“You shall not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shall you destroy it after it is born.”
— Barnabas (70–130)
Epistle, Chapter 19
“And the second commandment of the Teaching; You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, Exodus 20:13–14 you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, Exodus 20:15 you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten.”
— Didache (80–140)
Chapter 2
“What man of sound mind, therefore, will affirm, while such is our character, that we are murderers?… And when we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very fœtus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God’s care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it;”
— Athenagoras (c. 175)
A Plea for the Christians, Chapter 35
“In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fœtus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed.”
— Tertullian (c. 197)
Apology, Chapter 9
“There are some women who, by drinking medical preparations, extinguish the source of the future man in their very bowels, and thus commit a parricide before they bring forth. And these things assuredly come down from the teaching of your gods.”
— Minucius Felix (c. 200)
Octavius, Chapter 30
“Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, and thus murder human beings almost before their conception. Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when, as often happens, they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder.”
— Jerome (c. 396)
Letter 22.13
