What Does the Catholic Church Believe? Pt I - Abortion
Few issues have been more controversial within the American Catholic parishes than abortion. In fact, the Democrats' embrace of abortion as a core element of the party's platform has driven many Catholics out of the party; indeed, pro-life Catholics proved to be a significant portion of the group which came to be called the Reagan Democrats.
What is the Catholic Church's Teaching on Abortion?
Catholic teaching on abortion is laid out in paragraphs 2270-2275 of the Catechism. The language is unambiguous and leaves no room for interpretation: one either is in accord with Church teaching on the matter or one is in error, with severe consequences for the latter.
This is then followed by a pair of quotations from scripture:
The Catholic position on abortion as indicated in this first paragraph is completely unambiguous. It is bracing in its precision and in its clarity. The usual arguments tossed out by abortion proponents to muddy the moral thinking of men on this issue are made entirely moot here. Consider the implications:
1. When does life begin? The Catholic Church: Conception.
2. When does an embryo become human? The Catholic Church: Conception.
3. What rights must we respect regarding embryos? The Catholic Church: All human rights, including the right to life.
45 words which sweep away so many others the moment they leap off the page and into the mind.
There then ensues a quote from the Didache (written in the first century A.D. and the earliest extant catechism):
This is followed by a quotation from the Second Vatican Council:
The quote from the Didache is devastating to those who believe that Christians didn't care about abortion until very recently. It demonstrates that the earliest Christians were opposed to abortion and infanticide. This is not a new position for the Church; indeed, it counts among the oldest. It is the willingness of mothers to destroy their babies and society to celebrate them for it which is the "innovation."
The Catholic Church does not hesitate to brand abortion a moral evil; a grave one at that. Moreover, the Church is not going to "come around" to the pro-abortion position on this issue; its teaching "has not changed and remains unchangeable." NARAL will not be invited to Vatican III, should such an event be held while abortion rights organizations even exist.
The "means or end" reference may have slipped by you. We may set out to have an abortion; that is abortion as an end. We may pursue in vitro fertilization with multiple embryos resulting and pursue "selective reduction"; that is abortion as both means and end. We may create embryos for the purpose of harvesting their component parts; that is abortion as a means to an end. We may pursue abortion believing that it would improve the health of the mother; that is abortion as a means to an end.
The Church maintains that all of these scenarios are abominable crimes.
If you're an abortionist, a Planned Parenthood counselor who helps a woman obtain an abortion, and anesthesiologist who puts a woman seeking an abortion under, a janitor who disposes of the remains of an aborted child, a woman who gets an abortion, a man who drives a woman seeking an abortion to the clinic, or a relative who pays for an abortion, you are no longer a Catholic the moment that abortion is completed.
There are those who will claim that this is not a very Christian position for the Church to take. To these the Church responds, "What of the innocent life destroyed? What of the harm the parents have done to themselves, and to all of us through so heinous an act?"
Does an aborted child's blood cry out to God any less than Abel's did? Should those who did the deed not bear their own mark of Cain as a result?
Can one ever again be in full communion with God and his Church when their conscience doesn't howl against such a deed?
For this reason, excommunication, the Church's severest penalty, is prescribed.
There follows two quotes from the papal encyclical Dominum Vitae III:
The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined....As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights. (CDF, Dominum Vitae III)
The argument here is simple but powerful: once a society decides that some innocents do not have a right to live, it has divided its populace into full citizens and untouchables. Moreover, as natural law holds that all men are created equal, a society so doing has become unmoored from the principles of natural law and perpetuate a grave injustice.
In this way, the culture of death represented by abortion eats away at the roots of civil society, for a state in which slaughtering the weakest and most dependent among it is permissible will find it impossible to prohibit anything. A state which prohibits nothing is no state at all, save perhaps a failed state.
The first paragraph is again quite crisp and clear; it defines the type of care we are entitled to from conception. It bars by implication procedures which involve creating embryos not to be allowed to mature such as embryonic stem cell research.
The second paragraph may be a bit puzzling at first, but in fact guards against horrors such as eugenics or "designer babies". If one were subject to conceiving children with Down's Syndrome, and wanted to know if your unborn child carried this genetic defect so as to determine whether or not to destroy your child, the act of determining whether or not the child had Down's Syndrome would be equivalent to a death sentence for that child, and therefore not morally sanctioned.
Another real-world situation might be DNA analysis to determine the child's paternity. If a woman did so intending to get an abortion if the father's identity was not the one desired, paternity testing would be in effect the child's death sentence.
The Church views this as a grave offense.
Could there be a clearer refutation of the notion that embryonic stem cell research or the production of "designer babies" would ever be sanctioned by the Church?
Summary
In sum, the Catholic Church believes that every innocent human being possesses an inviolable right to life from the moment of conception, and that to deny or enable those who would deny this right is a grave sin worthy of the highest penalty. Moreover, societies which do not penalize citizens who violate the rights of the unborn are in danger of losing their ability to govern in accordance with natural law.
Abortion, then, is a great evil. It destroys innocent human life. It corrupts parents and drives them out of communion with God and Church. It corrupts society by destroying its moral underpinnings.
The Church's position on abortion is unchanging; indeed, it is unchangeable. One may not be Catholic and take active part in the process of abortion. Those who do not take active part but evince support for abortion as a practice run the risk of leading their coreligionists into grave sin, which, as we shall see in a subsequent post, is a grave sin itself.
Implications
Given the Church's clear, consistent, and immutable position on abortion, there is no such thing as a "pro-choice Catholic". One must choose between supporting abortion and faith in God and His Church. Those who demonstrate any support for abortion (marching, voting, volunteering, etc) commit a grave sin in the eyes of the Church and risk excommunication, the highest penalty the Church applies.
Given the political culture in the United States, American Catholics in particular are subject to feeling torn between their political beliefs and their faith on this issue. We hope that they will continue to pray about this, discuss this issue with their priests and deacons, and read as widely as possible on the Church's view of abortion. We will in turn pray that those opposed to Church teaching on this matter will in due course reconcile their position with that of their Church and do so before irrevocable harm is done.
What is the Catholic Church's Teaching on Abortion?
Catholic teaching on abortion is laid out in paragraphs 2270-2275 of the Catechism. The language is unambiguous and leaves no room for interpretation: one either is in accord with Church teaching on the matter or one is in error, with severe consequences for the latter.
2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person---among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.
This is then followed by a pair of quotations from scripture:
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. (Jeremiah 1:5)
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. (Psalms 139:15)
The Catholic position on abortion as indicated in this first paragraph is completely unambiguous. It is bracing in its precision and in its clarity. The usual arguments tossed out by abortion proponents to muddy the moral thinking of men on this issue are made entirely moot here. Consider the implications:
1. When does life begin? The Catholic Church: Conception.
2. When does an embryo become human? The Catholic Church: Conception.
3. What rights must we respect regarding embryos? The Catholic Church: All human rights, including the right to life.
45 words which sweep away so many others the moment they leap off the page and into the mind.
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:
There then ensues a quote from the Didache (written in the first century A.D. and the earliest extant catechism):
You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish. (Didache 2,2: Sch 248,148)
This is followed by a quotation from the Second Vatican Council:
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. (Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes 51 #3)
The quote from the Didache is devastating to those who believe that Christians didn't care about abortion until very recently. It demonstrates that the earliest Christians were opposed to abortion and infanticide. This is not a new position for the Church; indeed, it counts among the oldest. It is the willingness of mothers to destroy their babies and society to celebrate them for it which is the "innovation."
The Catholic Church does not hesitate to brand abortion a moral evil; a grave one at that. Moreover, the Church is not going to "come around" to the pro-abortion position on this issue; its teaching "has not changed and remains unchangeable." NARAL will not be invited to Vatican III, should such an event be held while abortion rights organizations even exist.
The "means or end" reference may have slipped by you. We may set out to have an abortion; that is abortion as an end. We may pursue in vitro fertilization with multiple embryos resulting and pursue "selective reduction"; that is abortion as both means and end. We may create embryos for the purpose of harvesting their component parts; that is abortion as a means to an end. We may pursue abortion believing that it would improve the health of the mother; that is abortion as a means to an end.
The Church maintains that all of these scenarios are abominable crimes.
2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae," "by the very commission of this offense," and subject to the conditions provided by canon law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and to the whole of society.
If you're an abortionist, a Planned Parenthood counselor who helps a woman obtain an abortion, and anesthesiologist who puts a woman seeking an abortion under, a janitor who disposes of the remains of an aborted child, a woman who gets an abortion, a man who drives a woman seeking an abortion to the clinic, or a relative who pays for an abortion, you are no longer a Catholic the moment that abortion is completed.
There are those who will claim that this is not a very Christian position for the Church to take. To these the Church responds, "What of the innocent life destroyed? What of the harm the parents have done to themselves, and to all of us through so heinous an act?"
Does an aborted child's blood cry out to God any less than Abel's did? Should those who did the deed not bear their own mark of Cain as a result?
Can one ever again be in full communion with God and his Church when their conscience doesn't howl against such a deed?
For this reason, excommunication, the Church's severest penalty, is prescribed.
2273The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:
There follows two quotes from the papal encyclical Dominum Vitae III:
The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death. (CDF, Dominum Vitae III)
The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined....As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights. (CDF, Dominum Vitae III)
The argument here is simple but powerful: once a society decides that some innocents do not have a right to live, it has divided its populace into full citizens and untouchables. Moreover, as natural law holds that all men are created equal, a society so doing has become unmoored from the principles of natural law and perpetuate a grave injustice.
In this way, the culture of death represented by abortion eats away at the roots of civil society, for a state in which slaughtering the weakest and most dependent among it is permissible will find it impossible to prohibit anything. A state which prohibits nothing is no state at all, save perhaps a failed state.
2274 Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being.
Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, "if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human fetus and is directed toward its safeguarding or healing as an individual....It is gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the moral equivalent of a death sentence." (CDF, Dominum Vitae I)
The first paragraph is again quite crisp and clear; it defines the type of care we are entitled to from conception. It bars by implication procedures which involve creating embryos not to be allowed to mature such as embryonic stem cell research.
The second paragraph may be a bit puzzling at first, but in fact guards against horrors such as eugenics or "designer babies". If one were subject to conceiving children with Down's Syndrome, and wanted to know if your unborn child carried this genetic defect so as to determine whether or not to destroy your child, the act of determining whether or not the child had Down's Syndrome would be equivalent to a death sentence for that child, and therefore not morally sanctioned.
Another real-world situation might be DNA analysis to determine the child's paternity. If a woman did so intending to get an abortion if the father's identity was not the one desired, paternity testing would be in effect the child's death sentence.
The Church views this as a grave offense.
2275 "One must hold as licit procedures carried out on the human embryo which respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but are directed toward its healing, the improvement of its condition of health, or its individual survival. (CDF, Dominum Vitae I,3)
"It is immoral to produce human embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material." (CDF, Dominum Vitae I,5)
"Certain attempts to influence chromosomic or genetic inheritance are not therapeutic but are aimed at producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined qualities. Such manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being and his integrity and identity" (CDF, Dominum Vitae I,6) which are unique and unrepeatable.
Could there be a clearer refutation of the notion that embryonic stem cell research or the production of "designer babies" would ever be sanctioned by the Church?
Summary
In sum, the Catholic Church believes that every innocent human being possesses an inviolable right to life from the moment of conception, and that to deny or enable those who would deny this right is a grave sin worthy of the highest penalty. Moreover, societies which do not penalize citizens who violate the rights of the unborn are in danger of losing their ability to govern in accordance with natural law.
Abortion, then, is a great evil. It destroys innocent human life. It corrupts parents and drives them out of communion with God and Church. It corrupts society by destroying its moral underpinnings.
The Church's position on abortion is unchanging; indeed, it is unchangeable. One may not be Catholic and take active part in the process of abortion. Those who do not take active part but evince support for abortion as a practice run the risk of leading their coreligionists into grave sin, which, as we shall see in a subsequent post, is a grave sin itself.
Implications
Given the Church's clear, consistent, and immutable position on abortion, there is no such thing as a "pro-choice Catholic". One must choose between supporting abortion and faith in God and His Church. Those who demonstrate any support for abortion (marching, voting, volunteering, etc) commit a grave sin in the eyes of the Church and risk excommunication, the highest penalty the Church applies.
Given the political culture in the United States, American Catholics in particular are subject to feeling torn between their political beliefs and their faith on this issue. We hope that they will continue to pray about this, discuss this issue with their priests and deacons, and read as widely as possible on the Church's view of abortion. We will in turn pray that those opposed to Church teaching on this matter will in due course reconcile their position with that of their Church and do so before irrevocable harm is done.
posted by Teflon at 1:17 PM
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