[color=darkblue:4xcvgaeb]Last week I participated in a discussion on abortion; the usual arguments on both sides were made and what particularly sparked my interest was a quote from St. Augustine and his comment about ensoulment occurring some time after conception (I’ll have to dig for the exact quote). Now, St. Augustine was both a genius and a weirdo at times (IMO). He held some pretty wild ideas about sexuality, authority, and number of other areas. So my initial reaction to St. Augustine’s comments to when ensoulment occurs was “this is the weirdo in him speaking”. I don’t say “weirdo” to be offensive, the man doesn’t need my praise to warrant his accomplishments and contributions to the Church. However, as some of you are aware, even Church Fathers got it wrong.

Now, to my surprise, after some digging, St. Augustine was actually not alone. While there has been constant general agreement that abortion is almost always evil and sinful, the church seems to have chosen to stay silent about when ensoulment occurs. I didn’t know this and since I’ve leaned so heavily against abortion (irregardless of the time it was held) due mainly because of the ensoulment of the body. I hadn’t realized the question was still open. This paralyzed me immensely in dialogues with other non-catholics.

What arguments are used without ensoulment?

Is it that God doesn’t get an oportunity to ensoul? Is that it?

I hope I’m missing something but doesn’t this weaken our argument against abortion if what is being aborted is not a person?[/color:4xcvgaeb]