# The Catholic Church and the abortion of a DEAD fetus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-and-the-abortion-of-a-dead-fetus/518985 "2009-11-26T01:42:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-and-the-abortion-of-a-dead-fetus/518985/21 "2009-11-27T03:39:42Z")
I think they’re very touchy on treating tubal pregnancies, though. For instance, a Catholic hospital generally will only resort to treatment that renders a woman unable to have any more children afterwards, correct? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-and-the-abortion-of-a-dead-fetus/518985/22 "2009-11-27T05:06:57Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I think they’re very touchy on treating tubal pregnancies, though. For instance, a Catholic hospital generally will only resort to treatment that renders a woman unable to have any more children afterwards, correct? Here’s a page with [lots of info](http://www.cuf.org/Faithfacts/details_view.asp?ffID=57) on the Catholic church and tubal pregnancies. They seem kind of confused on the topic (not confused as in stupid, confused as in they don’t seem to have a solid consensus of what to do). ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-and-the-abortion-of-a-dead-fetus/518985/23 "2009-11-27T06:33:38Z")
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that the body is a reflection of the soul. Thus, a fetus doesn’t have a soul until it has a human shape, which is at some time later than conception. This was the doctrine of the church until the middle of the Renaissance when microscopes were invented. The early users of the microscope, like Leeuwenhoek, tended to see things that weren’t there, in this case that either the sperm or the egg contained a tiny human (aka a homunculus). Thus, abortion was then thought to be wrong at conception (though they didn’t really follow up on the idea, since either every sperm or every egg would have a soul). However, when better microscopes became common and people figured out what was going on, the church never admitted that it had been mistaken, so even though the “official philosophy” of the church says that you don’t have a soul unless you have a human shape, the current church doctrine is that abortion is bad from birth. (I only digress because the OP has been answered) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-and-the-abortion-of-a-dead-fetus/518985/24 "2009-11-27T13:48:59Z")
Thanks, I know many nice catholics, but I get really twitchy trying to explain to people that I am personally pro life though pro choice for others … and have to explain how I have come to have 2 pregnancies and no kids, and 2 recorded D&Cs, and one outright abortion. I have had a rabid catholic unfriend me over the abortion even though I probably would have died - I should have tried to carry it to term despite having already been told the third one would probably kill me … ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-and-the-abortion-of-a-dead-fetus/518985/25 "2009-11-27T16:38:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Fubaya** :If the fetus is dead, then the pregnancy is already terminated. If “pregnancy” just meant “having tissue inside of you that’s not part of you”, then a woman (or man) would be pregnant every time she (or he) ate meat. > **[Definition of ABORTION](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abortion)** > > the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus: such as; spontaneous expulsion of a human fetus during the first 12 weeks of gestation; induced expulsion of a human fetus…... “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus” It’s often necessary after a miscarriage. Doctors call it an abortion, it’s the same procedure as an abortion and all the paperwork says the person had an abortion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-catholic-church-and-the-abortion-of-a-dead-fetus/518985.md?page=1)