In examining religious opinions on abortion, one must find common ground on which to form a foundation of comparison. With most of the religions to date, that common ground lies on the argument of whether or not a fetus is an actual person. Some religions protest by saying a fetus isn’t a conscious being – therefore there is no loss in doing away with it. But for those religions that do believe there is a life – or any spiritual being -- in a fetus, it is clearly a crime to have an abortion. Through research an overall conclusion can be provided that most earlier religions, that is those before 1400 A.D., relied on the opinion of the doctor to determine whether abortion was right or not. If abortion would harm the mother, or the child, or both, then the abortion was acceptable. In Christianity, this was only true in some denominations, such as Baptists and Methodists. In these cases, a woman was not disgraced after having an abortion unless she went against the advice of a professional. However as Christianity has developed, this opinion has remained constantly opposite in Catholicism. Catholic theorists in particular have expressed intense, concrete views on the subject. These views clearly have more to do with a change in attitude regarding the moral status of a fetus than a change in attitude regarding sex. It is important not to confuse the two. The question “Why was abortion condemned in Catholicism?” was answered by Catholic theorist James McCarthy: “Many people believe that the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion stems from its conviction that a new human person exists from the first moment of conception and that this newly formed person has as much right to exist as anyone else. It is clear that this is not now, nor ever been official Church teaching on this matter….Roman Church leadership has sought to maintain, in one form or another, a link between sexual ...
