Summary: History of the Catholic Church's changing position on abortion

History of the Catholic Church's changing position on abortion

• St. Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, and Canon Law in the 12th century: Abortion is a sin but not murder because it is not the killing of an actual human being, unless it is late term.  Females can be aborted later than males.

• 1591, Pope says early abortions are not grounds for penalty.

• 1917, Canon Law begins to consider all abortions equally wrong.

• 1995, Pope John Paul II declares abortion at any time is murder.

(References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_abortion and  http://liberalslikechrist.org/Catholic/abortionteaching.html)