The Catholic Church’s position on abortion has been consistent throughout its history. The Church believes that life begins at the time of conception and cannot for any reason be interrupted intentionally. The Church does not maintain this position by church fiat but through divine law backed by the 5th Commandment.
The Catholic Church believes that the human embryo is a human life, therefore, possesses a soul, of which cannot be taken except by its maker. Medical technology in modern times applies the choice that ends with the greatest benefit, whether or not that ends one life to save another. The Catholic Church’s belief is that there is no substitute for life under any conditions when it comes to a fetus and its mother.
The Catholic Church’s position on abortion is strict adherence to the Natural Law that protects the life of every individual, born or unborn. The Church believes that the State cannot grant a right to a medical doctor to take a life, because it does not possess that right itself, given the fact that statutory law is subordinate to Divine Law, and cannot contradict it.
There has been controversy in recent times about the historical context of the definition of the beginning of life by the Church, because of the close relationship that earlier church doctrinaires had with the Aristotelean philosophy that a human soul does not exist immediately upon fertilization, and a soul does not come into existence until the fetus is animated, meaning when the mother can feel movement in the womb. Since this usually occurs somewhere around 90 days after conception, people in ancient times believed that a fetus did not have a soul until the end of the first trimester. This is the origin of contemporary laws based on the legality of time based limits of abortion.
The official position of the Catholic Church on abortion as named was decreed in 1884 and affirmed in 1889. Though the Church unequivocally states that surgical procedures intended to destroy the life of the unborn child are strictly forbidden, surgery to the mother, not intended to hurt or destroy the unborn child even if it results in doing so, is not prohibited, as the original intent is not evil.
Though the debate over abortion seems to be a modern one, the early Christians are the first people in recorded history to declare that the killing of the unborn is the functional equivalent of murder.
