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Article: Under Vatican ruling, abortion triggers automatic excommunication. (Cover Story).(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- January 17, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Under a 1988 Vatican ruling, "abortion" is defined as any method used to terminate a pregnancy from the moment of conception. Abortion thus understood is always illicit, according to the official discipline of the Catholic church, and can trigger excommunication for the parties involved.
The church's condemnation of abortion includes not only interventions to remove a fetus before birth, but the use of all abortifacients, including intrauterine devices and certain types of birth control pills that prevent implantation or stimulate uterine contractions to reject a fertilized egg. It also encompasses drugs such as RU486, called the abortion pill, which provokes ...