Augustine, Aquinas, and Abortion

The recent controversy stirred up by Nancy Pelosi’s remarks on Meet the Press (August 24) that St. Augustine of Hippo (b. 354) would have permitted abortion up to three months has highlighted once again the necessity for citizens of a republic to have a working knowledge of primary sources and where to find them.

Tracking down the comments of Augustine (late fourth and early fifth century) and of Aquinas (thirteenth century) on the Internet is not an easy task, but it is important to realize that both of them were actually summarizing Aristotle’s theory about “ensoulment,” that is, the point of time in which the body joins the soul, which they tied to the appearance of fetal genitalia, perhaps because the ancients regarded the fetus at this stage to have the appearance of a human being.

Determining the moment of ensoulment is not the same as determining when life itself begins, so bringing ensoulment into a debate about abortion in postmodern America seems really to introduce a red herring into the argument. Moreover, if Senator Pelosi desires to rest her case on the ensoulment issue (90 days after conception as the outermost point), that certainly does not explain her voting record, which shows that Pelosi has even supported partial-birth abortion at full term.

Of interest on the Internet is an article entitled “Aquinas on Human Ensoulment, Abortion and the Value of Life” by John Haldane and Patrick Lee, which can be found at www2.franciscan.edu/plee/aquinas_on_human_ensoulment.htm. This article is a refutation of the views expressed by Robert Pasnau in his book Aquinas and Human Nature. Haldane and Lee do a good job of supporting their claims with quotations from Aquinas and references to where they can be found in the Summa Theologiae.

Also of interest is Chapter 17 in a work of Augustine entitled Marriage and Concupiscence, Book I, entitled “What is Sinless in the Use of Matrimony? What is Attended With Venial Sin, and What with Mortal?” Here Augustine makes clear his abhorrence of abortion in the context of his remarks concerning abortion of children conceived inside of marriage. Notably, he uses the term “cruel lust” to sum up his opinion of the practice. This writing can be found online at www.newadvent.org/fathers/15071.htm .