Explain how the belief that human life is sacred affects the attitude of Christians to the issue of abortion.
Explain how the belief that human life is sacred affects the attitude of Christians to the issue of abortion.
What is abortion?
Abortion can come in two forms: natural abortions, also called miscarriages, and procured or intentional abortions. A procured abortion is the ‘termination of pregnancy and expulsion of a foetus that is in capable of survival.
Basically, what we are examining here is abortion as the intentional termination and removal of the unborn foetus while it is still in side the womb.
The Catholic Church teaches that life begins at conception; “for it was you who created my being, knit me together in my mothers womb, I thank you for the wonder of my being, for the wonders of all creation (psalm 139)” so abortion is always wrong. It states that the natural law is that human life begins when an ovum is fertilised as there is an unbroken continuum from conception to birth; “human life must be respected and absolutely protected from the moment of conception (Catechism of the catholic church)”. It is wrong to take life, as we have already seen in the 5th commandment, therefore abortion is wrong. The church claims that every person has the right to a natural life. A foetus is a person and abortion destroys its right to life, so it follows that abortion is wrong.
