Abortion: a guide to making ethical choices.

: A mature attitude toward abortion rests on responsible decision-making and action taking, not on the belief in irreversible events. Abortion is therefore a choice which should be made if it is the most correct and responsible action in view of one's own circumstances. There are a number of doubts, concerns and moral--as opposed to medical--questions that women may be asking themselves as they face this serious choice. The guide addresses these issues to help women think through that choice. It is important to know, for instance, that the Pope has never formally proclaimed a doctrine of faith on the matter of abortion. The Catholic Church, when considered in its diversity, teaches that some abortions can be moral; the conscience of a person is the final arbiter of any abortion decision. Conscience is humans' progressively refined ability to think about situations and evaluate their moral goodness/badness. With respect to abortion, this means that a woman should make the choice that seems best to her. The fear that having an abortion will result in excommunication from the Church is dismissed here. A distinction must be made between committing the sin of abortion and having an abortion. The former obtains when people act against their own conscience. The attitude toward abortion as murder and the issue of the fetus' afterlife are responded to in terms of personhood, a complicated concept on which there is no legal, scientific or religious consensus. Instead, the answer is a function of the time period and its prevalent beliefs. Today, the viability of the fetus has become an important determinant of life. Having an abortion, giving birth, and use of contraceptives when no children are wanted, are responses to which a woman is entitled. Her choice is moral when based on responsible and conscious decisions and actions. The views of Protestantism and Judaism on abortion are clarified briefly.