July 17, 2022
Presented by Rev. James M. DiLuzio, CSP (A Catholic priest––not a formal Catholic Theologian, Ethicist, or Official Spokesman)
The Catholic Church upholds the belief that human life begins at conception and therefore society must protect it. Not all Christian churches agree. Not all Faith Traditions agree. Part of the issue’s complexity begins is rooted in the different foundational premises people have as they enter the abortion debate. Generally, Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical, and Pentecostal Christians start with life in the womb. Protestants, and other faiths often, but not always, start with each woman’s right to bodily integrity. While the former groups insist a woman’s “right to choose” begins and ends with her decision to engage in sexual intercourse along with her choices regarding family planning and contraception, the latter groups extend each woman’s rights of self-determination to any point including her pregnancy be it wanted or unwanted. Some traditions limit the designation of “the right to choose” as “a moral choice” to specific stages in pregnancy.
In the hope of maintaining focus, I invite us to take one premise at a time. Therefore, in this first piece I will offer my best expression of the Roman Catholic beliefs regarding the life in utero.
To begin our conversation on LIFE issues, here are statements on Human Life from the Catholic Catechism:
# 2270: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his (sic) existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person—among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life. (Source: CDF — Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith document Donum vitae) [1]
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Biblical References: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you.” (Jeremiah 1: 5) “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.” (Psalm 139: 15) [2]
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# 2271: Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed whether as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law: “You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.”[3]
“God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men (sic) the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.”[4]
(See Appendix A below for more Biblical references on life in the womb references.)
Science classifies many stages in the conception process. Let us first look at the natural process of conception and growth along with additional Catholic catechetical statements printed in BOLD.
My first source Fetal development: Month-By–Month Stages of Pregnancy (clevelandclinic.org): “(An) Ova / female gamete is fertilized by male sperm in the fallopian tube of a woman’s ovaries. At the moment of fertilization, your baby’s genetic make-up is complete, including its sex. A fertilized ova is classified as a zygote.”
# 364: “The human body shares in the dignity of ‘the image of God’: it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the
Spirit. [5]
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# 365: “The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the ‘form’ of the body: [6] i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body, spirit, and matter, in man (sic), are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.”
This last statement that the soul and material body are inseparable, makes the Catholic sensibility that God, The Creator, infuses the immortal soul as sperm and ovum together create a zygote more tenable. Of course, the moment of ensoulment is unverifiable. As far as I know, neither the Roman Catholic Church nor any Christian denomination or Faith offers as an Institutional Body, any pronouncement, dogmatic or otherwise, as to exactly when God infuses the immortal soul in the human person in the womb. Truly there is mystery here.7 But, again, this fact does not mitigate the Catholic position that life begins at conception, and that humanity must respect every child’s right to develop and prosper.
For the complete Catholic position with reference to ensoulment, here is the statement from the Pontifical DECLARATION ON PROCURED ABORTION from Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on June 28, 1974
“It is not within the competence of science to decide between these views, because the existence of an immortal soul is not a question in its field. It is a philosophical problem from which our moral affirmation remains independent for two reasons:
- supposing a belated animation, there is still nothing less than a human life, preparing for and calling for a soul in which the nature received from parents is completed,
- on the other hand, it suffices that this presence of the soul be probable (and one can never prove the contrary) in order that the taking of life involve accepting the risk of killing a man, not only waiting for, but already in possession of his soul.”[7]
Let us return to what information Science gives us:
“Within 24 hours after fertilization, the egg begins rapidly dividing into many cells. It remains in the fallopian tube for about three days after conception.
“Within 24 hours after fertilization, the egg begins rapidly dividing into many cells. It remains in the fallopian tube for about three days after conception.
The cell of the zygote continuously divides, eventually forming a hollow ball of cells called the blastocyst. . . . The blastocyte continues to divide as it passes slowly through the fallopian tube to the uterus. The blastocyst stays in their uterus for several days before it implants in the inner lining of their uterine wall (endometrium). It continues to make new cells, which separate into layers.” [8]
Now some proponents of abortion and abortive contraception (those that prevent a fertilized ova to attach to the uterus wall) is morally justifiable because, in the natural course of events, attachment of blastocyte to uterus occurs as infrequently as 30% of the time.[9] However, Catholicism insists there is a marked difference between what occurs in nature and what the human person “wills.” Human “Will” is subject to moral and ethical evaluation, and these are based on Biblical and Church Tradition norms.
My Now let’s bring this science segment to its conclusion by returning to my First Source: Fetal development: Month-By-Month Stages of Pregnancy (clevelandclinic.org)
“In these first few weeks, a primitive face will take form with large dark circles for eyes. The mouth, lower jaw and throat are developing. Blood cells are taking shape, and circulation will begin. The tiny “heart” tube will beat sixty-five times a minute by the end of the fourth week.” For more specifics of embryos being classified as fetuses, see https://uniqueultrasound.com/embryo-to-fetus
And so it is that the Roman Catholic Church finds support of its teachings on when human life begins in the way science documents each body’s distinctiveness at the onset of gestation and its evolving readiness to exist beyond the confines of the womb. See also this provocative article by Erika Bachiochi, a conservative legal scholar who wrote that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. She is the author of “The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision.”
In the article Ms. Bachiochi writes that “dependence” is at the very nature of what it means to be human. She develops her perspectives on life in utero from there. This article made me think of what we hear from psychologists and other branches of behavioral sciences regarding the subliminal impacts our lives-in-utero play in our childhood and adult lives. I’m thinking of the recommendations to speak to the child in utero, play soothing music (usually classical and children’s folk songs), etc.
To close, I admit that Roman and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, Orthodox Christian Churches and other Christian denominations have failed to convince society at large of the validity of protecting human life in the womb. A Sikh colleague of mine told me “Your Church’s opinion is certainly in the minority!” Yet I believe that the conversation on human life, abortion and all the related issues of human sexuality and responsibility, maternity and paternity, women’s and men’s health and dignity, must continue for everyone’s benefit. Would anyone like to join me in proposing a New “New Deal” to see that our nation provides greater resources for families, fathers, mothers, and children. Read my MODEST PROPOSAL To Eliminate And/or Greatly Reduce the Need for Abortion on my blog.
Add your comments and suggestions there, too!
Lastly, I found this fascinating, detailed presentation of the Islamic view on “When Life Begins” by Dr. Hamza Usuf of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, CA. The author holds licentia docendi in several Islamic subjects, a BA in Religious Studies, and a PhD in North and West African intellectual history. Go to:
https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/article/when-does-a-human-fetus-become-human
Father James DiLuzio is a Paulist Father and Director of the Paulist Office for Ecumenical and Multi-Faith Relations centered in New York.
Biblical Quotations Used in Pro-Life & Pro-Choice Debates
A Conflict in Christian Interpretations. (New American Bible, Revised Edition NABRE)
The Call of the Prophets:
These passages are open to debate: Were these conceptions a priori in the mind of God bestowed on the prophets alone or everyone? Is ensoulment the same as to “be filled with the holy Spirit?” The Roman Catholic position is that these passages refer to every human being (in part via Psalm 139 cited below); other denominations disagree.
Call of Jeremiah 1: 4-7
- The word of the LORD came to me:
- Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
- before you were born, I dedicated you,
- a prophet to the nations I appointed you.
Isaiah 49: The Servant of the Lord
1 Hear me, coastlands, listen, distant peoples. Before birth the LORD called me, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
Psalm 139: 13-16
13 You formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works!
My very self you know.
15 My bones are not hidden from you,
When I was being made in secret,
fashioned in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw me unformed;
in your book all are written down;
my days were shaped, before one came to be.
Deuterocanonical Book of Sirach 49: 7
(a.k.a. Ben Sira and Ecclesiasticus 49:7)
7 As foretold by Jeremiah. They mistreated him
who even in the womb had been made a prophet . . .
Deuterocanonical Book of Sirach 50: 1, 22 ff. Simeon, Son of Jochanan
1 Greatest of his family, the glory of his people,
was Simeon the priest, son of Jochanan,
In whose time the house of God was renovated,
in whose days the temple was reinforced . . .
22 And now, bless the God of all,
who has done wonders on earth;
Who fosters growth from the womb,
fashioning it according to his will!
23 May he grant you a wise heart
and abide with you in peace;
24 May his goodness toward Simeon last forever;
may he fulfill for him the covenant with Phinehas
So that it may not be abrogated for him
or his descendants while the heavens last.
Luke 1: 13-15 The Announcement of the Conception of John the Baptist 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of [the] Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, 16 and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
THE ANNUNCIATION
PURPOSEFULNESS PRIOR TO CONCEPTION Luke 1: 30-33
30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,[k] and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, 33 and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
The Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians 1: 15-16
15 But when [God], who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
Ambiguity in Texts: Exodus 21: 12 – 15 and 22 -23
Personal Injury. 12 [e]Whoever strikes someone a mortal blow must be put to death. 13 However, regarding the one who did not hunt another down, but God caused death to happen by his hand, I will set apart for you a place to which that one may flee. 14 But when someone kills a neighbor after maliciously scheming to do so, you must take him even from my altar and put him to death. 15 Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death[10]
22 [h]When men have a fight and hurt a pregnant woman, so that she suffers a miscarriage, but no further injury, the guilty one shall be fined as much as the woman’s husband demands of him, and he shall pay in the presence of the judges. 23 But if injury ensues, you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Taken together, these passages imply that the biblical authors did not judge life in utero as equal to that of a human living beyond the womb. The penalty for a homicide was death, but the recompense for an injured pregnant woman who miscarried is merely a fine. Some people cite these texts to justify their belief that a child in utero is not yet a human being. However, note that the biblical text refers to an accident toward a bystander, not a willful attack on a person as in the case of the adversarial men. The Scriptures do not address a violent act against a pregnant woman who subsequently miscarries here or elsewhere. Therefore, the assumption of the lesser value of the child in utero is a false one.
Here are some additional reflections that can contribute to our ongoing conversation. Comment on any of them.
See the following Survey on American Opinions: Most Americans believe unborn children have rights; poll shows (aleteia.org)
See the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the Supreme Court Ruling Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization: https://www.usccb.org/news/2022/bishop-chairman-responds-executive-order-abortion-access
See this Official Statement by the Catholic Bishops of New York State: BishopsStatement-Dobbs2022.pdf (archny.org)
You may enjoy reading “I support overturning Roe. But pro-lifers need to understand why so many Americans fear this decision” in America Magazine https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/05/06/roe-wade-overturn-fear-242941
Don’t have time to read the article? Here’s the essence of it cited from Fr. Sawyer’s closing remarks:
“The pro-life movement has frequently been co-opted for other political goals and often happily colluded in them; politicians have used the lives of the unborn as moral cover for ignoring other calls for justice and to protect the common good. Many defenders of Roe v. Wade, meanwhile, have obscured and evaded the moral question about when life begins and what duties we owe to unborn children. Our country has, as a consequence of all these failures, not offered women a better choice than abortion, while it has accepted the lie that autonomy and freedom can only be guaranteed by the option to destroy an innocent life.”
Would you like more information from the realm of science? Here’s a bit of SEX EDUCATION available right now from the New York Times that can clarify facts to be used in the dialogue
[1] Donum Vitae is the “Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation” which was issued on February 22, 1987, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It addresses biomedical issues from the Roman Catholic Church ‘s perspective. See: Instruction on respect for human life (vatican.va)
[2] Additional Biblical References on the Life in the Womb appear in an APPENDIX A at the end of this article.
[3] The Didache 2:2 See: Didache – Wikiwand and other Church sources
[4] GS 51 S. 3 Gaudium et spes See: Gaudium et spes (vatican.va)
[5] GS 14 s 1 See : Gaudium et spes (vatican.va)
[6] Council of Vienne (1312) document (DS 902 – “DS”) is The Enchiridion (full title: Enchiridion symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum). It is a compendium of all the basic texts on Catholic dogma and morality since the Apostolic Age. It has been in use since 1854 and has been regularly updated since. It is sometimes referred to as Denzinger, after its first editor, Heinrich Joseph Dominicus Denzinger. 7 Catholic attempts to bring in Thomas Aquinas’ writings on this issue prove inadequate as Aquinas utilized Aristotle’s philosophies in conjunction with all the limitations of Medieval Science. With an understanding that, once conceived, a human being’s essence must go through stages from a vegetable, unanimated state, to an animal stage, and ultimately, a human state, he envisioned ensoulment to take place somewhere between to 40 to 80 days beyond conception) See St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) | The Embryo Project Encyclopedia (asu.edu) and What Did St. Thomas Aquinas Believe about “Ensoulment?” | Catholic Answers and Declaration on procured abortion, 18 November 1974 (vatican.va)
[7] Declaration on procured abortion, 18 November 1974 (vatican.va)
[8] Fetal development: Month–By–Month Stages of Pregnancy (clevelandclinic.org)
[9] Natural human embryo mortality is high, particularly during the first weeks after fertilization, with total prenatal losses of 70% and higher frequently claimed. See: Early embryo mortality in natural human reproduction: What the data say – PMC (nih.gov)
[10] The verb used most often signifies a violent, sometimes deadly, attack. The severe penalty assigned is intended to safeguard the integrity of the family.