Direct or deliberate abortion and everyone participating in the act of direct abortion are condemned in the Christian teachings. It is, therefore, necessary to highlight the difference between direct and indirect abortion. Indirect abortion is treating the mother or saving her life causing an abortion. The fifth commandment prohibits direct abortion and everyone cooperating in it. Every one participating in direct or deliberate abortion, including the woman herself has to face the penalty of excommunication as per fifth commandment. The purpose is to respect and protect human-being from the moment of conception. "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. "From the first moment of his/her existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person- among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life" (Catechism of the Catholic Church: The fifth commandment) Therefore, involvement of individuals in direct abortion is considered as a mortal sin in Catholic teachings as it is committed with awareness of the fact that they are sinful and immoral. (Devereux 112) Baumgardner, Jennifer Abortion & Life Akashic Books, p. 156, 170 One of the main features of Christianity teaching is its emphasis on human life that should be protected and is valuable at every stage. Since abortion is meant to end the life, Christianity regards it as a moral disorder. The premeditated or planned killing of a human life, especially an innocent life at its inception is condemned in the Christianity teachings. The deliberate or planned abortion is considered as an abominable crime for which a penalty of excommunication should be given. Traditionally, Catholic Christianity has stressed to maintain absolutes that should not be altered. On the other hand, the role of conscience is also acknowledged by the Catholic Church while making any moral decision which should be informed by worship as well as prayer. (Bender 99) Abortion was legally acknowledged in Europe in the twentieth century with some countries such as Germany and Spain being exception and regards it as illegal. In this context, it is necessary that governments should consider the phenomenon whether to allow or not unsafe abortions that are serious threats not only to the health of women but in several cases relates to survival of women and their families. Proponents of allowing abortions raise the question whether it is legally and morally plausible for the individuals, society, and governments to ignore this human rights issue creating health inequalities intrinsic in the policies and regulations related to abortion existing in several countries. (Cochrane 110) The analysis of different preventive strategies to show what is being done to confront the problem and opinions of groups on both sides- favoring or opposing- assumes that issue should be properly understood and only then a conclusive argument should be formed backed by extensive research. The empirical study made in this regard suggests adopting a particular design that links understanding gravity of issue with adopting measures to confront the problem. Without studying these significant links and analyzing preventive measures are indeed an act done in isolation. The issue of abortion is not new to the society but has always remained a grave concern creating conflict or controversies emerging from the exposure of embryonic human life along with attitudes towards it. Several religions including some denominations inside Christianity have accepted the rule that abortion is killing a human life if it is done after soul have entered human body of a fetus or an embryo. However many popes and church authorities differ in the timing as some of them are of the view of considering it at a particular time such as forty or eighty days whereas others placed the time when the women first develop feeling of fetus movement. It is, however, pertinent to mention that the traditional stance of church has changed with the passage of time as in the past the Catholic Church considered abortion equal to murder and evil, whether any particular abortion is not a murder if only performed to save the life of woman. This opinion or stance of Catholic teaching has been changed from its start in which Church had always remained against the practice of abortion. In other words, the Church had always been involved in controversies related to the laws allowing or favoring abortion. For the Christians in early times, life was regarded as a gift from the God. Through Gospel message, the gift of life eventually received extra value that anticipated the process of birth and excelled death. Famous religions of the world also deal with the issue of abortion. Judaism consider fetus as a human-being not fully developed. As such, to kill a fetus is not considered as a murder in Judaism. Islam, on the other hand, is against abortion allowing it only in circumstances to save life of woman. Hinduism treats abortion as the act of violence while Buddhism considers abortion an act against nature. (Devereux 178) Dixon-Mueller, Ruth Abortion & Common Sense Xlibris Corporation, 2002, p. 176 Gorman, Michael Abortion and the Early Church: Christian, Jewish and Pagan attitudes in the Greco-Roman World Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1998, p. 88, 91 In Evangelical Churches, abortion is regarded equivalent to infanticide and unnatural. However, a segment of Protestant Churches favors abortion if performed to save life. Even though abortion is not described or criticized particularly in the Gospels of the New Testament, sufficient evidence exist about the sanctity of intrauterine life in Luke, Chapter 1 narrating the story of unborn Christ and also unborn John the Baptist. In fact, abortion was condemned vividly in Christian teaching in 'Didache', being the oldest source of Ecclesiastical law. Didache is the ancient and first century document containing early Christian teachings. The Didache comprises five different parts. One of its chapters (Didache 2:1-2(A.D. 70)) condemns abortion being first act of condemnation as "The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure (an) abortion, nor destroy a newborn child." Even the Law of Moses imposed strict penalties for abortion and stated that if abortion results in serious injury or death then "take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot". (Eggebroten 172) Bender, Karen Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion, MacAdam/Cage, 2007, p. 99 Similar to the sexual impulse, the desire to childbearing is almost universal and fundamental. Most of the people desire to have a family at any time in their lives. However, attitudes related to ideal family size and also the best time having children are mostly the outcome of cultural values, social expectations, and economic circumstances. The desire for small families in the modern world has intensified especially in most of the developing nations since the decade of 1970. (Comm 112) phone: (406) 353-0513 Meet us in person or call for more details. [email protected]
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