There are, as we know, seven principle virtues—four cardinal virtues and three theological ones—I a daresay that abortion manages to violate all seven of them. Few sins, I think, can claim such thoroughness in being so opposed to virtue.

Abortion and Prudence

That prudence is violated by abortion can be seen in many ways. The first of these is the false-prudence which advises abortion to begin with: do this, or your life will be ruined with a child. "Think of all the things you'll miss out on if you have a child now" could be a slogan for the abortion industry (of which the contraception industry is a subgroup). Yes, but if that is of such a large concern, then why the lack of prudence up until this point?

Where was prudence before the pregnancy, where was the voice of caution before the act of intercourse which does, after all, have as its end (natural consequence) procreation, whatever tampering we may do to it? And why does prudence suddenly seem to leave the room when the "choice" of abortion is taken so seriously as to require some time to think it over with the facts in hand (and not only the propaganda of those who would profit from an abortion). Witness, for example, the attempts of abortion advocates to withhold sonograms, or to deny information (let alone consent) from parents of minors involved.

Prudence is cast by the wayside leading up to an abortion.

Abortion and Justice

Justice is also violated in the act of abortion. Even in its simplest form--justice being only "giving to one what is his due" is violated, since it denies the child the life that he is due. It does, however, cut deeper than this, since the act of abortion denies the child his very dignity as a member of the human community, his value as a child of God. Abortion commits the injustice of denying his nature and dignity. It also does an injustice to the mother, by denying her the dignity which she has as a mother; and likewise to the father.

There are also the many smaller injustices, the men who are never informed that they are fathers, the women who are coerced to give up being mothers, and the parents of those women who are often denied their role as guardians (especially in the case of a minor). And of course it denies not only the Golden Rule (do onto others as you would have them do to you), but its Confucian (or Old Testament) counterpart, do not do to others what you would not have done to you. We treat animals with more dignity that we do the children who will be killed by this procedure, since few animals are killed by being torn limb-from-limb, or by having their skin dissolved and boiled off. Abortion falls short not only of granting the dignity due to a fellow human being, but even of granting the much lesser dignity granted to most animals, over which our natural relationship is lord or steward.

Abortion is an act which denies justice to all involved.

Abortion and Fortitude

What of fortitude--that is, steadfast courage in the face of trials and adversity? Certainly, adversity and trials are implied in abortion (most of the time): if they weren't, there would be no abortion. Yet, abortion is the "quick and easy" solution, though the grieving and guilt suffered by many women who have undergone this procedure suggests that it is not so easy, at least. Abortion is the coward's way out, though often it is not only the woman who is the coward in question. Sometimes it is the father abandoning his duty for convenience, sometimes it is the girl's parents who can think of nothing but "saving face," or "family reputation."

They perceive all of the trials which come with bringing a child into the world (and sometimes raising him), not to mention to reputation which comes (or once came with) bearing children out of wedlock; if they do away with the child quietly, then they believe that they will be spared this latter thing, at least, not to mention any inconveniences they might suffer. They overlook the blessings involved, overlook that every child is a gift from God, even when that gift is illicitly obtained. They look at the challenges and overlook the blessings, and so shy to the convenient path which requires less sacrifice (or really, fewer changes in lifestyle), forgetting that the easy path is the one which slopes down and down.

It requires much fortitude to be a parent, and none to be an ex-parent.

Abortion and Temperance

Temperance may be the biggest stretch on the face of it, but it really isn't so great a stretch when we see that temperance involves self-control. There are two possibilities: either the woman engaged in sexual intercourse willingly--in which case she lacked self-control--or (occasionally/rarely) she did not, in which case it was her partner (or aggressor) who lacked this part of temperance. The self-control may have been lost several steps earlier, as if she decided to drink to excess and then became inebriated (though this may also be a problem with prudence, as when she decided to go to the bar knowing that she tends to lose control of her drinking). She was subsequently taken advantage of--a lack of self-control on the part of her date--and then nature ran its course and a child was conceived.

Temperance is thus violated not so much in the act of abortion as in the course of events leading up to it.

Abortion and Faith

Faith means not only believing in God, but also accepting the truths which He has revealed. This includes those truths which are "written on the heart" (Romans 2:15), which are often then clarified by more explicitly revealed truths. It means accepting an outside authority as being superior to one's own self in determining matters of truth and goodness, which includes matters of right or wrong.

In an abortion, these outside authorities are sometimes misplaced (that is, the woman trusts in the pressuring of her coercive boyfriend or the coaxing of the profiteering abortionist). Other time, the outside authorities are totally discarded (as when the woman ignores all advice to the contrary and screams "my body, my choice!"). God's law is subverted, and His voice is ignored in favor of another's. When He said that He shall have no other gods before Him, He did not make an exception for Moloch.

Abortion is an act in defiance of faith.

Abortion and Hope

Hope can be taken to mean placing all of one's trust in God. It means accepting that He is ultimately in control, that even if we don't know what to what ends his Providence moves us, they will be good ends. They will be better ends than what we will achieve on our own. This means that we must trust that when he allows something which we think is bad to happen, it is because He will bring a greater good out of it, if we will but let Him.

Thus, every child is willed by Him, and every child is a blessing. We may not immediately see the blessing, we may see the adversity, we may see the pregnancy as a "crisis." But that is looking at it with earthly eyes, with eyes of "the flesh," with eyes not attuned to seeing what God sees. Abortion (like suicide) is the ultimate act of despair, saying not so much that no good can come from life, but that whatever good may come of life will be far outweighed by its suffering. There is no hope that God will bring a greater good from this, no trust that He knows what He is doing when he creates a new life.

Abortion is most certainly a sin against hope.

Abortion and Charity

How abortion violates against the precept of selfless love is self-evident. Whether the woman is driven to this by fear or by force, charity is itself not a consideration. Where is the charity which welcomes the stranger (let alone which welcomes one's very own child)? If we can't love our neighbors who we see, then how shall we love God whom we don't? And if a mother cannot love her own child, if a father cannot love his own child, how can they claim to love their neighbors whom they hardly know?

Sure, there is the false-charity which says (in some cases) that the child would be "better off dead," though we see in real life that few people think this of themselves, whatever may be there quality of life. For the logical conclusion to "I'd be better off dead" is suicide, and though this is a significant cause of death, the vast majority of people elect to continue living, whatever may be heir quality of life. Moreover, many of those who elect suicide at some point do so only after living some length of time in the world around them: and often the people who make this election are not the same kinds of people who the pro-choicers would say are "better off dead".

Thus, what we see is not charity but rather is false compassion.