The unborn child is thus a person and as a person it must be given its natural right to life: .
"From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person- among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life."5 A person according to the Catholic Church (which is also backed by science)6 does not begin to develop once they exit the mother's womb, but the development begins much earlier, approximately nine months earlier. Just as an adolescent develops into a teenager and then an adult, an infant develops from the unborn child. This right to life exists in all humans from their nature, and there is no precedent of one human having more of a right to live then another. Some may ask, "What if the mother of the unborn child is in danger for her life?" The Catholic Church answers this question by splitting an abortion into two categories: direct and indirect. A direct abortion is when the act itself is to kill the unborn child. This is an abortion that is willed as an end or a means.7 The Catholic Church believes all direct abortions regardless of the situation are immoral: "Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law: You Shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish."8.
An indirect abortion is one that is not willed to be the means or the end of an action; meaning the death of the child is accidental. Treatment by the doctor may be given to the mother as long as the treatment is meant to cure the illness and not abort the pregnancy. If the unborn child dies as a secondary result of these treatments then this is considered and indirect abortion. The Catholic Church allows this as long as the action was not taken specifically to kill the unborn child. Pope John Paul II gives an example of this in, Evangelium Vitae ("The Gospel of Life").
