Catholic, pro-choice views discussed in bioethics professor's discussion

“When abortion was legalized in 1973, we thought everything was settled,” Frances Kissling began. Little did she know, she recalled, the political debate over abortion rights was only just starting up.

Kissling, a visiting bioethics scholar at Penn, treated an audience of about 40 yesterday evening to an academic and engaging look into the world of abortion politics. A pro-choice Catholic, Kissling discussed the abortion issue first as a Catholic and then as an ethicist.

According to Kissling, most common conceptions of why Catholics are pro-life are false.

First, she clarified, the notion that the “fetus is a person from the moment of conception” is not an official Catholic position. Kissling walked through history, bringing up St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine and Pope John Paul II to outline changing Catholic views on history.

Ultimately, “we don’t know when the fetus becomes a person,” she said, repeatedly citing a footnote in the Catholic Church’s 1974 “Declaration on procured abortion” which states: “There is not a unanimous tradition on this point and authors are as yet in disagreement.”

Kissling questioned why the Catholic Church is opposed to abortion if it does not claim “abortion is murder.” She explained the Church isn’t opposed to the process of aborting a child — it is opposed to certain implications behind getting the abortion.

Kissling, putting the Catholic debate into context, launched into a religious history of sex. In Catholicism, sex was almost always viewed as a sin — the more pleasure you got out of sex, the more sinful your actions, she explained. Sex was tolerated only because of procreation.

“Abortion is a violation of the Church’s philosophical [position] regarding the purpose of sexuality,” Kissling said. “If you use a contraception [or abort a fetus], you have thwarted the natural purpose of sex.”

Kissling is completely opposed to these historical interpretations and argued, from an ethicist’s perspective, for a woman’s right to abortion.

“Every pregnancy carries with it the risk of death,” she said. “[And] where your life is at stake, you must have a right to decide whether you want that.”

A civil — but lively — question-and-answer session followed the speech, and she delved deeper into the philosophical and religious implications of abortion.

Although the event, hosted by Penn Democrats, was not directly political in nature, College senior and Penn Democrats president Isabel Friedman thought it was an appropriate event to hold. “Educating students about political issues is within the purview of the Penn Democrats,” she said.

“I thought it was pretty basic,” said Jeff Antsen, a third-year student pursuing a masters degree in Bioethics. “Not quite as philosophical” as he had expected — but Antsen enjoyed hearing the Catholic opinion fused into the argument.

Jeff Klein, assistant director of the Newman Catholic Center, and one of a number of pro-life Catholics present, enjoyed the event — even though he disagreed with Kissling’s position. “Any time we have an opportunity to talk about politics and religion” and where they meet, he said, “it’s a good thing.”

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