Topic: What does the Catholic Church think about abortion?

Date originally posted: November 6, 2002

Source of this posting: Moderator response to emailed question

Moderator who originally posted this source: Al Dash

Question: Is 'Abortion' the actual word/term mentioned in the Bible? What exactly does the Bible say about this?  When did Abortion become an issue for the Catholic Church? When did the Catholic Church take a stance on that issue?  When was excommunication for abortion first established, and was there a time when it was banned, and then came back again?  I'm working on a research, and I would really appreciate it if you could answer these questions. Thank you soo soo much

Answer: 

I'll try and answer your questions, but you might also want to confer with your campus minister, Fr. Joe Vetter, for further insights.

The word "abortion" is not actually used in scripture. There are many references to the fact that the unborn child is a person (Jeremiah 1:5; Hosea 12:3; Job 10:8-12; Psalm 139: 13-16) and therefore the commandment "You shall not kill." would apply to aborting an unborn child.

From the earliest days of the church's history abortion has been condemned. One of the earliest documents we have is from the 2nd century and is known as "The Didache (the teaching of the 12 apostles); it tells us "You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish." Moving up in time to 1884 the church decreed that "it cannot be safely taught in Catholic schools that itis lawful to perform any surgical operation which is directly destructive of the life of the fetus or the mother." In the 4th century the Council of Eliberis decreed that the Eucharist should be refused all the rest of her life, even on her deathbed, to an adulteress who had procured the abortion of her child.

As for penalties today, excommunication was fixed by the Bull of Pius IX in the Bull "Apostolicae Sedis." I don't know the date of the Bull, but Pius IX's dates are 1846-1878.

That penalty has never been rescinded.

Al Dash