Abortion

 Church of England

The Church of England encourages people to think through the issue of abortion very carefully and recognises that each individual will have differing views on the subject.

However, the Church's governing body, The General Synod, has passed resolutions on the matter which provide a coherent Church of England position.

The Church of England combines strong opposition to abortion with a recognition that there can be - strictly limited - conditions under which it may be morally preferable to any available alternative.

General Synod

The Church of England shares the Roman Catholic view that abortion is 'gravely contrary to the moral law'. As the 1980 statement of the Board of Social Responsibility put it:

In the light of our conviction that the foetus has the right to live and develop as a member of the human family, we see abortion, the termination of that life by the act of man, as a great moral evil.

We do not believe that the right to life, as a right pertaining to persons, admits of no exceptions whatever; but the right of the innocent to life admits surely of few exceptions indeed.

Church of England Board of Social Responsibility, 1980

However, this statement does acknowledge that under some circumstances abortion could be permissible. The 1983 resolution of Synod, after expressing concern about the number of abortions in recent years went on to recognise:

That in situations where the continuance of a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother a termination of pregnancy may be justified and that there must be adequate and safe provision in our society for such situations.

Church of England General Synod, 1983

The Church of England is concerned about the number of abortions carried out each year in this country.

Resolutions of the General Synod have consistently sought to narrow the grounds on which abortion is carried out and have maintained that the law has been interpreted too liberally resulting in an unnecessary number of abortions.

For example the 1993 General Synod resolution reiterated its view that:

The number of abortions carried out since the passage of the Abortion Act 1967 is unacceptably high.

Church of England General Synod, 1993

The Church of England is keen to ensure that as many abortions as possible are carried out as early as possible. However, in the rare exceptions that a termination has to be carried out beyond 24 weeks, it should only take place where there is a serious foetal disability and survival will be for a very short period of time.

The Church of England has not attempted to deal with every issue associated with abortion.

Top

Roman Catholic

The Roman Catholic Church says that deliberately causing an abortion is a grave moral wrong.

It bases this doctrine on natural law and on the written word of God.

When life begins

The Church says that human life begins when the woman's egg is fertilised by a male sperm.

From that moment a unique life begins, independent of the life of the mother and father. The features that distinguish us from our parents - the colour of our eyes, the shape of our face - are all laid down in the genetic code that comes into existence then.

Each new life that begins at this point is not a potential human being but a human being with potential.

History

Since the sixteenth century, causing or having an abortion led to automatic excommunication.

This is stated in the Code of Canon Law (1983): "A person who actually procures an abortion incurs automatic excommunication" (Canon 1398).

The Church condemned abortion as early as the 2nd century CE: a document called the Didache, written in the 2nd century (some time after 100 CE), states: "You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish".

Pro-life groups

The strong stance taken by the Roman Catholic Church has underpinned many of the pro-life groups which have been formed to challenge the legalisation of abortion.

The Church itself has played a major part in the politics of the abortion debate throughout the world.

Top

Catholic - current position

Pope John Paul II's view

Pope John Paul II took a very strong line on abortion, describing it as murder.

During a trip to Poland in August 2002 he reiterated his opposition to abortion:

Frequently man lives as if God did not exist, and even puts himself in God's place... He claims for himself the Creator's right to interfere in the mystery of human life. Rejecting divine law and moral principles, he openly attacks the family.

Pope John Paul II, 2002

In 1995, Pope John Paul II wrote an encyclical (a teaching letter to the whole Catholic Church) called Evangelium Vitae ('The Gospel of Life').

He stated the fundamental position of the Church:

I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral.

Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 1995

In this he was directly referring to abortion, euthanasia and the destruction of human embryos in medical research.

On abortion specifically the Pope wrote:

I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.

Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 1995

In October 1996 the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales published a document called The Common Good in which they said that all human rights flow from one fundamental right: the right to life.

This followed a 1980 document in which the seven Catholic Archbishops of Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) issued a document called 'Abortion and the Right to Live'.

This emphasised that the Church's opposition to abortion stemmed from recognition of the basic rights of all individuals, including the unborn (who have their own intrinsic value.)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reiterates this too. The 1992 version quotes from the document Donum Vitae ('the gift of life') from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the department that deals with matters of faith and morals). It says:

The inalienable rights of the person must be recognised 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 the society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the persons 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 ... from the moment of conception until death.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Implications

For many modern Catholic theologians the Church's position on abortion has very clear social and political implications. Cardinal Bernardin wrote:

If one contends, as we do, that the right of every foetus to be born should be protected by civil law and supported by civil consensus, then our moral, political, and economic responsibilities do not stop at the moment of birth.

Those who defend the right to life of the weakest among us must be equally visible in support of the quality of life of the powerless among us: the old and the young, the hungry and the homeless, the undocumented immigrant and the unemployed worker.

Such a quality of life posture translates into specific political and economic positions on tax policy, employment generation, welfare policy, nutrition and feeding programs, and health care.

Consistency means we cannot have it both ways. We cannot urge a compassionate society and vigorous public policy to protect the rights of the unborn and then argue that compassion and significant public programs on behalf of the needy undermine the moral fibre of the society or are beyond the proper scope of governmental responsibility.

Cardinal Bernardin

Top

Catholic - opposing views

Pro-choice Catholics

A few Catholics disagree with the Vatican line on abortion.

They put forward arguments like these against enforcing a total ban on abortion:

although Church teaching has for a long time stated that a foetus becomes a person when the egg is fertilised, distinguished theologians such as Augustine and Aquinas said this didn't happen until between 40 and 80 days after conception

Other Catholics might argue that the Church has a fixed position on the right to life of the foetus nonetheless

the Church has affirmed the right and the responsibility of each Catholic to follow his or her own conscience on moral matters, even when it conflicts with Church teaching

others may take the view that certain absolutes cannot be subjugated to one's own will

the Church has not declared that its teaching on sexual and reproductive issues is infallible

but it could be argued that the Catechism of the Catholic Church states "Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life ... from the moment of conception until death."

Even pro-choice Catholics don't regard abortion as morally good, but argue there can be situations in which it may be the least bad moral choice available.

Contradictions

Research and publications from the Alan Guttmacher Institute in America illustrate some contradictions in the Catholic stance against abortion:

Catholic women in the United States are as likely as women in the general population to have an abortion, and 29% more likely than Protestant women.

Catholic countries, even where abortion is illegal, have high levels of abortions: in Brazil, the estimated number of abortions ranges from 1 million to 2 million per year and in Peru, 5% of women of childbearing age have abortions each year, compared to 3% in the United States.

64% of US Catholics disapprove of the statement that abortion is morally wrong in every case (Survey of 493 Catholics, designed by Lake Research and Tarrance Group, for US News & World Report, Sept. 1995, margin of error ± 4.5%.)

72% of Catholics in Australia say decisions about abortion should be left to individual women and their doctors. (Survey for Family Planning Australia and Children by Choice, Melbourne, AGB McNair, Aug. 1996.)

Top

Find out more

Ethics: abortion