The word abortion is defined by the Roman Catholic Church as the deliberate killing of an unborn foetus. To terminate the life of a foetus accidentally is called a miscarriage.Before 1967, Abortions in England were illegal. If you wanted to have an abortion you had to have what was known as a back street abortion, these were carried out in very unhygienic conditions and could be preformed by people with not any real knowledge of the operation they were performing. If a girl was pregnant without a husband or a father to the child, it would bring shame on a family and be socially wrong. This led to abortions been done in secret.

It was illegal for doctors to perform the operation so everything was done in secret.After 1967 the liberal democrats decided to change the legality on abortion and make it legal, now doctors could perform the operation legally.There are many different ways an abortion can happen.1) The dilation and evacuation, this is where the foetus is crushed and taken out in pieces.2) Dilation and curettage, this is where the baby is scraped out of the womb.3) Vacuum aspiration. This is where the baby is sucked out down a powerful ‘vacuum cleaner’ type machine. Most abortions are preformed in these ways.

Abortion have to be preformed before 24 weeks since conceived and approved by two doctors certifying that in their own opinion formed in good faith the abortion should be carried out.About 180,000 abortions take place in England and Wales every year they can be preformed by the N.H.S, or a private pay hospital.

Some reasons why women have abortions are the girl already has children and not enough money to support another child or the girls could be too young to feel she can’t have children and the early pregnancy was not planned. Other reasons might be the baby has a disability or handicapped also the baby could interfere with plans of a career or future prospects. All of these could make a woman want to terminate the pregnancy.1b) What biblical and church teachings might be used in a discussion about abortion?The church teaches us that abortions are wrong.

It bases its teachings on what the bible tells us about life. Christians believe the bible is Gods word and should always be followed.The bible says in genesis 1:26 we are born in the image and likeness of god. Christians believe that god created life in the image of him self so to destroy life would go against gods creation.

We are all born in the image and likeness of god, Christians believe that God created all human life therefore we would be destroying Gods creation. we do not have the authority to destroy anything created by god.Christians can also use one of the Ten Commandments which are central to the teachings of the Christian faith; they are a guide to how Christians should live their live. ; Thou shall not kill; is one of them and abortions go against this commandment.In LK.6:31 its tries to teach us respect when it says treat others as you would have them do to you.Another reference from Luke’s gospel, John the Baptist ‘leaps with joy’ in his mother’s womb we see here that even though he is not born he still has feelings and human emotions.Jesus once said if you love your neighbour you will not do anything thing to harm human life, this again tells us how we should not harm life and gods creation.

The Catholic Church has always condemned abortion no matter what the reason maybe. The church knows that having the baby in the long term may not be the best and sometimes practical way, but to Christians abortion is never the right answer.The Roman Catholic Church believes the life of some one starts at the moment of conception. To end this life the Roman catholic church believe only god can take it away. When speaking about abortion a defence can be the sanctity of life, this tells us all life is sacred and should be respected.

From the very early church it has always been taught in church life that abortion is wrong “you shall not kill the child in the womb or murder a new born infant” this is line from the Didache (a first century document). Also a early writer tertullian said “for us (Christians), murder is once and for all forbidden; so even the child in the womb, while yet the mother’s blood is still being drawn on to form the human being, it is not lawful for us to destroy” we can look at these early writings and compare it with today’s Christian figure heads views. Pope, John Paul 2 said “abortion is an unspeakable crime” (encyclical letter, ‘gaudium et spes, 51) and “there can never be any reasons, however tragic, to justify the deliberate killing of an innocent human being”, (gaudium ET spec, 58).

Comparing these we can see that at the early church tells us that abortion is wrong and even now abortions are wrong so the message has always been the same.Here are some biblical teachings that support Christian being against abortionPsalm 66:9 He has preserved our lives and kept us from slipping he said. Naked I came from my mothers womb and naked shall I return there.Job 1:21 The lord gave, and the lord has taken away blessed be the name of the lord then god said let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness and let them have dominion over fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earthGen.1:26, 27 And over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth so God created humankind in his image in the image of God he created them: male and female he created themGen 2:7 Then the lord god formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breathe of life and the man became a living beingLev 24:17 Anyone who kills a human being shall be put to deathExodus 20:13 You shall not murderJob 12:10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and breathe of every living thing.2) Explain how Roman Catholics might put their beliefs about abortion into actionLIFE is a non denominational group; they offer shelter to new mothers and their new-born child in safe accommodation. There aim has always been to provide help and support to women, especially young women, who are faced with a problem pregnancyIt also gives the mother time to plan for the future and not feel alone.

Christian groups have formed pro-life organizations such as s.p.u.c (society for the protection of the unborn).

This group is designed to represent a voice for the unborn. The society promotes awareness of the humanity of the unborn child to encourage more widespread recognition of the obligation to defend those with no means to defend themselves.There aims are to affirm, defend and promote the existence and value of human life from the moment of conception, and to defend and protect human life generally.They try to look after the welfare of mothers during pregnancy and of their children from the time of conception up to, during and after birth if the mother has not got enough money to support the child or is unsure weather to keep the child. They try to prevent the abortion and find other ways like fostering.

This is only a short term answer so the mother can decide what she wants to do concerning the baby. If the mother decides she does not want to keep it she can give it up for adoption. This is where some one else permanently looks after the child and becomes their legal guardian.

One other option for the mother to do especially if the mother is young and still at school or collage is to have another family member like the grandmother to look after the baby.3) Abortion is never justifiedNo matter what the circumstances is the Roman Catholic Church believe that abortion can never be justified unless the baby has a chance of bringing a risk of physical or mental health to the mother. The mother’s life is classed to be greater than if the pregnancy was to go ahead. This links with the Doctrine of double effect this is where you preserve the life of the mothers life this is where your aim is good to save the mother but the consequence is the death of the baby.

In any other cases they believe that you are killing the child no matter if it is born or unborn. But if the mother was raped some people believe that in that circumstance and the mother had become pregnant due to the rape. People believe She should be able to terminate its life because seeing the baby would remind her of a rape. The catholic church argue that this will only makes things worse because now two crimes have been committed.Another argument to see if abortion is justifiable is if a baby is disabled through tests (amniocentesis) before it is born is it justifiable to terminate the pregnancy because the baby will be a social outcast or the mother won’t be able to cope.

But the catholic church say we are all born in the image of God so why should we kill the disabled baby’s before they are born when we don’t kill them after they are born? If this is true then that would mean anyone with a disability has meaning in life.I believe if the pregnancy brings physical or mental risk to the mother than the mothers life is greater than if the pregnancy to go ahead.And that if the pregnancy does hurt the mother in anyway for any reason than it should be her decision to terminate.Some say if you have a carefully planned sexual relationship when the woman is least fertile then this can help to stop unwanted pregnancies with out contraception.People say it is a woman’s right to control her body as an argument for abortion but then the power to conceive is a gift by God in the Catholic Church eye and should not be treated as a defect.