A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion [Hardcover]

Daniel A Dombrowski (Author), Robert Deltete (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2000

The Catholic church has always opposed abortion, but - contrary to popular belief - not always for the same reasons. This tightly argued, historically grounded study sets out to demonstrate that a "pro-choice" stance, now held by a significant minority of Catholics, is as fully justified by Catholic thought as an anti-abortion view, and may even be more compatible with Catholic tradition than the current opposition to abortion espoused by many Catholics and most Catholic leaders. "A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion" argues that the current Catholic anti-abortion stance is justified neither by modern embryology nor by ancient church teachings. Combining up-to-date information on fetal development with a thorough grasp of the works of the church's early thinkers, Daniel A. Dombrowski and Robert Deltete expose crucial contradictions between the early and the modern church's views of abortion. Returning to the writings of two pillars of early Christian thought, Sts. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, the authors show that abortion was originally condemned by the church on the grounds of perversity, since it nullified the only permissible reason for sexual relations: procreation. Only in more recent times has the view arisen of abortion as indefensible on the ontological grounds that human personhood begins at the moment of conception. The authors demonstrate that the early church's view of fetal development - delayed hominization, in which the fetus is endowed with a human soul only when it achieves a physical human body - is diametrically opposed to the current anti-abortion stance. In fact, the authors show, the insistence on immediate hominization that provides the foundation for the current "pro-life" view stems from two seventeenth-century scientific misconceptions - preformationism and the homunculus - that have since been thoroughly discredited. By considering the history of Catholic thought in its relation to the history of science, Dombrowski and Deltete bring a new level of detail and focus to the abortion debate. Their thoughtful, measured argument provides a fresh perspective that will benefit participants on all sides of the controversy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Calmly reasoned, carefully explained, and terribly important." -- Garry Wills, Chicago Sun-Times "This well-argued and well-researched book makes an excellent contribution to the debate on abortion... [The authors] bring new light to the history of Catholic thought and a fresh perspective that will benefit participants on all sides of the abortion controversy." -- Choice "The two scholars offer [this volume] not as 'free-floating theists' but as Catholics retrieving a complex history of debate on the subject... In tracing the changing Catholic views, the scholars defend the moral permissibility of abortion in the first trimester and offer a sexual ethic that focuses on issues of respect and agapic love rather than procreation, marriage, or even heterosexuality." -- Nina C. Ayoub, Note Bene, The Chronicle of Higher Education "Helpful for the ways in which it nuances the church's response to abortion, illuminating how the grounds of its opposition have changed from perversity to ontology... A critical retrieval of Augustine and Aquinas supports their position that fetuses are not necessarily persons." -- Donna M. McKenzie, Religious Studies Review "A model of reasoned discourse about an inflammatory issue. I cannot think of a Catholic -- or any thoughtful person -- who would not benefit from it." -- Anthony Padovano, Conscience "A valuable book, which argues that a pro-choice position on early abortion is at least as consistent with the Roman Catholic tradition as the strict anti-abortion stance of contemporary Church leaders." -- Ethics ADVANCE PRAISE "Dan Dombrowski and Robert Deltete's excellent book on a liberal Catholic defense of abortion definitively shows that the current teachings of the Roman Catholic Church--that all abortion is murder from the first moment of conception--is not in accord with Catholic tradition over more than eighteen centuries. A careful study of the Catholic tradition of such major theologians as Thomas Aquinas, in the context of modern embryology, in fact, supports the pro-choice position in the first two trimesters. The authors argue that, at the very least, the morality of abortion in the early months should be an open and not a closed question for Catholics." -- Rosemary Radford Ruether, Georgia Harkness Professor of Applied Theology, Northwestern University and author of Women and Redemption: A Theological History and Sexism and God-Talk: A Theological History

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (January 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252025504
• ISBN-13: 978-0252025501
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #698,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Deceptive, April 25, 2001

By 

Elsie Mandelbaum (Princeton) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion (Hardcover)

This piece of pro-abortion propaganda, charading as scholarship, is seriously misleading. Some problems:

1) The authors ignore the anti-abortion position of the early, patristic church. The Didache, Tertullian, and Athenagoras categorically condemn all abortion, regardless of what stage at which it is performed.

2) The authors rightly show that Augustine and Aquinas supported the theory of delayed animation, but they fail to show that these authors also categorically condemned abortion at all stages. Later abortion was more gravely evil than an early abortion (just as first-degree murder is more evil than second-degree murder), but all abortion was condemned as wrong. The canon law of the same period showed the same graded but clear condemnation of all abortion.

3) The authors fail to explain to the reader the absurd biology on which delayed animation was based. Aquinas (following Aristotle), thought the female fetus became "human" later than a male fetus because the woman contributed nothing to conception! He also thought that the early human fetus was some sort of vegetable! No one today disputes the fact that from the moment of conception a huam fetus is purely human. It is not a tiny grapefruit or cat that suddenly becomes human at some later stage of gestation.

4) From the beginning of its existence the Catholic Church has strongly condemned abortion at every stage. While its reasons for condemnation and the degree of condemnation have varied, its position has remained remarkably consistent. Its strengthened opposition to abortion at every stage is completely justified by new knowledge in genetics and gestation. Every human person's history has a radical beginning at the moment of conception.

28 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting background on Abortion and the Catholic Church, March 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion (Hardcover)

The authors of this book go into great detail on the history of abortion in the Catholic Church and Catholic tradition. They look at the views of St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas and trace thinking on abortion throughout history. They show how Catholic thinking has changed as scientific and medical knowledge increased and changed as well as looking at the views of society. Although the book can be slow in places, the author's points are very interesting and show that the abortion debate within the Catholic Church is not a simple, clear-cut issue. While the authors are not theologians, and do not pretend to be, their discussion is interesting, informative and relevant.

20 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for prolifers & prochoicers, January 4, 2001

By 

Ray Berthiaume (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion (Hardcover)

It's enlightening to learn the gradual ensoulment of the fetus was Catholic dogma before the 17th cent, taught by Augustine & Thomas Aquinas.After that time the immediate infusion of the human soul was taught to occur at conception. A strong case can be made for a vegetative soul, then an animal soul, preceding to the human soul in the last trimester. "the moral permissibility of abortion in the early stages of pregnancy is, AT THE VERY LEAST, an intellectually respectable view when the history of Catholic thought on abortion is considered in its relation to the history of science" the philosopher authors conclude. While some of this is difficult to follow, it is well worth the effort.