Starożytna debata nad statusem moralnym aborcji. Polemika pogańska i chrześcijańska – część I

Abstract

The publication explains the term “moral status of abortion”, the phenomenon and history of abortion (Egypt, Babylon, Israel, Iran, China, Greece, and Rome), and the moral approach to the subject by Pagans and Christians in antiquity (Amenhotep IV – Akhenaten, Aeschylus of Eleusis, Aristotle, Lysias, Publius Ovidius Naso, Philo of Alexandria, Plato, Plutarch, Hippocrates, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Diogenes of Sinope, Empedocles, Galen, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Publius Vergilius Maro, Scribonius Largus, Theodore Priscian, Zeno of Citium, among others; Didache, Epistle of Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Origen, Melito of Sardis, Tertullian, John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo, Theodoret of Cyr, among others).

The debate over the moral status of abortion was not always an unfriendly polemic, full of disagreement, but sometimes a friendly debate, where not only Christian, but also pagan sages of antiquity forbade abortion and morally condemned it, because they believed that abortion is a crime leading to the death of the conceived child, and claimed that the embryo in the womb is a human being, a living being, endowed with an immortal soul.

Ovid’s vehement condemnation of abortion in Amores (II 14) is interpreted through the lens of Heinz Kohut’s self-psychology, which sees the act as a rupture of the nascent self object relationship and therefore a profound psychic injury. By linking Ovid’s poetic moral outrage to Kohut’s concept of the “self object” and the need for an immutable “inner core,” the study demonstrates how ancient literary polemics anticipate modern psychological understandings of the moral status of the unborn. This interdisciplinary bridge reinforces the central thesis that both pagan and Christian traditions recognized the embryo as a being endowed with an immortal soul, a view that resonates with contemporary bio ethical arguments.

Heinz Kohut (1913–1981) developed the concept of ‘self psychology,’ where a Selfobject is a person or thing that fulfills the need for an ‘ideal reflection’ and enables the development of a healthy ‘self.’ Empathy, in turn, is a fundamental therapeutic mechanism that allows for the overcoming of certain personality disorders (e.g., narcissism). The path to achieving this is the experience of authentic empathy, or ‘experiencing the <other person> as <one’s own self>,’ for example, in the situation of a woman who undergoes an abortion and is in a very difficult spiritual and psychological state (cf. Ovid and Corinna), as well as the situation of the most wronged party here, the unborn child. Therefore, this publication will provide, among others, clergy, priests, and pastoral workers with historical, psychological, and even religious arguments, as well as therapeutic and spiritual tools. These can enrich the pastoral care of families and marriages by demonstrating that the intuition to protect life is universal and timeless, present not only in ancient Christianity but also already among pagans. It will also provide strong arguments for the resolute and empathetic [attitude focused primarily on the good of the <other self>] protection of children before abortion, as well as the defense of the mothers themselves by helping them experience post-abortion trauma recovery, and also help the fathers and the entire family as people involved in this abortion process.