Father Fox said it was his opinion that the ruling includes all abortifacients, including intrauterine devices and certain types of birth control pills . Scientifically speaking, the term fetus is applied to unborn human life from the end of the third month until birth. The canon law commission made the ruling last January, but it was not announced at the Vatican until Nov.24. New technologies have eclipsed this traditional understanding, he said. The recently released French developed drug RU486, called the abortion pill, provokes miscarriages by blocking progesterone in the first weeks of pregnancy.
Progesterone is a hormone necessary for a pregnancy to succeed.
In addition, doctors have developed new surgical procedures to kill some fetuses in the case of multiple pregnancies. This procedure, in which doctors insert a needle through a woman 's abdomen and inject potassium chloride into the hearts of selective fetuses, was designed to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy for one of the fetuses. However, for an excommunication penalty to go into effect, one must know there is a pregnancy, and there must be a free choice to abort, Father Fox said. He acknowledged that in the case of the IUD as well as abortifacient drugs, one might not know if an abortion has occurred. Procuring, or helping someone to procure, an abortion is one of only seven offenses explicitly punished by excommunication under canon law.