Catholic Church never accepted abortion

Mr. Robert Harrison wrote “A second look needed at contraception,” a letter published on March 24. His claimed facts are not only inaccurate, but demonstrate something other than he intends. He tries to suggest that the Catholic Church once allowed abortion up to “quickening.” Why is he addressing abortion to push for contraception? Is he admitting that contraception causes abortions? Well, he is correct on that point!

But he is not correct that the Catholic Church ever accepted abortion or contraception. From the earliest days of the church, abortion and contraception were condemned. From the first-century author of the Didache, and consistently since then, abortion has been condemned as a violation of the natural law. Even when the timing of ensoulment was considered by Thomas Aquinas, he still condemned abortion as always wrong regardless of when a soul may be infused into the developing child’s body.

Other incorrect “facts” cited by Mr. Harrison include no heartbeat until 6 weeks, when it actually occurs at 18 to 21 days, and claiming that 98 percent of Catholic women use contraception. That “fact” was created by a limited study performed by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute that focused only on sexually active women. Such a study could hardly be the basis for a sweeping conclusion about Catholic women. And even the results of that study are distorted by ignoring the 11 percent who were not using any form of birth control, which reduces that very questionable study’s percentage down to 87 percent.

If Mr. Harrison wants to challenge the teachings of the Catholic Church on contraception, he needs to do more research than cite some talking points (aka “facts”) from a pro-abortion website.

William Beckman

Executive director, Illinois Right to Life Committee

Chicago