In our modern, fickle society, the morality of abortion has always been a controversial topic. Today’s celebrities and leaders influence adolescents into believing pro-choice thinking. Our culture has been divided into those for defending life versus those fighting for the choice to keep a child or not. According to Peter Kreeft in Three Approaches to Abortion, “Pro-lifers find it intolerable that the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society and our species are legally slaughtered. Pro-choicers find it intolerable that women are forced by law to bear unwanted children against their will.” However, even throughout all the controversy on abortion, the Church has remained strong in its teachings that all humans have a right to life. Although there are counterarguments of pro-choice ideas, the dishonesty of abortion can be conveyed through divine revelation and magisterial teachings.
According to Aristotle, birth begins at moment of conception. From conception, the embryo is considered a distinct, unique individual life. Catholics should always protect each other’s lives and promote pro-life ideals. All life matters and needs to be respected no matter what stage in life. Life is a gift from God. However, many believe having an abortion does not interfere with allowing one to live. Abortion is defined as an event when a woman removes the conceptional parts of her body, which essentially murders a child. There is a difference between intentional and unintentional abortions. During intentional abortions, women make a planned decision to surgically remove their fetus to avoid pregnancy, while unintentional abortions contain the loss of a fetus from a woman’s womb, which usually happen due to violence upon the woman. In other cases, an embryo could stay in the ovaries or get forced into a woman’s fallopian tubes. The potential child could suffer from hereditary issues, advanced age, or excessive weakness in an unintentional abortion.
There are two different kinds of natural deaths of a baby: miscarriages and stillbirths. Both cannot be defined as an abortion because each occurs after the child survives his or her premature birth stage. A miscarriage is when an early pregnancy ends before the woman’s fetus can survive. It is considered “spontaneous abortion” and occurs before 20 weeks old. The child has reached nine months of growth, but dies before viability. During a stillbirth, a child dies in a mother’s womb when he or she reaches growth of 20 to 28 weeks old.
Having an abortion has been a controversial topic for many years. It is both unethical and illicit. God has commended the lives of others into Catholics’ hands. Since the Old Testament, God has taught ,“Thou shalt not kill.” When one has an abortion, that woman commits murder. Because is still a human being and killing it would not be justified. Abortions kill life. Actions that destroy fetal life are unjust and unlawful. Life is God’s gift to all human beings. All must have a right to life as soon as conception. Although one may want to save the mother, it is only right to give the unborn child a right to life as well. There are many reasons to fight against abortions: life, moral obligation, intellectual honesty, love of our country, civilization, families, sex, violence, women, children, self-interest, all religions, pro-ethics and pro-justice, and the fact that child was created in the image and likeness of God. In fact, even science agrees that life begins at the moment of conception. Pro-choice supporters believe that life does not exist in a child until he or she is born. Don DeMarco exposes the truth and how some scientists act based on the ignorance of science, “[During its development], the fetus has its own DNA, has received half of its genes from a male and has its own sex type.” An embryo should already be treated as a person. All human beings possess their inalienable rights to life, so because embryos are also people, they have this right to life as well. The right and integrity of life should be respected by society and any political authorities.
Human beings know the value of their own lives, so one should hold his or her peers accountable when they may not value another’s life. Any person who does not stop a woman from following through with abortion commits a grave sin. However, this formal cooperation has different levels of severity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the a person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication because one must understand the severity of the situation he or she allowed to happen.
According to DeMarco, the abortion problem originates in education. Many fear that they will anger others if they are not neutral and equal to both sides. In order to have fairness, respect for both sides, and be unbiased, teachers address pro-life and pro-choice teachings. They allow students to make a choice of where they may stand in the controversy. It is considerate for teachers to do so, but it also places these adolescents in a culture of confusion. These teachings have carried over to media sources and celebrities who influence the thinking and beliefs young individuals have today. It has become difficult for one to make a decision on his own. Most base their beliefs on what they may see or hear from social media. Teen magazines and TV shows have portrayed abortion as a simple and acceptable task. By doing so, young ladies are affected and influenced to believe abortion is a choice.
There is only one exception to having an abortion. There is a double effect applied to this exception: the direct effect must be positive, there are efforts to avoid any negative effects, the positive effect wasn’t achieved because of the negative effect, and the positive effect and the negative effect are both important. Having an abortion is never justified unless it puts the woman’s life at risk if she has uterine cancer. It is a rare case, but if a woman develops uterine cancer, it is permissible for her to remove her uterus during the procedure as it is performed in order to save a woman’s life. Other than that, the Church teaches that all human life is to be protected and respected from the moment of conception to natural death. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.” The Church remains faithful in its teachings on abortion, making all other arguments unacceptable. In his book Caritas In Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI indicates how the Church has established a strong teaching on abortion, but today’s society creates problems towards this understanding, “[Modern society] asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized” (15). One claims that he or she values another's life, but still supports killing the innocent children who do not get a say or choice to choose life. As a part of the Church, all Catholics should actively promote this right to life and create a world of respect, justice, and peace for all life. Human beings know the value of their own lives, so one should hold his or her peers accountable when they may not value another’s life.
With the court case Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that the states were not allowed to ban abortion because it would deny one’s constitutional rights. Peter Kreeft observes some common pro-choice arguments: human fallibility, other arguments and factors besides women’s rights, “human life” versus “human person”, and zygotes can’t do anything personal because “killing one cell isn’t murder.” Recently in January, Steve King introduces a bill about banning abortion from a baby’s first heartbeat in the U.S. Congress. The bill, also known as The Heartbeat Protection Act of 2017, forces women to check for a heartbeat of their child before having an abortion. If a heartbeat is distinguished, then she is not allowed to have an abortion. A woman must pay a fine and/or face time in prison if she refuses to follow the law. In his argument, King includes a message for all to reflect upon, “Since Roe v. Wade was unconstitutionally decided in 1973, nearly 60 million innocent babies’ live shave been ended by the abortion industry, all with a rubber stamp by the federal government.” King decides that this bill requires all physicians to detect whether or not there is a heartbeat.
Abortion Clinics have aided young women in abortions. Some popular examples are Planned Parenthood, Women’s Medical Center, Family Planning Services. In fact, Houston has the second largest abortion facility in the world; largest in the U.S. Because of the arguments against abortion, contraception has become a backup to prevent having an unwanted child. Many claim that contraception is a good thing because it prevents abortions from occurring, however, by using birth control, one takes away the gift of love and reproduction God granted all people. Nonetheless, there are other ways to choose life, rather than aborting the baby or turning to birth control to prevent pregnancy. Organizations, such as, The Gabriel Project and Project Rachel, aid in providing the money and supplies necessary to raise a child. These associations make it easier for women to support the child and convince many women to keep their baby. If one is not able to keep the child, there are many families who would love to have a child. Instead of having an abortion, a woman may put the child up for adoption if she believes that the child will have a better chance at life with someone else.
After having an abortion, women tend to feel guilty and remorseful after going through an abortion because she killed her own child who she’ll never get to see grow up. Women face grief and emptiness because of the loss. Project Rachel also aids in the loss of a child after abortion. Unfortunately, many women do not realize the repercussions of having an abortion till after it happens. Project Rachel enables women to recover with the help of priests, religious counselors, and laypersons to aid in their suffering. The Catholic Church promotes counseling, Reconciliation, support groups, retreats, and sessions with mental health professionals if necessary. It is important that Catholics continue to help women who have decided to keep their child and women who struggle with the sorrow and regret of aborting their child. Even though a woman may have committed a sin, she needs forgiveness and guidance during her time of recovery.
Although the media has brainwashed young ones into a pro-choice position, the Church stays persistent in guiding pro-choicers to a change of heart. Their common assumption is that the fetus is nothing more than skin. In truth, the child is alive and growing. Divine revelation and magisterial teachings lead all to understand the morality of abortion and its evilness. Fulfilling an abortion is a mortal sin as it is equivalent to killing an individual. Many programs and opportunities are provided for those who choose life. There is no good reason to have an abortion since humans must value the sanctity of all life.