In Canon XXI of the Council of Ancyra (AD
314), we read the following against abortion:
Concerning women who
commit fornication, and destroy that which, they have conceived, or who are
employed in making drugs for abortion, a former decree excluded them until the
hour of death, and to this some have assented. Nevertheless, being desirous to
use somewhat greater lenity, we have ordained that they fulfil ten years [of
penance], according to the prescribed degrees. (NPNF2 14:73)
Hefele offered the following commentary on
this canon:
The sixty-third canon
of Elvira had forbidden the communion to be administered to such women even on
their death-beds; and this was the canon which the Synod of Ancyra had probably
here in view. The expression καὶ τούτῳ συντίθενται is vague: τινὲς may be understood, and it might be translated,
“and some approve of this severity;” or we might understand αἱ, and translate with Routh, “The same
punishment will be inflicted on those who assist in causing miscarriages:” the
words then mean, “and those who assist them.” We think, however, the first
explanation is the easier and the more natural. Gentianus Hervetus and Van
Espen have adopted it, translating thus: et
ei quidam assentientur. (Charles Joseph Hefele, A History of
the Councils of the Church, Volume 1 [trans. William R. Clark; Edinburgh:
T&T Clark, 1871], 220)
For an excellent study of early Christian
attitudes towards abortion, see:
Michael J. Gorman, Abortion
and the Early Church: Christian, Jewish and Pagan Attitudes in the Greco-Roman
World
