Episode 34: Abortion – Why Not?

The topic of abortion can be a very emotive one today. Discussions about this topic tend to generate more heat than light. And like it or not, our children are exposed to significant influence from friends, social media, and movies, many of which tend to support abortion in one way or another.

As Catholic parents, how can we shed light on this topic when we talk with our children about abortion?

Culture of Life

For a start, cultivate a healthy respect for life from young. Celebrate life by thanking God for babies and pregnant ladies when you see them. Tell your children how special and beautiful every child is, themselves included.

As they grow older, it will be necessary to engage them at a deeper level, within an environment that continues to facilitate open and honest communication.

We will discuss it from the medical aspect, from the point of justice, the moral aspect, and finally the pastoral.

Bioethics

One of the most important facts to establish is when human life begins. With the advent of modern science and embryology, the fact is very clear that human life begins from the moment of conception, when the sperm and egg fuse to become a new human individual with his or her own unique genetic makeup.

From that moment, the new human being begins a relentless and ordered development, dividing from one cell to two, then four, then eight, and so on. Following that, the cells then differentiate themselves in a very orderly manner into the various specialised tissues and organs, as the embryo continues to grow. Of course, the new individual looks different at different stages of life. Don’t we all?

Gone are the days when I used to have a nice crop of hair and a wrinkle-free face. But whether it is me today, or me when I was a teen, or when I was a baby, or when I was a foetus growing in the womb of my mother, or back when I was a single cell after my father’s sperm met my mother’s egg, I was and am the same individual. I just look different at different stages of my life. That human life begins from the moment of conception is not a matter of opinion, but an objective fact of science.

However, there are some who would argue that the human embryo is not yet a human person. They argue that an individual can be considered a human person only if he or she possesses sentience and is capable of rational thought and independence of life. The problems with this line of argument are many.

For one, based on such an argument, many of us might be considered non-human persons at some time or another, depending on our physical and mental state of health, and in one state or another — for example, when we are extremely ill, in a comatose state, have dementia, or even infants. Indeed, Dr Peter Singer, a bioethicist at Princeton University who espouses Utilitarianism, once remarked that “Human babies are not born self-aware, or capable of grasping that they exist over time. They are not persons.” (Practical Ethics, Cambridge University Press; 3rd edition, February 21, 2011)

The next obvious problem with the issue of defining when human personhood begins is this: who decides? Many people and groups will have different ideas of what this definition should be, and the argument will likely go on indefinitely. What should we do then, given such a myriad of diverse opinions?

Consider this scenario. Assume I am a hunter with a gun in my hand. I hear a rustle among some plants and I think it is a deer. Yet there is a possibility that the sound could have been made by another human person, as there were some people I had seen earlier in that same vicinity. If there is uncertainty as to whether that animal is human or not, is it right for me to shoot at that target? Surely not, so long as we cannot verify absolutely that that target is not human. Using the same logic, would it not be wrong then to justify abortion based on a subjective definition of human personhood that is not certain, and certainly not accepted by all?

So we fall back on science, which tells us when human life begins, that is, at conception. That is an objective verifiable fact that cannot be denied.

This is entirely consistent with the Church, which emphatically states: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.” (CCC, 2270)

Justice

How about approaching it from the point of justice? Our teens have a strong sense of fairness. They support equal rights for all. So should we.

We can ask this question — should we accord human rights only to some races and not to others? Should slavery be practised? Certainly not. It is never justified that some people are deprived of basic human rights — rights that should rightly belong to all.

Should we then discriminate against the youngest members of the human race — our unborn children — on the basis of their age, and deprive them of the right to life, that first and most fundamental of all human rights? Clearly, right reason must inform us that the answer to that question has to be: “Surely not!”

Faith and Morals

As for the moral aspects, human reason tells us that it is never right to kill an innocent human being. Virtually all jurisdictions agree with this.

What does the Church say? The Church follows God’s commandments, and the fifth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”, cannot be any clearer than that. Add to this Jesus’ statement: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it unto Me” (cf. Mt 25:40), and we can see why killing a human being at any stage of life is to be deplored. Which is why the Church has emphatically said: “Direct abortion… is gravely contrary to the moral law.” (CCC, 2271)

While this is a judgement of the wrongness of abortion, we must be cognisant that this does not in any way justify the condemnation of any individual. This leads us to the pastoral aspect of the discussion, which is just as important when sharing about this topic with our children.