Roman Catholic Stand On Abortion

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etween a conceived seed (conceptus fetus) that has not yet received vitality (prius interire quam vivere) and that which has to distinguish between that which was advancing toward (human) life in the womb (aut si in untero jam vivebat) and the newborn infant. Augustine is clear to distinguish that all or even some abortions are not examples of murder, but rather that all abortions and all attempts at contraception are examples of cruel lust (libido crudelis) or harlotry or adultery. (Dombrowski and Deltete, 21) However, in the Enchiridion (3), he says, "But who is not rather disposed to think that unformed fetuses perish like seeds which have not fructified" — clearly seeing hominization as beginning or occurring at some point after the fetus has begun to grow. Most theologians of his era agreed with his views on abortion. (Abortion and…) In a disciplinary sense, the general agreement at this time was that abortion was a sin requiring penance if it was intended to conceal fornication and adultery.
Another such theologian who shed some light into this debate was Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 AD.). More than Augustine, Thomas was more concerned with the ontological status of the fetus in the early stages of pregnancy. Moreover was the concern whether there actual was a real human person from the “moment” of conception; if there is, then abortion many very well be seriously immoral even in the early stages of pregnancy. Catholic opinion held that the...