In “The Moderate Roman Catholic Position on Contraception and Abortion” by Daniel Maguire, the author argues that Christian teaching on these issues has been a “mixed bag” theologically and historically. In the ancient world where Christianity was born, both contraception and family planning were widely practiced. Indeed, the phenomenon of infanticide proved to be even more widespread in this period. This practice died out in the Middle Ages when the Church offered an oblation: taking in orphans to be raised as celibate monks and nuns. However, even with the further introduction of foundling hospitals, abandonment rates and resulting infant mortality rates were still quite high. The Catholic tradition in particular has conflicting views on abortion that are, as the author claims, “equally Catholic.” The Bible itself does not condemn abortion or grant the fetus the same status as the mother in Jewish law (Exodus 21-22). The early Church barely addressed abortion, and when it did, as in the case of church father Tertullian, late-term abortions were called “crudelitas necessary,” a necessary cruelty. The fetus was not thought to be a person until, after four months, with vivification, the infusion of the soul occurred, borrowed from the Greek tradition, which at that point was considered a person. St. Augustine also writes that she miscarried