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There are many things--good and bad--that are not specifically named in the Bible. The Scriptures offer us much moral guidance, but seldom the "specifics." That is why the Catholic Church speaks of the guidance of its "Tradition," with a capital T. Tradition in this sense is the accumulated wisdom of the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to capture the "application" of the Scriptures to the challenges of daily life.
The fifth commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill." At one time (in biblical times, for instance) it wasn't clear at all when human life began...many people weren't even clear on HOW it began! So the Bible would not have addressed an issue its human writers didn't even know about.
The Church's insight into this topic has grown as the insights of medical science have revealed the mysteries of human conception and the development of human life. It seems clear to the wise that the fetus is human, alive and an actual preborn human. Thus, the Scriptural command not to kill applies. |