Ask a Catholic Bioethicist: Why Can’t I Morally Choose to Undergo an Abortion?

Question 1: I am a recently married woman, and my husband and I are thinking about soon having a child.  If I become pregnant before we are ready to raise a child, why can’t I morally obtain an abortion?  After all, it’s my body, so isn’t it my choice whether or not to take a pregnancy to term?

Answer: For starters, let’s be very clear: Every direct, intentional abortion is the purposeful destruction of an innocent human being in the womb.  As such, it is murder, and it is murder even if a government or any institution or person declares that it is not murder.  Indeed, intentional abortion is another monstrous violation of the 5th Commandment that is more precisely understood as Thou Shalt Not Murder.

Secondly, the false claim that pregnancy only involves the woman’s body so that a pregnant women should be able to destroy the innocent child in the womb if she so chooses (often encapsulated in the evil and exceedingly ignorant slogan “my body, my choice”) is simply a despicable lie because as basic biology and embryology clearly demonstrate, the child in the womb is a human being from the first moment of conception, and this child is distinct from his or her mother.  The child is NOT part of the woman’s body, but as God has divinely arranged it for all of humanity, the child makes specific use of his or her mother’s body for the time it takes to develop until it is delivered, typically via birth after approximately 9 months.   

Question 2: Isn’t the position known as Pro-Choice the more reasonable and moral position regarding intentional abortion?

Answer: Many people have bought into and promote this most evil position and approach to abortion, and they claim that it is a reasonable and morally solid halfway position between favoring abortion and being totally opposed to it.  However, there is absolutely nothing moral about this position because it favors abortion (murder of the innocent child) simply if a woman chooses to undergo an abortion. 

Accordingly, people who claim that they are “pro-choice” should not be granted any deference or appreciation for their hideously immoral position, and it should be pointed out to them without any hesitation or equivocation that their so-called “pro-choice” position is at its core pro-abortion because one does not have to be pro-abortion 24-7 in all circumstances to still be pro-abortion.  So long as anyone accepts abortion for any reason, they are pro-abortion, period.  Moreover, nobody should ever be referred to as “pro-choice,” nor should any reasonable person of good will accept that as a legitimate label for those people who wish to have it granted to them upon their declaration of being "pro-choice.”

Bottom Line: Regardless of the circumstances, if you hear anyone declare themselves to be "pro-choice,” always keep in mind that what they are really declaring is that they are “pro-abortion” whenever a mother chooses to murder her innocent child in the womb.  There is nothing honorable about this immoral charade.