Transcript The BMA and their stance on Euthanasia

CATHOLIC
VIEWS ON
ABORTION
1
• The Catholic Church opposes and
condemns any and all direct abortions.
Even pregnancies that result from rape,
incest, and present a danger to the life of
the mother aren't’ reasons for abortion.
Although the Catholic position on abortion
may seem extreme to some, it coincides
consistently and completely with Catholic
morality, which is based on natural moral
law, the bible, and the other teachings of
the Magisterium.
WHAT IS THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH?
DOES IT SAY ABORTION IS WRONG?
Before starting their profession, many doctors take the Hippocratic Oath as
part of their
graduation ceremony. They make a promise to do their best to heal and save
lives.
‘And likewise I will not give a woman a destructive pessary’
This passage is often interpreted as a rejection of Abortion. However, Abortion
was legal at the time
and the text only mentions pessaries ( a soaked piece of wool inserted in the
vagina to induce
abortion) not the oral methods of abortion used in ancient Greece. As pessaries
could cause lethal
infections the author the oath may have had a clinical objection to the method
rather than a moral
objection to abortion itself.
2
The catholic church sees abortion as the
termination of an innocent though
unborn life, and therefore, its always
wrong sinful, and immoral. The
circumstances by which life was
conceived are considered irrelevant to
the question, ‘Is this an innocent
person?’ The church teaches that human
life is created and begins at the moment
of conception.
PRO – LIFE ARGUMENTS
PRO – CHOICE ARGUMENTS
3
• Often people say the Catholic Church opts for the child over
the mother. Catholics would argue this is not the case at all.
The real teaching is that each and every innocent life must
be protected and intentionally ending the life of the mother
or the unborn is immoral. So if a pregnant woman has a
heart attack and needs emergency surgery, its considered
morally permissible to put her under anaesthesia and
operate, even though its likely that she will spontaneously
abort the foetus on her own as a consequence. The
distinction is that it is her body is doing the act of ejecting
the foetus. If the baby dies naturally then the Catholic
Church believes that no sin has been committed. But if the
doctor or nurse directly kills the baby, that’s considered
murder, the taking of an innocent life.
PETER SINGER
• Peter Singer is very critical of the views
held by the Roman Catholic church. In his
book Rethinking life and death, Singer
proposes the message that not all lives
are of equal value and that some lives are
not worth living. In other words, if you are
hampered by mental or physical illness or
disability, some human lives are better cut
short by abortion or euthanasia.