Abortion

ABORTION

"You shall not kill the child by obtaining an abortion. Nor, again, shall you destroy him after he is born." St. Barnabas ("Epistle of St. Barnabas," c. 70-100 A.D.)

"You shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill one who has been born." "The Didache [The Teaching Of The Twelve Apostles]" (c. 80-140 A.D.)

"Women who were reputed believers began to resort to drugs for producing sterility. They also girded themselves around, so as to expel what was being conceived. For they did not wish to have a child by either slave or by any common fellow - out of concern for their family and their excessive wealth. See what a great impiety the lawless one has advanced! He teaches adultery and murder at the same time!" St. Hipploytus ("Refutation Of All Heresies," c. 225 A.D.)

"He [the schismatic Novatian] struck the womb of his wife with his heel and hurried an abortion, thereby causing parricide." St. Cyprian of Carthage ("Epistle 52 To Cornelius," c. 251 A.D.)

"A woman who deliberately destroys a fetus is answerable for murder. And any fine distinction as to its being completely formed or unformed is not admissible amongst us." St. Basil the Great ("Epistle 138," c. 375 A.D.)

"Others drink for sterility and commit murder on the human not yet sown. Some when they sense that they have conceived by sin, consider the poisons for abortion, and frequently die themselves along with it, and go to Hell guilty of three crimes: murdering themselves, committing adultery against Christ, and murder against their unborn child." St. Jerome ("Epistle 22," c. 380 A.D.)

"The rich women, to avoid dividing the inheritance among many, kill their own fetus in the womb and with murderous juices extinguish in the genital chamber their children." St. Ambrose ("On the Hexaemeron," c. 386 A.D.)

"To destroy the fetus 'is something worse than murder.' The one who does this 'does not take away life that has already been born, but prevents it from being born.'" St. John Chrysostom ("Homilies on Romans," c. 391 A.D.)

CHURCH BELIEFS & ISSUES

WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH BELIEVED

BIOGRAPHIES OF THE CHURCH FATHERS QUOTED IN THIS SECTION
Abortion	Against Heresy	Apostolic Succession & Tradition	The Catholic Church	Contraception
Degrees Of Sin	Divorce	The Eucharist	Good Works	Homosexuality
Infant Baptism	The Mass	The Papacy	Old Testament Canon	Purgatory
Unity Of The Church	The Virgin Mary

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Reference Materials

Biblical quotations on this web site are either from the King James Version or the Douay-Rheims Version of the Bible.

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Abortion	Baptism	The Bible		Celibacy of the Clergy
The Church	Church Attendance	Contraception	Degrees of Sin	Divorce
The Eucharist	Fasting During Lent	Good Works	Homosexuality	Money for the Church
"Once Saved, Always Saved?"	The Papacy	Papal Infallibility	Pre-marital Sex	Purgatory
Quick & Easy Catholic Apologetics	The Reformation	Ritual Prayer	The Sacrament of Penance	The Saints
The Trinity	The Virgin Mary