LETTERS Life starts at conception
From Mr M.G. Sherlock Sir: In 'A tale of two Churches' (14 Octo- ber) Melanie Phillips tries to explain away the Catholic position on abortion as a mis- interpretation of Old Testament texts.
If, in fact, the Church, or others opposed to abortion (they are not all Catholics, or even Christians), based their position on ancient religious writings, they might not find much support there. The mediaeval theologian Thomas Aquinas ruled that terminating a pregnancy before the 40th day was not a seri- ous sin, as ensoulment had not yet occurred.
How he reached that conclusion is unclear. But it does not matter. We can argue about the existence or otherwise of the soul, but in the face of modern embry- ology and ultrasound techniques we cannot deny the presence of a body, however small and rudimentary. If that is destroyed, a life is gone; a life that might have lasted for the best part of a century. Life starts at concep- tion and ends at (natural) death; sabotage of it at any stage between those two points is killing. Everyone knows this, though those of a 'liberal' abortion stance skate uneasily round it.
The Catholic Church continues to be in the forefront of opposition to legalised abortion. But the issue is less one of reli- gious dogma than of plain logic.
M.G. Sherlock
London SW1
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