Pregnancy and miscarriage

Was it already a person?

The Church holds that the child is to be treated as a person from conception, and says it has not formally defined the philosophical question underneath. From the first moment of existence, a human being “must be recognized as having the rights of a person”. CCC 2270 The 1987 instruction asks “how could a human individual not be a human person?”, grants that “the Magisterium has not expressly committed itself to an affirmation of a philosophical nature”, and concludes: “The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception.” Donum Vitae 6

The reason given is that the life is already a new one. From fertilisation “a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of the mother, it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already.” Quaestio de Abortu 12 The 1974 declaration calls this “perfectly independent of the discussions on the moment of animation”, says it is not for biology to judge a question as philosophical as “the moment when a human person is constituted”, and adds: “The one who will be a man is already one.” Quaestio de Abortu 13

For a child who died before birth, the Church entrusts them to God. Of children who die without Baptism, “the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them”, and God’s mercy with Jesus’ words, “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,” “allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism”. CCC 1261

Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Visitation, 1491. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Lk 1:41

2270

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. Cf. CDF — Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Donum vitae I, 1.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. Jer 1:5; cf. Job 10:8-12; Ps 22:10-11. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. Ps 139:15.

1261

As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them," Mk 10 14; cf. 1 Tim 2:4. allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

Donum Vitae Feb 22, 1987
Quaestio de Abortu Nov 18, 1974

From the Catechism

From the Magisterium