Madam, - Patsy McGarry writes (Opinion & Analysis, September 2nd): "For the greater part of the last millennium the Catholic Church did not hold that human life began at conception." This is misleading.
Throughout history the Church has insisted that abortion is a crime. There are many statements from as early as the 2nd century AD to this effect, testifying to an uncontested teaching already from apostolic times.
In the Middle Ages the Church accepted the prevailing scientific opinion, mainly based on Aristotle, that life began at quickening. However, it also accepted another aspect of Aristotle´s teaching, that of potency: a foetus is a potential human. The word "potential" is not to be understood in the sense of "possible", but of something determined to an end: the foetus is a potential human, it is not a potential horse. It can never become anything other than a human, and so has to be treated as a human.
The exact point at which life begins is a scientific question. Opinions on this have changed over the centuries. The ethical issues surrounding it, on the other hand, have not.
- Yours, etc,
Rev BRIAN McCARTHY, Castleville Study Centre, Castletroy, Limerick.