Topic
Life Issues
The Catholic view on abortion, assisted suicide and end-of-life care — clear teaching, offered with mercy.
Questions about life issues
All in Q&A
What does the Catholic Church teach about abortion?
The Church teaches that human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception, so direct abortion is gravely wrong. At the same time the Church offers mercy and healing to anyone who has been involved in an abortion, and calls Christians to support mothers and families in practical ways.
What does the Church teach about euthanasia and assisted suicide?
The Church teaches that intentionally causing a person's death — by euthanasia or assisted suicide — is gravely wrong, whatever the motive. But it does not require burdensome treatment to prolong life at all costs: patients may refuse disproportionate treatment, and pain relief is good and right even if it may shorten life.
What is Catholic social teaching?
Catholic social teaching is the Church's body of teaching on how to build a just society. Its key principles include the dignity of every human person, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, care for the poor and vulnerable, the rights of workers, and care for creation.
How can I defend the Church's teaching on homosexuality?
People with same-sex attraction are called to chastity, as everyone is. The Church holds that the inclination is disordered and that acting on it offends God, though the desires themselves are not sins. Far from excluding anyone, the Church insists such persons be treated with respect, compassion and sensitivity.
Aren't pro-life Catholics who support a war being hypocritical?
No. War can sometimes be morally justified, so Catholics may disagree about whether a particular war is just. Abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research and human cloning can never be justified, because they always involve the illegitimate killing of innocent human beings.
Do miscarried babies have souls? What happens to them?
Yes. Every human being from conception has a spiritual, rational soul made in God's image, so miscarried children have human souls. They share the same hope of heaven that the Church holds out for all children who die unbaptized.
Would it be wrong to sign up for health insurance that covers abortion?
No. Your intention is to pay for medical coverage for yourself and your family, not for abortion or sterilization. If you can find comparable coverage and rates from a company that does not cover them, that is better — though such a company is very hard to find today.
Does the Church teach it is better to die than to be raped?
No. The Catechism says rape can wound a victim's "moral integrity," meaning wholeness — not that the victim sins. The perpetrator, not the victim, has sinned, because morality lies in the act of the will. Saints like Maria Goretti are honored for resisting, but that does not imply others were sinful. Victims must be treated with profound compassion.
Can homologous artificial insemination be permitted as a treatment for male infertility?
Generally no. Homologous insemination and fertilization, using only the spouses, are less reprehensible than donor techniques but remain morally unacceptable, because they separate the sexual act from the procreative act. The exception is a technical means that helps the marital act achieve its purpose rather than replacing it.
Should I leave the Church because of my homosexuality?
No. "Homosexual" is not your identity: you are a Catholic with same-sex attractions, and the Church is not against you. Everything, starting with existence itself, is God's gift — including the crosses that let us grow in love for him. You have a special place in the Church.
Is there an actual quote from John Paul II saying life begins at conception?
Yes. In Evangelium Vitae 60, John Paul II rejects the claim that the result of conception is not yet a personal human life, quoting the Church's teaching that "from the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth."
May we pray for conditional baptism for the unborn?
No. Conditional baptism is only for cases of doubt about whether a person was validly baptized. Baptism of desire applies to martyrs, catechumens and sincere seekers of God, and unbaptized children are entrusted to God's mercy. Pray instead for their salvation and that those in danger of abortion be spared.
Does the Church frown on interracial marriage?
No. Marriage is open to any eligible man and woman; race is no obstacle, because all races are equal before God.
Can a Catholic believe the U.S. was justified in dropping atomic bombs on Japan?
It is problematic. The Catechism condemns every act of war aimed at the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities and their inhabitants. In just-war teaching the acts of war, not only the cause, must be just; destroying civilian populations and terrorizing them into surrender, as at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are unjust acts of war.
Isn't the Church's teaching on IVF unfair to couples who can't conceive?
It may seem cruel, but it is not unfair: a child is a gift, not an entitlement. Marriage gives the right to the natural acts ordered to procreation, not a right to a child. A child has the right to be the fruit of his parents' conjugal love, and IVF separates the procreative act from the sexual act.
Where does the Bible say abortion is wrong?
The word "abortion" is not in the Bible, but Scripture, together with natural law, reason, Church teaching and the Fathers, shows it is intrinsically evil. Scripture treats the child in the womb as a living person from conception, and to kill that living child is murder.
Since the Church hasn't defined when ensoulment occurs, are abortion and embryo research acceptable?
No. Differing opinions on when the soul is infused never created doubt that abortion is gravely wrong. And since a human person may be present from conception, even the probability suffices to forbid killing an embryo absolutely. The human being must be respected as a person from conception.
Why is pornography a sin?
It gravely offends chastity, which honors the true meaning and intimacy of sexual union. Pornography perverts the conjugal act and gravely injures the dignity of everyone involved, making each an object of base pleasure and illicit profit (CCC 2354).
Was it wrong for a mother to abort one triplet to save her life and the other two?
Yes. She had another choice, the only right one: to abort none and put the matter in the Lord's hands. He is never outdone in generosity.