Basil of Caesarea Quotes
The hairsplitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us. Whoever deliberately commits abortion is subject to the penalty for homicide.
Basil of Caesarea. "Letter 188." Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 8. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895, p. 225.
The argument she made is that a woman should not be required to risk her life if she does not want to. Other than military conscription, there is no other aspect of American law whereby the society forces a citizen to risk their life.
The term had no medical meaning and had never been used in medical literature or to describe any abortion procedure.
Churches are political organizations too and are subject to the forces of their membership. In the case of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1971 they passed resolutions to assure the right of a woman to have an abortion to protect her health. The position on abortion changed steadily thereafter to even pass Constitutional amendments to ban abortions except to save the life of the mother. See {614356},54122, {614358}, {614359}, {614360}, {614361} for the dynamic history of the change.
Paul had been the Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate and in keeping with the libertarian philosophy of the party supported the right to abortion and was adamant that the Government should stay away from such issues of morality. However, in 2007, he tried to secure the Republican Presidential Nomination. At that time the religious right dominated the Republican Party and opposition to abortion was a litmus test issue. Paul flip flopped, but it did him little good. The issue of the fetus and protection of the law is not the simple issue that Paul made it out to be. Even the most ardent supporters of abortion has argued that a fetus ought to be protected both civilly and criminally in law. Where the disagreement lies is at what point in time and/or development does the fetus constitute life and deserve the protection of life and how society shall deal with the conflicting life and health interests of mother and fetus.
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great was a bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of the early Christian church, fighting against both Arianism and the followers of Apollinaris of Laodicea. His ability to balance his theological convictions with his political connections made Basil a powerful advocate for the Nicene position
