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  • Title: [Religion, morality and politics: the abortion debate].
    Author: Ladriere P.
    Journal: Rev Fr Sociol; 1982; 23(3):417-54. PubMed ID: 12339249.
    Abstract:
    The views of morality enunciated by the Protestant and Catholic churches in the process of France's abortion law revision are examined through an analysis of the testimony of each church and its moral theologians during hearings held from July-November 1973 by the Commission of Cultural, Family, and Social Affairs of the National Assembly concerning the proposed abortion legislation. The offical Catholic Church position, which restated a neoscholastic philosophy with its theory of human nature, natural law, natural right, and natural morality, was opposed by 2 priests who participated as members of other organizations. The moral principles behind the official Catholic position included the sacred and absolute principle of respect for life, the beginning of human life at conception, and the responsibility to protect the fetus as a human being. Internal Catholic challenges to the official position appeared to rest principally on the question of when life begins but also touched on the inappropriateness of viewing unwanted pregnancy as a punishment for sexual activity, the constant recourse to authority of the church, and the reluctance to reexamine questions on new evidence. Faced with the likely replacement of abortion law consistent with Catholic morality by 1 seriously at variance, the French Church and state while justifying their organized opposition to any change. The right of the church to impose its views on the legislature and on society, the view of the cultural context of abortion as a degradation of public attitudes expressed in rejection of children, the necessary connections between sexuality and fertility, the necessity for women to be able to control their fertility if they were to participate fully in society, the debased conditions in which thousands of illegal abortions occurred or the exaggeration of such conditions were other issues. Proposed legislation on abortion was opposed by the official Catholic position, which instead called for a vaguely defined social and family policy. Issues raised in the testimony of representatives of Protestant groups included the idea that each person is responsible for interpreting the will of God in complex situations, limits to the idea that life is a blessing of God, the right of women and couples to control their fertility, and abortion as a last resort. The Protestant position in favor of liberalization of the law held that existing repressive laws were untenable given the perils of illegal abortions and the fundamental modifications in relations between man and nature brought about by science. The Protestant church, a minority in France, took a more active role than the Catholic in suggesting specific legislation.
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