The Roman Catholic Church teaches that human life is sacred - Explain how this teaching influences its attitude to abortion and euthanasia, showing that you understand other points of view.

Authors Avatar

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that human life is sacred.  Explain how this teaching influences its attitude to abortion and euthanasia, showing that you understand other points of view.

The best gift that any of us has been given is the gift of life.  Without it none of us would be here.  Surely then it is very important to preserve this gift and never let anyone destroy it.  Yet, in this current age where the sanctity of life seems to be appreciated there are some very chilling statistics.  Since 1967, four million lives have been ended for one reason.  These deaths were not famine, illness, plague or even a war.  These deaths were not accidental, they were lost simply because their mothers decided that they did not want their babies.  These lives were lost through abortion.

        Abortion was first legalised in the United Kingdom in 1967.  Nowadays it is legal in many countries around the world and is practised in many more.  The number of abortions has risen sharply in the past thirty years.  Abortion is illegal in all parts of Ireland.  However despite the teaching of the Catholic Church many Irish girls travel to England to get their babies aborted.  This is a sad statement, which should be mourned by all Christians.

        The Catholic Church is 100% against abortion instead it is 100% pro-life.  It believes abortion to be the unnecessary killing of an innocent child and therefore a violation of the fifth commandment;

Do not commit murder, Exodus 20:1-7

The view of the Pope on abortion is that:

The deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being

of his life is morally evil and can never be licit.

This view is the reasoning on which the church bases its teaching on abortion. The Church treats abortion the same way as it treats murder – as a sin against God and a crime against humanity.  We have to remember that;

God made us, we belong to him.”

The church promotes the sanctity of life just as Jesus did and abortion is a violation of this.  However, despite the churches view on abortion there are some Catholics who believe that in certain circumstances abortion should be resorted to.  The most prominent circumstance is when the child is conceived as a result of rape.  Many people think that abortion is acceptable in these cases.  They believe that since the mother did not want the child and it was forced upon her then she should not have to carry through with the pregnancy.  They believe that a woman who has been put through the torture of rape should not have to bring up the child of the man who raped her.

Join now!

        However, despite these emotive arguments abortion is still wrong.  Rape is a violation of a woman’s body but she should not allow her body to be violated again by abortion – two wrongs do not make a right.  The woman has got more options than abortion.  She can continue with the pregnancy and bring the baby up looking upon it as a good thing coming from a bad thing.  But if she feels she could not bring up her rapists child then the child could be offered up for adoption after it is born.  Surely this is a better option ...

This is a preview of the whole essay