History of Abortion in the Church

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How does a Catholic such as myself respond to claims that Prominent people such as Augustine and Pope Innocent III basically said abortion was Ok up until a certain point

Augustine:
There cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation”, and held that abortion required penance only for the sexual aspect of the sin.6 He and other early Christian theologians believed, as had Aristotle centuries before, that “animation”, or the coming alive of the fetus, occurred forty days after conception for a boy and eighty days after conception for a girl. The conclusion that early abortion is not homicide is contained in the first authoritative collection of canon law accepted by the church in 1140.6 As this collection was used as an instruction manual for priests until the new Code of Canon Law of 1917, its view of abortion has had great influence.

Pope Innocent III:
quickening” —the time when a woman first feels the fetus move within her— was the moment at which abortion became homicide; prior to quickening, abortion was a less serious sin. Pope Gregory XIV agreed, designating quickening as occurring after a period of 116 days (about 17 weeks). His declaration in 1591 that early abortion was not grounds for excommunication continued to be the abortion policy of the Catholic Church until 1869.

Thanks for any comments.
 
Thanks for the post - I had not heard of these statements before.
It would be interesting to see what changed in 1869 and why.

Of course - this is an issue that stretches across separate areas - faith& morals as opposed to science&technology.

It is through technology that we have come to better understand the process of conception.
This gives us a better understanding of biology and the automatic implications it has on this moral issue.
 
I’m not much of a scholar, but here is a reference to a document written in approximately 70 A.D. or at least I believe that it was composed at that time. Notice how it explicitly mentions abortion. The previous declarations of when life begins were subject to what was the current knowledge at the time. I think it is similar to the Gallelio situation in respect to the level of knowlege available at the time. I do believe that the development of doctrine methodology will illuminate this situation for you.

It seems in right accord that it may be necessary to define doctrine such to limit the possibility of error based on the development of human understanding of particular issues. I don’t think that this undermines the deposit of faith in any aspect, but rather emphasizes the necessary authority of the Magesterium and the living teaching authority of the Church.

Thus, the Church is and has always been against abortion, but as to what the specific parameters as to which has been specifically mentioned in the quotes, surely it is better to fail on the side of safety by accepting life at the very point of conception instead of the Jewish recognization of live in the 40 and 80 day increments.

I think that to claim that the Church changed their position on abortion based on the previous quotes is an exaggeration and a gross misunderstanding of how the mystical body of Christ is to go about its mission in fear and trembling.

I hope this helps.

Pax Christi

​

The Didache

The Lord’s Teaching Through the

Twelve Apostles to the Nations.

Chapter 2. The Second Commandment: Grave Sin Forbidden. And the second commandment of the Teaching; You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by **abortion **nor kill that which is born. You shall not covet the things of your neighbor, you shall not swear, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not speak evil, you shall bear no grudge. You shall not be double-minded nor double-tongued, for to be double-tongued is a snare of death. Your speech shall not be false, nor empty, but fulfilled by deed. You shall not be covetous, nor rapacious, nor a hypocrite, nor evil disposed, nor haughty. You shall not take evil counsel against your neighbor. You shall not hate any man; but some you shall reprove, and concerning some you shall pray, and some you shall love more than your own life.
 
Actually, neither of the two sources you quote say that Abortion is ever OK. Prior to modern times, it was simply a matter of debate whether or not all abortion qualified as murder. It was always agreed that it was gravely sinful. How grave was a matter of discussion.

For a more representative survery of Patristic teaching on the subject see the Catholic Answers tract “Abortion”.

Also, see “Historical Abortion Beliefs of the Christian Church”.

In short, the vast majority of the Church Fathers equated abortion with murder. Since the time of Augustine, it was a matter of debate whether or not abortion in the first trimester, grave though it was, was muder properly speaking. There was never any doubt among Eastern Catholics that it was.

Due to the limited science of the day, which could not establish whether or not a conceptus was properly a human being, the question of how grave abortion was was a free one, and the Church in her canon law erred on the side of caution, giving people the benefit of the doubt that it wasn’t murder, though still mortally sinful.

Now we know better, and the issue is closed.

It’s called “doctrinal development.”

😃
 
It’s also called scientific development. Now we know without a doubt when a new human being begins. Every individual of the human species begins at conception. That’s the biology of it. That’s where you and I started out. Ensoulment doesn’t enter the discussion because (a) it can’t be observed, and (b) the biologists probably don’t accept it anyway. But they know when a human being begins.

JimG
 
I designed the following for a brochure…you may find it informative.

Things to ponder…

Catechism of the Catholic Church

2271 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:

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.

God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.

The Holy Bible

Individuality recognized within the womb:

Isaiah 49:1: “Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The LORD called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.”

Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.”

Consciousness recognized within the womb:

Luke 1:41: “And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the baby leaped in her womb.”
 
Children are precious in God’s sight:

Psalm 127:3: “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”

Matthew 18:10,14: “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. . . . Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

Mark 9:36-37: “Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.””

Mark 10:13-16: “Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.”

Rape and incest are not acceptable reasons for aborting:

Deuteronomy 24:16: “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”

**The Early Church

Our Apostolic Fathers:

Letter of Barnabus (130 AD): “You shall not destroy your conceptions before they are brought forth; nor kill them after they are born.”**
 
**St. Clement (200 AD): “Those who use abortifacients commit homicide.”

Tertullian (200 AD): “The mold in the womb may not be destroyed.”

St. Basil the Great (360 AD): “The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. The hair-splitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difrence to us.”

St. Augustine (390 AD): “Sometimes their sadistic licentiousness goes so far that they procure poison to produce infertility, and when this is of no avail, they find one means or another to destroy the unborn and flush it from the mother’s womb. For they desire to see their offspring perish before it is alive or, if it has already been granted life, they seek to kill it within the mother’s body before it is born.”

St. John Chrysostom (390 AD): “Why do you sow where the field is eager to destroy the fruit? Where there are medicines of sterility? Where there is murder before birth? You do not even let a harlot remain only a harlot, but you make her a murderess as well. Indeed, it is something worse than murder and I do not know what to call it; for she does not kill what is formed but prevents its formation. What then? Do you condemn the gifts of God, and fight with His laws? What is a curse you seek as though it were a blessing? Do you make the anteroom of slaughter? Do you teach the women who are given to you for a procreation of offspring to perpetuate killing?”

The Didache, when translated means, “The Teaching(s) of the Twelve Apostles” (100 AD): “…thou shalt not kill a child by abortion…”**
 
Pope John Paul II (June 4, 2004):

“Rights are at times reduced to self-centered demands: the growth of prostitution and pornography in the name of adult choice, the acceptance of abortion in the name of women’s rights, the approval of same sex unions in the name of homosexual rights…”

“In the face of such erroneous yet pervasive thinking, U.S. Bishops should stress to congregations their special responsibility for evangelizing culture and promoting Christian values in society and public life.”

The Political Arena

Founders and Leaders of the Women Rights Movement:

Susan B. Anthony (The Revolution, July 8, 1869): “Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!”

Mattie Brinkerhoff (The Revolution 3(9):138-9, September 2, 1869): “When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society – so when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged.”*

Sarah Norton (Woodhull’s and Claffin’s Weekly, November 19, 1870): “Child murderers practice their profession without let or hindrance, and open infant butcheries unquestioned … . Is there no remedy for all this ante-natal child murder? … Perhaps there will come a time when … an unmarried mother will not be despised because of her motherhood … and when the right of the unborn to be born will not be denied or interfered with.”

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Letter to Julia Ward Howe, October 16, 1873): “When we consider that woman are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.”*

Emma Goldman (Mother Earth, 1911): “The custom of procuring abortions has reached such appalling proportions in America as to be beyond belief…So great is the misery of the working classes that seventeen abortions are committed in every one hundred pregnancies.”

Victoria Woodhull (the first female presidential candidate):
“The rights of children as individuals begin while yet they remain the foetus.” (Woodhull’s and Claffin’s Weekly 2(6):4 December 24, 1870)

“Every woman knows that if she were free, she would never bear an unwished-for child, nor think of murdering one before its birth.” (Wheeling, West Virginia Evening Standard, November 17, 1875)

Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792):

“Women becoming, consequently, weaker…than they ought to be…have not sufficient strength to discharge the first duty of a mother; and sacrificing to lasciviousness the parental affection…either destroy the embryo in the womb, or cast if off when born. Nature in every thing demands respect, and those who violate her laws seldom violate them with impunity.”
 
That quote is frequently touted by pro-abortion Catholics as justification for their beliefs. Unfortunately for them, the Catholic Church is more than the writings of one person.

Remember, Augustine and Aquinas and others who have discussed this issue had no scientific means of determining the nature of the “creation” in the mother’s womb. To them, Aristotle’s argument seemed reasonable in light of the knowledge then available. We now know -scientifically and irrefutably - that the merger of sperm and egg results in a completely different human being from the moment they are joined.

Also, Augustine and Aquinas and everyone else mulled things over in writing, presenting arguments, reaching conclusions, and then refuting the old and reaching new conclusions as they matured in the faith. One cannot take that Augustine quote out of context and build an argument that the Church and the thousands of other saints, popes, martyrs and faithful were wrong.

Even Aquinas acknowledged that irrespective of when the soul attached to the body, it was still in violation of natural law to kill the created being by means of abortion.
 
The Barrister:
Also, Augustine and Aquinas and everyone else mulled things over in writing, presenting arguments, reaching conclusions, and then refuting the old and reaching new conclusions as they matured in the faith. One cannot take that Augustine quote out of context and build an argument that the Church and the thousands of other saints, popes, martyrs and faithful were wrong.
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To this, I would add that their mullings, and even their conclusions, are not binding on our belief unless ratified by the Church. Scientific knowledge of human gestation was very primitive in their days; they considered it possible that we basically start out like plants in our mothers’ wombs (the so-called vegetative state). Augusting and Aquinas always subjected their positions to the authority and repeatedly stated that if the Church disagreed with their conclusions, that we are to agree with the Church; as they themselves would do.

I don’t have the exact quote but the Didache, which was written around the end of the first century, condemns the practice of those who “take potions” in order to kill or expell the child growing within. This is a clear reference to chemical abortion as opposed to infanticide (which the document also condemns). In my opinion, the teaching of the Church on this matter is clear and consistent all the way back to its foundations.
 
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Malachi4U:
I don’t agree with them but here is a link to see what others in our Church believe:

cath4choice.org/lowbandwidth/search.htm:confused:

Just put it here for thought and balance.
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I have not gone to this link, but I would like to point out that you state this is a link to what others **IN our Church ** believe. I would say it’s what those who have taken themselve OUT of the Church believe. At least the ones who leave officially are intellectually honest as opposed to people like these those who say they can be both “pro-choice” **and ** Catholic and go around confusing people into thinking such a position is possible, moral, acceptable, etc.
 
The people who use the quotes in the original post are dishonest if they are trying to pursuade people that catholics once said Abortion was okay or a minor misdemeanour.

All they say is that Abortion after a certain point is ** murder** - hence punishable by death. Before that point it is still a serious crime, but punishable by a lesser penalty than death.
 
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RJS:
How does a Catholic such as myself respond to claims that Prominent people such as Augustine and Pope Innocent III basically said abortion was Ok up until a certain point

Thanks for any comments.
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It matters not what any theologian’s, or pope’s personal belief is. They all beleived that the unborn child was alive at conception.
long before augustine in *The Soul *25 [A.D. 210] Tertullian wrote:
“Now we allow that life begins with conception because we contend that the soul also begins from conception; life taking its commencement at the same moment and place that the soul does”

If the Church thinks that now, and they thought it then, then who was right? Innocent III was not speaking Ex Cathedra, nor even about faith and morals. he was simply giving his opinion on the matter.

Dan
 
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