The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-09-02
THE RIGHT TO LIFE.

To directly kill the innocent is
never lawful In other words, it is
never lawful to kill the innocent
or when it is inflicted as a means to
the attaining of some other object. says
the Providence Visitor" Such an
act is expressly forbidden by Cod
The innocent and just person thou
shalt not put to DEATH Reason
teaches us the same truth; for if ever
it were lawful to directly kill the in
nocent, it would be so when such
death would be of great advantage to
the commonwealth. But even to save
the State, an innocent mans life
must not be taken directly, for the
State exists that good men may lead
honorable and peaceful lives; the
State is for the good citizens, not the
good citizens for the States. Not even
the good of the State, then, makes
it right to take an innocent mans
life and if that does not justify the
act, nothing does.
The death of the innocent may be
permitted, not intended, when it fol-
lows from some action lawful in itself
which also produces an equally imme-
date and good effect and when this
Counterbalances the evil effect This
is but the application of the principle
of a double effect. The general of an
army who orders the bombardment Of
a beleaguered town knows that his
order cannot be executed without kill
ing perhaps many innocent nOn-com-
DatantS, yet the action is not unlaW
full
Casual homicide, which was intend
ed in itself, but which was the con-
sequence of doing some dangerous ac-
tion, as furious driving in a frequent
ed street, is imputable to the agent, if
he adverted to the probable danger Of
killing some one. If such probable
danger did not exist, or was not
adVerted to casual homicide will not
he imputable in conscience, although
if the action be forbidden by law, even
on other grounds than the chance Of
it's causing another's death and some
one is killed by it, the law generally
Furnishes it as manslaughter.
Catholic teaching on the much-dis-
cussed subject of abortion is, in brief,
as follows: 1t is never lawful directly
to kill. 1t is never lawful then to di-
rectly procure abortion. For the un,
born in the early stage of development
is human being, with human SOUL
which, as is commonly held by
theologians, is infused into it by God
at the moment of conception; it has
as much right to live as any one else
and it certainly is innocent of any
personal crime. To deprive it directly
of the medium in which alone it can
live, is to kill it directly, just as to
deprive a man of air by plunging him
under water is to kill him directly. The
direct procuring of abortion, is never
allowed, inasmuch as it is the direct
killing of the innocent and intrinsical-
ly wrong Furthermore, a grievous
sin is committed whenever means of
whatever sort are taken to prevent
conception.
Craniotomy, or any other similar
operation which has for it's immediate
or direct effect the destruction of the
life of the unborn, is a direct killing
of the innocent, and is never allowed
If the child is already dead there is
no difficulty in permitting craniotomy
or embryotomy, but if it is still alive
it is not lawful to kill it, even if
otherwise both child and mother were
certain to die. Evil must not be done
that good may come of it. The end
does not justify the means. Some
medical men consider the unborn
until it is born, as a portion of the
mother which may be destroyed to
save her life This view is not in
keeping with Christian principles, ac
cording to which the child has a soul
of it's own and has it's own independ
ent right to live.
1t used to be argued that such
operations were lawful if the mother S
life could not otherwise be saved, be-
cause the child might be considered
materially unjust assailant of it's
mothers life and so be lawfully killed;
or because when there is a conflict
of rights the stronger right should
prevail. However, in no sense can
it be allowed that child is an unjust
assailant of it's mothers life; it is
where nature placed it, through no
fault of it's own and it has a right to
be there and be born. If either is
an unjust assailant of the other S
life, it is the mother, who voluntarily
undertook the obligations of mother.
hood. In the same way, when the
stronger of two conflicting rights
prevails, this is due to the fault OF
the other party and such fault is out
of question in this case. The doc.
trine is now theologically certain
after the repeated declarations of the
Holy See, that no operation which
tends directly to the destruction OF
the life of the unborn is lawful.
Life does not begin at birth, but
precedes it; prenatal life is truly life
That which is conceived, is; being, it
lives as essentially as a full-grown
man in the prime of life. Being the
fruit of humanity it is human at every
instant of its career; being human it
is a creature of God, has an immortal
soul with the image of the Maker
stamped thereon. And the veto of
God, Thou shalt not KILL" protects
that life, or it has no meaning at all.
The psychological moment of Incl