Long arm of the church in Ireland

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ActioN Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly for $8 per year by Socialist Action Publishing Association, 3425 Army St., San Francisco, CA 94110. Second-class postage is paid at San POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Socialist Action, 3425 Army St., San Prancisco, CA RATES: For one year (12 issucs) U.S., 2nd Class: $8, Ist Class: $18; Canada and Mexico, 2nd Class: $12, Ist Class: $18; All other countries, 2nd Class: $15, Ist Class: $30. (Money orders and checks On Nov. 25, the voters of Ireland voted on three constitutional amendments conceming abortion. Voters approved by about three to two amendments guaranteeing access to information on abortion and birth control and making it legal for women to travel abroad to secure abortions.

The voters rejected by two to one an initiative to permit abortion-but only if the mother's life is in danger. If approved, these words would have been inserted into the Irish Constitution: "It shall be unlawful to terminate the life of the unborn unless such termination is necessary to save life, as distinct from the health, of the mother where there is an illness or disorder giving rise to a real and substantive risk to her life, not being a risk of self distruction."

The Catholic Church, the "moral majority" in Ireland, opposed this third section of the referendum. As it was, the wording of this section was so obtuse, it could well have been written by the Pope.

By But the Church chose-only for tactical reasons-not to oppose the right to information about birth control, nor the right to travel. They needed to appear "reasonable."

In any case, the Church will try to stop the right to go abroad for an abortion by other means. They sponsor a very active "Right to Life" group that takes every opportunity to seek out women who travel to England for an abortion and splash their pictures, addresses, and names in the Catholic press. This results in women and their families being harrassed by phone calls night and day.

In Northern Ireland, the Protestant church takes over from the Catholic one. They too, have their "Right to Lifers" who take it as their God-given right to control the reproductive lives of women. They too, harrass women who travel to England for abortions—meeting them at airports and ferries and shoving "fetus" photographs in their faces.

Historically, the Catholic Church has made 180 degree 'shifts on the issue of abortion. In the year 1140 (before capitalism), Pope Gratian announced, "He is not a murderer who brings about an abortion before the soul is in the body." In 1234, Pope Gregory IX upheld that ruling.

In 1588, Pope Sixtus V abruptly announced that Church and secular penalties should be the same for abortion and murder. Three years later, however, Pope Gregory XVI reversed that decision and abolished all penalties for abortion except for those after "ensoulment."

It was not until the 18th century, when capitalism was ascending throughout Western Europe, that the Catholic Church adopted and kept its present stand on abortion.

The Church's current stand on abortion is based on four principles: (1) God is the author of life. (2) Human life begins at the moment of conception. (3) No one has the right to take an innocent "human life." (4) Abortion at any stage of fetal development is the taking of innocent human life.

To make sure this is fully understood, Dr. Austin O'Malley, a major Catholic mouthpiece, writes in "The Ethics of Medical Homicide and Mutilation," "An innocent fetus an hour old may not be directly killed to save the lives of all the mothers in the world."

But it's not the medieval minds of Catholic princes who are responsible for the oppression of women. Today, the utterings of the Church hierarchy and other fetus-fetishers on this question reflect the views of the capitalist class.

The denial of abortion rights is part and parcel of a social system in which women are condemned to second-rate status-including wage levels close to half that of men. But it's not men as such who profit from the oppression of women but the capitalists.

Thus, without encouragement by the captains of industry, finance, and government, the churches wouldn't and couldn't get away with their mischief.

When does "ensoulment"

begin?

Harold J. Morowitz and James S. Trefil, authors of "The Facts of Life; Science and the Abortion Controversy," blasts the Catholic and fundamentalist Christian churches out of the water. On conception they write:

"There is probably no question more frustrating to a scientist than, 'Does life begin at conception?' It's like asking an engineer if a building begins when the blueprint is made. The only correct answer-yes and no—is profoundly unsatisfying.

"A frequent argument against abortion is that a new DNA 'blueprint' comes into existence at conception creating the possibility of a new life. But this argument, which owes its existence to advances in molecular biology, is threatened by studies of parthenogenesis-birth withDear readers,

Hayden

represent the views of Socialist out conception. There is the possibility that DNA can be manipulated so that females can actually have virgin birth. Can the church be against virgin birth? Even eggs discarded during menstruation have the future possibility of becoming "potential life."

Morowitz and Trefil argue further: "Are we obligated to provide every unfertilized egg with a chance to develop? Do we outlaw menstruation?"

Then they give the ensoulment argument the coup de grace. They write: "It is generally accepted that what distinguishes us from other animals-what makes us humanis the highly developed outer layers of the human brain— the 'gray matter' or cerebral cortex. The cortex is the seat of emotions, sensations and other characteristics we consider human. So it can be argued that when a fetus acquires a functioning cortex, it has acquired humanness. "[But] just as a pile of microchips isn't a computer, a collection of brain cells isn't a brain. It is only around the 25th week (the start of the third trimester) that the connections start to be made and the cortex starts to function. Before that, the fetus is a human in the strict biological sense, but has not acquired the characteristics that distinguish humans from other animals."

Morowitz and Trefil conclude that Roe v. Wade is right to allow abortion before the onset of the third trimester.

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NOV. 30, 1992