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human life." And a few weeks earlier (October 29, 1951) he said, "Now the infant is 'man' even though it be not yet born, to the same degree and through the same title as the mother." If one reads these words carefully he will see that strictly speaking the pope did not condemn the theory of mediate animation. But one who defends immediate animation is certainly more comfortable with them. Gerald Kelly, S.J., once observed: "I would not want to say that these words condemn the opinion that the rational soul is not infused at the moment of fertilization; but they certainly seem to favor the opposite view."
Once it is established as a premise that the life of the unborn child has the same inviolability as any innocent person, the conclusions come easily. The fetus may not be killed directly but only indirectly for a proportionate reason. Among contemporary Catholic theologians there have been some disputes about the application of the principle of double effect to particular cases. They generally have allowed one to remove a pregnant uterus for a proportionate reason, to use other surgical or chemical means to protect the mother even though an abortion may result, and to remove the fetal sac containing a live fetus (but not shell out the fetus) in an ectopic pregnancy. But until very recently they have all agreed that one may never directly destroy or abort a fetus for any reason. Recently among Catholic theologians there have been some murmurs of discontent with this doctrine. For instance, Bernard Hiiring, C.Ss.R., has suggested some refinements of Catholic teaching. He puts his opinion forth tentatively and does not recommend its use in practice, since, he says, the presumption is in favor of the official Magisterium and a doubt expressed by some theologian does not invalidate the official position. He then suggests two revisions. One concerns the case of therapeutic abortion. He reports the following case told by a gynecologist: "I was once called upon to perform an operation on a woman in the fourth month of pregnancy, to remove a malign uterine tumor. On the womb there were numerous very thin and fragile varicose veins which bled profusely, and attempts to suture them only aggravated the bleeding. ¡ Therefore, in order to save the woman from