By Michael Amaning                                

                                               Abortion and Euthanasia  

        

Abortion and euthanasia are topics that spark an endless debate within religious and philosophical groups. To therefore answer the question it is essential to break down and analyse the question. What is the definition of abortion and euthanasia? Abortion is defined as:

 The expulsion of the foetus before the seventh mouth of utero-gestation, or before it is viable. 

         Again to understand this definition we must break it down to gain full access to its meaning, according to (Wilcockson) viability is defined as:

When the foetus is considered able to sustain its own life given reasonable care.

         This definition is very close to U.K law addressing abortion, in which an abortion is allowed up to 24 weeks, which according to the law gives the protection from when it has developed to a stage physically in which it can survive out side the mother’s womb.

This objective definition often alienates many religious communities that almost in unison agree in the sanctity of a human being and its preservation.

Let us take the Roman Catholic Church and analyse its position on abortion.  The first disagreement is with the meta-ethics or definition of abortion related word and its laws, is the term foetus, is this word meant to simply describe a clump of cell which has potential to grow, or from the moment of conception the foetus is accepted as a full member of society with, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church as having rights and being recognised by society as a person with these rights.

         A scientific counter statement could be. But at early stages a child doesn’t display signs of personhood such as our ability to think? However a catholic would counter by saying but it has potential to think and the fundamental part of personhood is potential relatedness to god. After all if a person doesn’t find god or further their relationship with god when able to rationally think, god doesn’t terminate their life with the premise that they have not yet reached their full spiritual potential. They are given both choice and free will neither is given to the foetus.

         Relatedness to god is vital to the catholic position on personhood as their position is justified through the authority of the bible. Scriptures determine the foetus’s value such as

‘ Before I formed you in the womb. I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you

 This act of consecration by god furthers the sanctity of the human being and shows his love of us by to blessing us. This leads on to one of the main reasons of Roman Catholics disagreeing with abortion, is that according to Michael  Wilcockson’s  book Issues of Life and Death which will be referred to as (Wilcockson) cutting short the life of a potential being who could change the course of our lives. For example if Martin Luther King was aborted the black struggle would have most likely lasted a decade longer. God has a plan, and for us with limited understanding and foresight to intervene is wrong, as god say only he gives and takes life away.

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        In the Catechism of the Catholic Church it is clearly stated

        ‘You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish’

This is the fundamental position of the Catholic Church; they again use the authority of the bible (the fifth commandment)

‘ You shall not kill’.

 The embryo is considered and innocent; within the bible Jesus says

‘Let the little children come to me’

Which shows children have a special place, therefore Catechism of the Catholic Church states

‘Do not slay the innocent and the righteous. The ...

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