Why does the Catholic Church condemn abortion?

Knowing the stance of the Catholic Church on abortion, why would anybody contemplating an abortion, consult its catechism? Where else can you find a succinct distillation of 2000 years of Christian moral teachings?

Most people who are pro-abortion, and, indeed, most people who are anti-abortion have never taken time to ponder the underpinnings of the Church’s teachings concerning abortion. But are its teachings today, consistent with those of the early church?

The Didache, generally thought to have been written in the late 1st Century, has been described as the oldest extant Christian catechism. It begins by teaching that “There are two ways, one of life and one of death.” In its second chapter, it condemns abortions: “thou shalt not kill a child by abortion, neither shalt thou slay it when born.”

Tertullian (c. 155 - 220 a.d.) in the 8th chapter of his Apology for Christians wrote,

“But Christians now are so far from homicide, that with them it is utterly unlawful to make away a child in the womb, when nature is in deliberation about the man; for to kill a child before it is born is to commit murder by way of advance; and there is no difference whether you destroy a child in its formation, or after it is formed and delivered. We Christians look upon him as a man, who is one in embryo; for he is in being, like the fruit in blossom, and in a little time would have been a perfect man, had nature met with no disturbance.”


On such texts, the church teaches: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.” “Abortion willed — either as an end or a means — is gravely contrary to the moral law.”

The church find support in its teachings in the Prophet Jeremiah, quoting God as saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you.”

And in Isaiah, “Before birth the Lord called me, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name …

“Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”

Based on such passages, the church teaches 

“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.”

From there, the Church goes on to teach, 

“The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation.

"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.

The fundamental question here is not whether you agree with this op-ed. Nor whether you are a member of the Catholic Church. Nor even whether you agree with the catechism of the Church.

The fundamental question is whether, The church is right or wrong when it teaches that abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes. And given the “irreparable harm done” to the innocent fetus-embryo-child “who is put to death,” whether “abortion is grave matter” and mortal sin.

And is the church correct when it teaches, “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.”

In a few days the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether abortion remains a Constitution right — a legal question. Whatever its decision, the moral question still remains.

But if the “abortion” chapter of the catechism provides no exceptions, does it do so elsewhere?

See my next op ed.

Copyright 2022, John Donald O'Shea

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on June 5, 2022