Why is abortion such a big deal for the Catholic Church? Shouldn't the Church be compassionate to the suffering mother in the case of unplanned pregnancies?
The Church upholds the fact that human life begins at the time of conception. An unborn child in the womb of the mother is a human being with the right to live and have a future. Just a minuscule percentage of women fall in the category of those justifying terminating pregnancies because of rape or when the life of the mother is endangered. Most of the time abortion is termination of “unwanted” pregnancies. Abortion is not family planning. It is murder.
Under the 5th Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill’, murder and acting as an accomplice to murder are forbidden. Today people often try to get around the Fifth Commandment with seemingly humane arguments. But neither suicide, euthanasia nor abortion is a humane solution. That is why the Church is perfectly clear on these questions. Whoever participates in an abortion, forces a woman to undergo an abortion, or merely advises her to do so is automatically excommunicated—just as with other crimes against human life. (Ref. YOUCAT 379) The Church empathizes with the problems and the suffering that the mother is undergoing. In the case of rape, why should the innocent child get the death sentence? Women are encouraged to go through the pregnancy and give birth to the child. There are also shelters for unmarried women and girls who are pregnant. The woman can then give up the child for adoption. Adoption not abortion is the answer.
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