Catholics like @AlvareHelen claim the Church has taught for 2,000 years that abortion is “the direct taking of innocent life.” That’s malarkey! The truth is the hierarchy’s absolute ban on abortion is actually only 150 years old. (THREAD)

For most of the Catholic Church’s history, the prevailing view was that abortion only took a life after the soul entered the fetus (believed to occur ~40-90 days into the pregnancy). Theologians from Augustine to Aquinas drew a clear distinction between early & late abortions.

In fact, when Pope Sixtus V tried to equate abortion & homicide in 1588 (to clamp down on sex work in Rome), his successor Pope Gregory XIV overturned it saying it was *not* in line with previous teachings. Many theologians also supported abortion to save the woman’s life.

It wasn’t until the last 400 yrs that church leaders began to say the soul enters the fetus at conception, & it wasn’t until 1869 that Pope Pius IX--alarmed by declining birthrates in Catholic countries like France--declared abortion a homicide punishable by excommunication.

This absolute ban wasn’t written into Canon Law until 1917. And only in the last ~50 years has abortion been on the radar of most Catholics. What changed? Women were making gains in society & the church, and the U.S. bishops latched onto the anti-abortion movement to push back.

Giving a woman the right to full agency over her body is the key to claiming political, economic, & social autonomy. The bishops absolutely reject the notion that women are equal to men. So how could they support any right that would give women that kind of power & liberty?

The Catholic hierarchy has used abortion to gain political power & leverage women’s freedom as a way to become an important voting bloc in American elections. This shrewd political move was made by an all-male, celibate clergy.

The Catholic Church’s so-called “constant teaching” on abortion has changed significantly throughout the ages. It’s reflective of cultural mores and attitudes about sex and the hierarchy’s desire to control women, not divine decrees from on high.

The hierarchy wants you to believe that theirs is the Catholic voice on abortion & reproductive rights. Nothing could be further from the truth: today 56% of Catholics believe abortion should be legal. @Catholic4Choice is their voice. Support our movement: https://catholicsforchoice.salsalabs.org/donate/index.html