Tuesday Conference
V o l. 0 1
I s s ue 0 8
Theology e-weekly
To make humanity united in worshipping God
On the Amendment of
MTP Act
Our Heavenly Patron
Dear Fathers & Brothers,
Once again abortion emerges as heated debate in Indian civil
society. Tuesday Conference invites everyone to wake up against
the proposed amendment of MTP Act which extends abortion legal
till 24 weeks.
It must be clearly understood that whatever may be
laid down by civil law on abortion, man can never obey a
law which is in itself immoral, which would admit in
principle the liceity of abortion. Nor can he take part in a
propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for
it. (CDF on abortion)
The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if
a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to
kill you and you to kill me?
-Mother Teresa
Page - 02
The first
right of
the
human
person is
his life. It
does not
belong to
Respect for human life is not just a
Christian obligation.
Abortion is one of the most controversial moral
issues of our days. Women with an unplanned pregnancy
often see abortion as their only solution to the crisis in their lives.
Social scientists estimate that abortion is the most frequently
performed surgery on adults in America. In fact one out of
three babies conceived in the USA is deliberately
aborted.
Life was simpler before medical advances taught us how to
transplant kidneys, freeze embryos, and engineer genetics.
Before man invented respirators to breathe artificially for
patients, few families ever agonized over whether to pull the
plug.
society,
nor does
it belong
to public
authority
in any
form to
act
against
this right.
History of Abortion
The practice of abortion was common even in the ancient world..
many cultures (Assyrian, Babylonian, Sumerian, Hittite)
considered abortion as a serious crime. That is why in
Hippocratic oath it is stated , I will not give a woman a
pessary to produce an abortion. The Jewish historian
Josephus wrote against abortion.
Human reason is sufficient to impose it on the basis of
the analysis of what a human person is and should be.
Page - 03
A Christian's
outlook cannot
Biblical Arguments against Abortion
Any student of the bible knows that the scripture say
nothing directly about abortion. So what biblical principles
can be used to come to a pro life perspective?
be limited to the
Ps 127:3- children as a gift
horizon of life
Gen 29:33, 30:22 God opens and closes the womb,
God is active in the event of conception.
Ps 139:1-4 sanctity of human life
Jer 1:5 God forms you in the womb
Is 49:1, Judg 13:7-8- God calls them when they Isaiah
and Samson in the womb
Ps 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth , sinful from the time
my mother conceived me.
world is to
Lk 1:41-44 shows the humanness of the unborn child
turn one's
Exodus 21:22-25 here killing an unborn child carried
the same penalty as killing a born baby.
in this world.
To measure
happiness by
the absence
of sorrow and
misery in this
back on the
Gospel.
A baby inside the womb had the same legal
status as a baby outside the womb.
Fathers of the Church
Didache do not murder a
child by abortion or kill a
newborn infant. Epistles of
Barnabas you shall not slay
a child by abortion.
Athenagorus woman who
induce
abortions
are
murderers. Clement
of
Alexandria those who use
abortifacient cause not
only the outright murder of
the foetus but of the human
race.
Tertullian we may not destroy even the
foetus in the womb. Augustine destroy
the foetus in the womb die before it
lives .. condemns abortion.
Popes and Councils...
The first Council of Mainz in
847 decided that the most rigorous
penance would be imposed "on
women
who
procure
the
elimination of the fruit conceived
in their womb."
The Decree of Gratian: "That
person is a murderer who causes to
Page - 04
St. Thomas, the Common Doctor
of the Church, teaches that abortion
is a grave sin against the natural
law.
At the time of the Renaissance
Pope
Sixtus
condemned
abortion with the greatest severity.
perish by abortion what has been
conceived."
John XXIII "life which from its
A century later, Innocent XI
rejected
the
propositions
of
certain lax canonists who sought
to excuse an abortion procured
before the moment accepted by
some as the moment of the
spiritual animation of the new
being.
Pius XI & Pius XII clearly
excluded all direct abortion, that
is, abortion which is either an end
beginning demands the action of
God the Creator."
Vatican II has most severely
condemned abortion: "Life must be
safeguarded with extreme care
from conception; abortion and
infanticide
are
abominable
crimes."
Paul VI, has not been afraid to
declare that this teaching of the
Church "has not changed and is
unchangeable."
Humanae Vitae (1968),
Donum Vitae (1987),
Evangelium Vitae (1995), CCC
2270-75 reaffirms the above
teachings on abortion.
Page - 05
Whose Rights
Right from fertilization, the adventure of a human life
and its capacities requires time to evolve and become a fully
grown baby. So it is not up to biological sciences to make a
definitive judgment on human personhood and legitimacy of
The Medical
abortion. Foetus can thus never be considered as a
mere tissue. Therefore no one has the right to alter its
Termination
destiny.
of Pregnancy
What Rights
(MTP) Act
in India came
into
existence
in 1971
In certain cases, the gravity of the problem comes from
the fact that by denying abortion one endangers very great
difficulties.
1) It may be a serious question of health, sometimes of life or
death, for the mother;
2) It may be the burden represented by an additional child, or
based on the
fear that the child will be abnormal or retarded;
recommenda
3) It may considerations of honor or dishonor, of loss of social
standing, and so forth.
With regard to the future unhappiness of the child, no
one, not even the father or mother, choose in the
child's name, life or death. Life is too fundamental a
value to be weighed against even very serious
disadvantages.
tions of the
Shah
Committee.
Background
Having recollected the catholic perspective on
abortion , we now move on to the current issue.
The Act was earlier amended in 2003 to facilitate better
implementation and increase access for women . However, 38
years after the implementation of a liberal MTP Act, unsafe
abortions continue to outnumber safe and legal abortions in the
country contributing to eight percent of the total maternal
deaths in India.
Page - 06
Proposed amendments to the MTP Act
1. Expanding the base of legal abortion providers
In order to increase the availability of safe abortion services, it has been
recommended to include medical practitioners with Bachelors degree in
Unani, Ayurveda or Homeopathy, nurses with a three and half years
degree and registered with the Nursing Council of India.
2. Increasing access to legal abortion services for women
These are to remove operational barriers in the current law;
Remove the requirement for providers opinion for first trimester abortions.
Reduce the opinion of two service providers for second trimester
pregnancies to one .
Extend the indication of contraception failure to include
unmarried women also.
3. Increasing the upper gestation limit for legal MTP services
extend the gestation period from 20 weeks to 24 weeks for "special
categories", to include single women with unwanted pregnancy, disabled &
vulnerable women.
would also allow abortion any time during the pregnancy for "selective" foetal
abnormality, which cannot be detected during the 20-week gestation period.
4. Increasing clarity on the MTP Act
to replace the term registered medical practitioner with registered service
provider which would cover para-medicals (nurses), Unani, Ayurvedic and
Homoeopathic practitioners as legitimate providers of abortion service.
to introduce a clause which states that only the consent of a woman is
required which can avoid the practice of insisting on consent of the
womans husband/ partner.
The vocation of the Church is to defend human dignity since
the Son of God became man, there is no man who is not His
brother in humanity.
Page - 07
To act against abortion is to take Gospel to
the large multitude of Indian mass, the
faith of the Church.
A 24 week
foetus can
survive if
taken from
womb and
medical
assistance.
Therefore,
extending
gestation
period from
20 to 24
narrows the
line between
infanticide
and to
foeticide.
How can the Church be involved?
We may not be able to stop amending the bill, but
following things can be done in our spheres...
1. Individual Christians can become involved in the pro
life movement.
2. Through prayer ; the bible admonishes to pray for the
leaders(1 Tim2:1-2)
3. Can provide financial support for the organizations
fighting abortion
4. Churches should be centers of information; Christians
should be informed on these.
5. Social action; also includes voting intelligently about
political candidates and know where they stand on the
issue of abortion.
6. We should support crisis pregnancy and begin
crisis pregnancy ministry
7. Pastors shall be informed about how to help
with crisis pregnancies
The unborn must be respected and treated
as a human person. Since the purpose of all law
is the promotion of human, pro-abortion laws
is the destruction of the very concept of law.
Therefore
it
is
necessary
to
denounce
vigorously and decisively the injustice of proabortion laws.
Let us stand up and speak
for the voiceless...
