.catholic.com www.catholic.com

www.catholic.com

Limbo

Limbo (Late Lat. limbus), a word of Teutonic derivation, meaning literally “hem or “border”, as of a garment, or anything joined on (cf. Ital...
www.catholic.com www.catholic.com
 
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Leek said:
This bothers me because it might dissuade women who really need to use these medications.
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There is NEVER a need for a woman to get an abortion. Ever!!! Abortion is NOT healthcare!!! Enough said!!!
 
LovelyLadybug said:
There is NEVER a need for a woman to get an abortion. Ever!!! Abortion is NOT healthcare!!! Enough said!!!
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Leek was talking about hormonal birth control which is also used for hormonal regulation and supplementation. Non-contraceptive uses are allowed by the church is my understanding. Some studies have shown a small increase in the # of non-implanting pregnancies when using such pills, it’s one of those things that’s hard to measure because a lot of pregnancies fail to implant even if no pills are taken. But because of the possibility some group all such pills into the abortifacient category.
 
Dan123 said:
Leek was talking about hormonal birth control which is also used for hormonal regulation and supplementation.
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That is also sinful. Birth control goes against Catholic teachings and it is wrong.
 
It doesn’t matter what your reason is. It’s still sinful.
 
Sometimes the hormonal medications used in a contraceptive are also used to treat a bodily illness. It is not sinful to take these hormonal treatments for a disease.
 
LovelyLadybug said:
It doesn’t matter what your reason is. It’s still sinful.
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It’s not that simple. If you’re talking about condoms, or some other barrier method, yes. If you’re talking about oral contraceptives, then no, that isn’t correct. It is permissible to use oral contraceptives if they are being used for a medical purpose other than to contracept.
 
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