Catholic Teaching on...
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Do You Know Catholic Social Teaching?
In a world warped by materialism and declining respect for human life, the Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. Our belief in the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of the human person is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching.
In our society, human life is under direct attack from abortion and assisted suicide. The value of human life is being threatened by increasing use of the death penalty. The dignity of life is undermined when the creation of human life is reduced to the manufacture of a product, as in human cloning or proposals for genetic engineering to create "perfect" human beings. We believe that every person is precious; that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life or dignity of the human person."America, you are beautiful and blessed. The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless. If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life"
~ Pope St. John Paul II
Must a Catholic Promote the Diginity of the Preborn Child?
The Catholic Church teaches clearly and consistently that life begins at conception (in the terms of embryology: “fertilization”). Abortion, defined as the direct, intentional killing of a living human person in the womb of its mother, is gravely contrary to the moral law of the Church and in particular the Fifth Commandment that states “Do not kill.” This has been the consistent teaching of the Church from the beginning to the present time. The Church’s teaching on abortion is not just the point of view of a religion; it is also consistent with natural law ethics and is compatible with knowledge gained through embryology.
Pope St. John Paul II, stated in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”): “[B]y the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors…I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral. This doctrine, based upon that unwritten law which man, in the light of reason, finds in his own heart… is reaffirmed by Sacred Scripture, transmitted by the Tradition of the Church and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium” (Evangelium Vitae, 1995, par. 57)…
Not only may one not actively kill a fetus or an embryo himself, but since it is a universal moral norm applicable to all peoples, one must also witness to this belief in his conversations and actions and counsel others about what is right and wrong, good and evil, when it comes to decisions surrounding the child in the womb.
Furthermore, as St. John Paul II states, no authority (such as the State, for example) should ever permit the act of killing the person in the womb of its mother. We should keep this in mind when we vote.
Our own bishop has stated that life begins at conception and that human life must be protected. He states, “The Diocese of Trenton… will be ‘pro-life, pro-family and pro-poor’ in their activities and advocacy” (Most Rev. David M. O’Connell, CM, JCD, Bishop of Trenton, The Statutes of the Fourth Synod of the Diocese of Trenton (2014), statute 169). So the answer is “yes”; a Catholic must promote the dignity of the preborn child: in our beliefs and thoughts and in our words and actions.Is Abortion Ever Permissible?
Some people hold the position that while abortion should not be allowed in most cases, it should be permissible in cases of rape, incest, and the health of the mother (“health” here defined as not a life-threatening condition yet still a source of pain for the mother).
Is it possible to have this position as a Catholic and a person of goodwill?
Abortion is in an intrinsically evil act, meaning that no intention, no matter how seemingly reasonable that intention is, could justify it. Admittedly rape, incest and the health of the mother are unfortunate and in some cases horrible realities that cause great suffering to the mother and others. In the case of rape, the mother has to bear a child half of whose DNA is from a man who violently attacked her. And to not have optimal health is obviously regrettable. But are those reasons serious enough to justify ending a life? The person in the womb is a person with dignity. As calamitous as the three circumstances named are, none of them are proportionately grave enough to end a person’s life.
There is one case in which allowing the death of the child in the womb is “permissible”, and that is one in which there is a proportionate reason, namely that the life of the mother is at stake. This is not, however, an “abortion”, since abortion is defined as an intentional, direct killing of a fetus. In this case I am about to outline, the death of the preborn child is not intended or the result of a direct action.
In the case where a mother’s life is truly at risk, she is pregnant, and the surgery or medicine that would save the life of the mother would put the life of the child at risk, we must look to the principle of double effect for guidance. That principle says that it is morally allowable to perform an act that has an evil effect, under certain conditions. For example, a mother could take medical treatment or undergo a surgery that is necessary to save her life, even if she knows that the medical treatment could end the life of her preborn baby.
There are four conditions all of which must be met for this to be morally acceptable, however (source: Milton A. Gonsalves, Fagothey’s Right & Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice. 9th Edition, page 40):- The act itself must be good in itself or at least indifferent. In this example, there is nothing wrong with a person taking medicine or undergoing surgery to try to save one’s life. It is a good act in and of itself.
- The good intended must not be obtained by means of the evil effect. This condition would be violated in the case of a person who has an abortion in the case of rape, for example. In that case, the person may have the good intention of eliminating anything that reminds her of the man who raped her, but this would not permit her to abort her child, since this would mean that the evil act (the abortion of the child) is the means used to achieve the “good intention”. As the principle states, the good intended must not be obtained by means of the evil effect. In the scenario of the mother who needs lifesaving medicine or surgery, on the other hand, the mother’s intention is a good one, to save her own life, and the means she uses to do so are not evil (taking medicine or undergoing necessary surgery). The killing of the fetus is not the means by which she attains her goal of saving her life. In fact, the mother does not even want the death of her child to occur; if it does, it would be a tragic and unwanted ‘incidental by-product’ of her decision to have treatments or surgery.
- The evil effect must not be intended for itself but only permitted. The mother would be thrilled if both she and the baby survived; she is not intending to kill her child.
- There must be a proportionately grave reason for permitting the evil effect. In this case, there is proportionality. The child’s life is put at risk, but the reason is that the doctor is trying to save the life of another, the mother. They are at least equivalent. Rape, incest and the health of the mother would not be proportionate reasons to end another person’s life.
The mother, of course, should make certain that the treatment contemplated is truly the only effective remedy, given that its effects may end the life of her child.
Thus, the death of a child in the womb is “permissible” only in the case where the doctor is trying to save the life of the mother and all four conditions of the principle of double effect are met. The child’s death is not intended or the result of a direct action, and thus should not be called an “abortion”. The child’s death is a terribly unfortunate “by-product” of another action proportionately grave, again the attempt to save the life of the mother.
If you find yourself in situations where your beliefs on life, abortion, and contraception are questioned, it helps to have some facts ready to support your beliefs. You can find shareable articles on recent research on these life issues on the Women Speak for Themselves Facebook page. You can also find information on how to speak for yourself on these issues, as well as links to articles and blog posts on the Women Speak for Themselves website.