Bloggers have been let loose on the human fertilisation issue, to add to our confusion.

After our much-appreciated analysis of the debate (21 March), Eye's attention has been drawn to The Times faith blog which has unearthed many more interpretations of the status of the foetus from past theology.

Whereas in the translation of Exodus used by early church fathers a sentence of death was passed on anyone injuring a pregnant woman and causing her to lose her baby, only a fine was levied if the foetus was unformed, or not yet like a human being. Others, such as Basil, a Cappadocian Father, thought it was wrong to abort either a formed or unformed foetus.

St Augustine could not see a soul in the unformed foetus and St Thomas Aquinas went even further in not ascribing a soul to any foetus before forty days in males and ninety in females!

In 1869 Pope Pius IX seems to have levelled the centuries-old debate by abolishing laws that made a distinction between formed and unformed. It is pointed out to us that if the technology had been around before that time, the current bill would have had church sanction.

Labels: pope