Beginning of Life

Every human person is created out of love by God, made in His Image and Likeness, and is destined to live forever. Out of awareness of the profound reverence due to every person and a great desire to draw each one closer to Christ, the Church provides support to build and promote a culture of life and advocate for the most vulnerable.

Abortion has been one of the most divisive issues in America since the 1973 Roe v Wade  Supreme Court decision. On one side of this contentious issue, those who identify as “pro-choice” believe that abortion is a private medical decision that should take place between a woman and her doctor. On the other side, those who identify as “pro-life” believe abortion is the killing of children before they are born and should never be tolerated in a free society. So where does the Catholic Church stand in the debate between “pro-life” and “pro-choice?”

The Catholic Church’s position on abortion is clear. The magisterial document Donum Vitae (The Gift of Life) affirmed that, “The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life,” (Sec I.1) Direct abortion, or the intentional ending of a human being living in the womb, is  seriously immoral, because the right-to-life is the most basic and fundamental right we possess.