Underfeeding of Babies

life, a right which it receives immediately from God. The commandment " Thou shalt not kill " therefore holds good for the foetus as for all human beings (for a clear statement of Catholic teaching on this and related matters see the Papal Allocution to the Congress of the Catholic Union of Midwives'). The Hebrew text of Exodus, ch. xxi, v. 22, is interpreted by your contributor as referring to the deliberate procuring of an abortion. This is, in fact, a misinterpretation. The passage means: if two men are quarrelling, and one should happen to strike a pregnant woman (even by accident), so that a miscarriage results, two kinds of penalty are applied. If the woman lives, the guilty one must pay a fine, as shall be determined by the woman's husband. If, however, she dies, the punishment shall be inflicted in accordance with the principle "An eye for an eye." There is therefore no question of an operation for the purpose of deliberately terminating a pregnancy, nor is there any mention of the husband's agreeing to the operation. The last sentence translated by your contributor, " He shall pay for the miscarriage," is based on an amended Hebrew text. The probable meaning of the Hebrew text as it stands is: " And he shall pay it [the fine] before the judges." For almost exact parallels in Assyrian law, The Assyrian Laws2 could be usefully consulted. It is interesting to note that, whatever St. Jerome thought about the time of the infusion of the human soul into the foetus, he translated Exodus, ch. xxi, v. 22, correctly, avoiding the error of the Greek translators. He would therefore have understood that it was irrelevant to refer to this passage in a discussion of therapeutic abortion.-I am, etc.,