The Church’s fetal protectionism is selective and contradicted by its other teachings.

Evidence

The practical reasons invoked against legal abortion are completely unfounded; as with moral reasons, they are reduced to the old Catholic argument: the fetus has a soul, and the gates to paradise are closed to it without baptism. It is worth noting that the Church authorizes the killing of adult men in war, or when it is a question of the death penalty; but it stands on intransigent humanitarianism for the fetus. … The truth is that this is a conflict with a stubborn old tradition that has nothing to do with morality. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1417

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Beauvoir’s earlier discussion of masculine sadism in prior chapters on society’s treatment of women.