This key concept can be derived three ways from our syllabus.

1. Natural Law sees the rational purpose of all human beings to preserve life. So the killing of innocent being is intrinsically wrong (against the eternal law as understood by rational creatures). The sacredness of life is a key value if humans are to flourish, individually and collectively, in society. From natural law we derive the idea of natural rights as expressed in the Declaration of Independence of the thirteen American states in 1776. This appeals to “the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

Aquinas¹ would oppose abortion and euthanasia  because of the consequences for human flourishing  (as well as on Scriptural grounds).  For example, Aquinas argues suicide is wrong because “every man is part of the community, and so, as such, he belongs to the community. Hence by killing himself he injures the community” (ST II II Q64). This relationship between our action and flourishing of the community allows the Catholic Church to proclaim that,

“Every human life is sacred, because every human person is sacred. It is in the light of this fundamental truth that the church constantly proclaims and defends the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.”²   

This right to life itself is fundamental because it forms the basis for the enjoyment of society – and Aquinas would only support capital punishment or war if a clear case can be made that it is for the common good (eudaimonia, the Greek word for happiness or flourishing).

2. Kant dedicated his life to developing a moral theory that has at its heart universal human rights. This is best illustrated by the second formulation of the categorical imperative – the principle of ends. “Treat people not merely s a means to an end but always also as an end in themselves”. If we universalise our common humanity in this way we give everyone – from the humblest to the most exalted, full dignity, respect and value. A key part of this “value” is the absolute right to life. Suicide and euthanasia would be seen by Kant to be morally wrong – a contradiction in nature, creating a perfect duty of preservation of life.

3. Christian ethics. The Bible speaks of man and woman created in God’s image and knit together by God in the womb (Psalm 139:6). Each human being is a unique and special creation – so special that God sent his much-loved son to give his life to bring us back from our wayward ways. We belong to God in two ways – he made us and then purchased us a second time through the blood of his Son (redemption means to “buy back” from sin). “You are not your own”, says Paul, “you were bought at a price”. We are like the beloved Prodigal Son who comes home after a life of waste and foolishness, to be met by a waiting Father. God alone, says Job, appoints the time of our death – this is not our choice.

Click here to access further quotes http://www.stdenischurch.org/ProLifeQuotes.pdf

Footnotes:

(1) Aquinas ST II II Q64 On murder

(2)  Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, n. 4, (Origins 16:40, p. 700): “Physical life, with which the course of humanlife in the world begins, certainly does not itself contain the whole of a person’s value nor does it represent the supreme good of man, who is called to eternal life. However, it does constitute in a certainway the ‘fundamental’ value of life precisely because upon this physical life all the other values of theperson are based and developed.”

(3) The Catholic Catechism states:

“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.” Catechism of the Catholic Church 2270

(4) On euthanasia see the Declaration on Euthanasia, Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 26, 1980,
Sect. II, (Origins, Vol. 10, pp. 554ff): “It is necessary to state firmly once more that nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a fetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying.”