The Catholic Church’s History on Abortion

For 93% of its history, the Catholic Church has not believed that life begins at conception. If this is news to you, you should keep reading.

There is little canonical proof of the Church’s position on abortion during its first 300 years. The best evidence comes from the Didache, a non-canonical treatise written in Greek. This lists “thou shalt not kill a child by abortion” as a rule, although I find it poetically ironic that it lists “thou shalt not commit perjury” almost immediately after implying both are equally sinful (Cite). However, before you get excited, note this document also requires Christians to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays and say the Lord’s Prayer at least three times a day. Ultimately, it and other early texts such as the Epistle of Barnabas and the Apocalypse of Peter that could serve as a guide were ruled by early church leaders as non-canonical.

The first hard evidence that we find is St. Augustine¹ borrowing from Aristotle’s concept of quickening, who viewed that abortion of an “unformed” fetus was not murder, as the fetus had not yet received a soul became the dominant view of the Catholic Church around 400 AD. (Cite see discussion on Exodus 21:22). This view was repeated by Anselm of Canterbury “no human intellect accepts the view that an infant has the rational soul from the moment of conception.” (Cite). Gratian echoed these leaders when he wrote the first compendium of Catholic Cannon Law, the Decretum Gratiani stating: “he is not a murderer who brings about abortion before the soul is in the body.” (Cite). The great Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas wrote that abortion before quickening was a sin but “something less than homicide.” (Cite). Peter of Spain, who offered advice on birth control and how to induce abortion in his immensely popular Thesaurus Pauperam (Treasure of the Poor), was elected Pope John XXI in 1276. (Cite)

Then in 1588, Pope Sixtus V ruled in his Effraenatum that an abortion at any time of gestation can be punished by excommunication. However, he was insanely unpopular and three years later, Pope Gregory XIV reversed him. (Cite). Finally, in 1869, Pope Pius IX wrote Apostolicae Sedis moderationi rescinding Pope Gregory XIV’s ruling any abortion was a homicide, (Cite) a position that became Canon Law in 1917 and that church holds to this day.

You might be wondering why after holding a stable position on abortion for at least fifteen centuries the Catholic Church would suddenly change positions. Obviously, the official Church position is that God inspired Pius, but that begs the question, why didn’t He communicate this position change to prior Popes, to Aquinus, or Augustine?

Historical context provides a likely answer. By the mid-1800s the Papal States, the massive Kingdom in modern-day Italy under the direct rule of the Papacy, had been dramatically reduced in power. It had been conquered multiple times by French armies and then reinstated. In 1849, Rome declared itself an independent Republic, forcing Pope Pius IX to flee in exile. He returned only a few years later to discover that he was besieged from the North and the South by forces in favor of Italian unification. Feeling his earthly power wane, Pius realized he needed to secure additional spiritual authority while he still could. Pius struck a deal with his only remaining major ally, Napoleon III. Napoleon III was concerned that French birth rates, which were falling off a cliff, would prevent him from maintaining his massive army. So Pius agreed to help with Catholic birth rates if France would support Pius’s goal of cementing the Infallibility of the Pope, and the rest is history. (Cite)

Additional thoughts:

Look, if you are just an Easter/Christmas Catholic or you are too young to have yet shaken off the propaganda from your parents and this is all new to you, I’ll give you a pass. Further, if you are a Catholic who has adopted a child or fosters children, you get the biggest pass because at least you are living your convictions.

But, if you are a rabidly pro-life, Catholic, over the age of 25, and you knew none of this…I don’t know what to say to you. You are causing active suffering because you could not be bothered to even do an hour or two of research. You should be utterly ashamed of yourself. Do better.

1. Technically, Tertullian, a North African early Christian, philosopher came first and his views support abortion as homicide from conception. However, Tertullian did not agree with Pauline Christians on the equality of the trinity and condemned widows remarrying or Christians to ever flee persecution, as such the ultimately dominant subcult of Christianity rejected his teachings in favor of Augustine. (Cite)