Questions and Answers About Abortion Article by Father Roth 1) When Does Life Begin? This is such an important question since the commandment states, “Thou shall not kill,” and for any civil society to stand, murder must be illegal. So, we cannot stand for any abortion that would end a life, making this question paramount. For Christians, though, the real question is “when is the human soul created by God?” To answer this question, we can look at scripture, and there are many passages to choose from, such as Jeremiah 1:4-5 or Isaiah 49:1, but I want to focus on Luke 1:41. In this passage, Mary visits Elizabeth, and John leaps in her womb for Joy in meeting Jesus. This passage is not just a joyful meeting, but the moment John is given his blessing by God to be a prophet. All prophets are given a direct blessing from God, but John receives his while he is still in Elizabeth’s womb, and the blessing was given by Jesus, who is only weeks old inside Mary’s womb. Outside of Christianity, defining life without the knowledge that we have souls becomes more difficult. There are many attempts at recognizing this defining moment, such as a heartbeat, neuron development, mental capacities, etc. The problem with all these biological and mental developmental markers is they are arbitrary and frequently have exceptions. By arbitrary, I mean those rules are things that most humans may have in common, but they are never core to what it means to be a human. In terms of exceptions, there are rare medical cases where someone is born without that single marker, so, do you count them as human? Of course you do, but that just means the marker is a bad definition of the beginning of life. The only biological marker of a human that is consistent is DNA, but that forms within the first 2 weeks of conception. So even outside of Christianity, our best marker for human life happens at about the point of conception. 2) Wouldn’t Making Abortion Illegal Be Me Just Forcing My Religious Beliefs on Others? It would not be, since there are people who are Pro-life from many religions and there are even atheists who are Pro-life. Pro-life isn’t just a Catholic belief, even though as Catholics it’s an especially critical issue in our society. As Catholics, we also have a greater understanding. We know all humans have souls. We know God loves and creates us. We know there are morally evil and morally good actions, and we know there is an afterlife. Even if someone doesn’t believe in heaven or the human soul, they still exist. Imagine a child who uses a curse word but does not know its meaning. Wouldn’t it be better to step in and correct the child, instead of letting them use the curse word, because you think it's not your place to correct them? We understand that abortion is killing innocent people and so we have a duty to stop it.
In general, though, this type of thinking sounds terrible when you apply it to any of our other beliefs. No one says, “I believe stealing is a sin, but it's not my place to force my religious beliefs on others, so let's keep stealing legal.” It is dangerous to try and rationalize a decision, instead of thinking rationally about it. It is a good practice to be overly critical on reasons that support your beliefs, so you can make good decisions. Supporting human life is always a good decision, because God created that life. 3) Does Someone Who Has an Abortion Go to Hell? Only God can know if something was mortally sinful. For a sin to be mortal the person must have full knowledge of what they are doing and full freedom to do it. In the vast majority of abortion cases the woman does not have full freedom. She is in a high stress situation, afraid and looking for anyone to help her. Then family, friends, or society gives her this simple solution to have an abortion. I have even heard of cases where a parent gave an ultimatum, “You either have an abortion or you never step back in my house again!” If anything, keeping abortion legal simply gives the family and friends the ability to pressure that mom into having an abortion even if she doesn’t want to. Please pray for women in such difficult situations, that someone in their life may reach out to them in love and hope.
On the other hand, this is not as true for doctors who perform abortions. They are in a much more dangerous situation. They have seen sonograms of babies before and they have even taken the Hippocratic oath, Do No Harm. They are also not under the stress these women finds themselves, since, if a doctor wants, they can avoid ever being in a situation where they would have to perform an abortion. They can change hospitals or change where they work in the hospital or find other ways to avoid it. These doctors need our prayers that they may have a conversion of heart and we pray for God to have mercy on them. Final Thoughts. This life is not about making life as easy as possible. Life is about giving our lives as a sacrifice for others. One of the greatest sacrifices anyone can make is for their child, planned or not. If you or someone you know suffers from spiritual or mental anguish due to an abortion, Rachel’s Vineyard is a wonderful Ministry of Healing. Or, if you or someone you know is struggling due to a pregnancy, you can reach out to Morning Star Pregnancy Center. You are also welcome to reach out to one of the priests here at Saint Joseph; we are always happy to do whatever we can for you. We want to help you. I can be reached at 717-766-9433 ext. 110 or email: [email protected].