From the Didache (about 100) on, every early writer who mentions it treats abortion and the exposure of newborns as murder. 145
Justin Martyrc. 155 · Letter to Diognetusc. 150Forbidden
Exposure was legal and common in Rome. Christians were known for refusing it, and Justin notes that exposed children were raised for prostitution. 23
The answers given:
ApostolicBefore NicaeaNicaea and afterMiddle AgesReformation to today
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Apostolic Fathers
30–150
100c. AD
Forbidden
Didache c. 100 ADDidache 2.2
You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not corrupt boys; you shall not commit sexual sin; you shall not steal; you shall not practice magic; you shall not use potions; you shall not murder a child by abortion, nor kill one that is born.
"Potions" (pharmakeia) included drugs used for abortion. The Letter of Barnabas (19.5) has the same command.
οὐ φονεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ παιδοφθορήσεις, οὐ πορνεύσεις, οὐ κλέψεις, οὐ μαγεύσεις, οὐ φαρμακεύσεις, οὐ φονεύσεις τέκνον ἐν φθορᾷ, οὐδὲ γεννηθὲν ἀποκτενεῖςAnonymus Kirsopp Lake The Apostolic Fathers William Heinemann The Macmillan Company London New York 1912 1 Hathi Trust (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1311.tlg001) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
Before Nicaea
150–325
150c. AD
Forbidden
Letter to Diognetus c. 150 ADLetter to Diognetus 5.6–7
They marry like everyone, they have children; but they do not expose their offspring. They share their table, but not their bed.
Not exposing infants is named as one of the marks of Christians.
γαμοῦσιν ὡς πάντες, τεκνογονοῦσιν: ἀλλ’ οὐ ῥίπτουσι τὰ γεννώμενα. τράπεζαν κοινὴν παρατίθενται, ἀλλ’ οὐ κοίτην.Pseudo-Justinus Martyr Kirsopp Lake The Apostolic Fathers William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons London; New York 1917 2 Internet Archive (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0646.tlg004) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
155c. AD
Forbidden
Justin Martyr c. 100–c. 165 ADFirst Apology 27.1
But we have been taught that to expose even newborn children is the act of wicked men, so that we may do no wrong and no impiety: first, because we see that almost all who are exposed, not only girls but boys too, are brought up for prostitution.
Exposure of unwanted infants was legal and common in the Roman world.
Full English of this work is being translated
Ἡμεῖς δέ ἵνα μηδὲν ἀδικῶμεν μηδὲ ἀσεβῶμεν, ἐκτιθέναι καὶ τὰ γεννώμενα πονηρῶν εἶναι δεδιδάγμεθα· πρῶτον μέν, ὅτι τοὺς πάντας σχεδὸν ὁρῶμεν ἐπὶ πορνείᾳ προάγοντας, οὖ μόνον τὰς κόρας ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἄρσεναςS. Iustini Aplogiae Duae Justin Martyr Gerhard Rauschen Petri Hanstein Bonn 1911 Florilegium Patristicum 2 Internet Archive (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0645.tlg001) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
177c. AD
Forbidden
Athenagoras fl. c. 177 ADPlea for the Christians 35.6
We say that women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder and will give account to God for the abortion. How then could we commit murder? For it is not the same person who thinks that the fetus in the womb is a living being and therefore an object of God's care, and then kills it once it has come into life; nor who refuses to expose a born child, since those who expose children are child-murderers, and then destroys the one who has been reared.
Athenagoras answers the charge that Christians eat children.
Full English of this work is being translated
Καὶ οἳ τὰς τοῖς ἀμβλωθριδίοις χρωμένας ἀνδροφονεῖν τε καὶ λόγον ὑφέξειν τῆς ἐξαμβλώσεως τῷ θεῷ φαμεν, κατὰ ποῖον ἀνδροφονοῦμεν λόγον; Οὐ γὰρ τοῦ αὐτοῦ νομίζειν μὲν καὶ τὸ κατὰ γαστρὸς ζῶον εἶναι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτοῦ μέλειν τῷ θεῷ, καὶ παρεληλυθότα εἰς τὸν βίον φονεύειν, καὶ μὴ ἐκτιθέναι μὲν τὸ γεννηθέν, ὡς τῶν ἐκτιθέντων τεκνοκτονούντων, πάλιν δὲ τὸ τραφὲν ἀναιρεῖνAthenagorae Philosophi Atheniensis Opera Athenagoras Johann Karl Theodor von Otto Mauke Jena 1857 Corpus apologetarum christianorum saeculi secundi 7 Internet Archive (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1205.tlg001) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
197c. AD
Forbidden
Tertullian c. 155–c. 220 ADApology 9.8
For us, murder being once forbidden, we may not destroy even the child conceived in the womb, while the blood is still being formed into a human being. To prevent birth is a quicker murder; it makes no difference whether you take away a life once born or destroy it as it comes to birth. He is a human being who is going to be one; the whole fruit is already in the seed.
Written to Roman magistrates, contrasting Christian practice with Roman custom.
Full English of this work is being translated · Source text
Nobis vero semel homicidio interdicto etiam conceptum utero, dum adhuc sanguis in hominem delib[er]atur, dissolvere non licet. Homicidii festinatio est prohibere nasci, nec refert, natam quis eripiat animam an nascentem disturbet. Homo est et qui est futurus; etiam fructus omnis iam in semine est.The Latin Library text · English: translated for this page from the Latin
200c. AD
Forbidden
Minucius Felix fl. c. 200 ADOctavius 30.5–6
For I see that you expose your children to wild beasts and birds, or strangle them in a wretched kind of death. There are women who, by drinking drugs, quench in their very womb the beginning of a future human being, and commit parricide before they give birth.
A Christian spokesman answers pagan charges by turning them back: exposure and abortion are pagan practices, learned, he says, from the gods themselves. The same chapter says Christians may not even watch a killing.
uos enim uideo procreatos filios nunc feris et auibus exponere, nunc adstrangulatos misero mortis genere elidere: sunt quae in ipsis uisceribus medicaminibus epotis originem futuri hominis extinguant et parricidium faciant, antequam pariant.Karl Halm Minucius Felix M. Minucii Felicis Octavius Iulii Firmici Materni Liber de errore profanarum religionum Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW) Wien, Österreich 1867 Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 2 Internet Archive (OGL CSEL TEI, urn:cts:latinLit:stoa0203.stoa001) · English: translated for this page from the Latin
Nicaea to Chalcedon
325–451
374c. AD
Forbidden
Basil of Caesarea c. 330–379 ADLetter 188, to Amphilochius (First Canonical Letter) Canon 2
A woman who deliberately destroys what she has conceived is liable to the penalty for murder. With us there is no fine distinction between what is fully formed and what is not yet formed. ... For here vengeance is taken not only for what was to be born, but also for the woman herself, who plotted against herself. ... In addition there is the destruction of the embryo, a second murder, at least in the intention of those who dare these things. ... Their penance, though, must not be extended until death: they are to be received with the measure of ten years, and their cure is to be determined not by time but by the manner of their repentance.
Basil's first canonical letter to Amphilochius of Iconium (374), answering questions of church discipline. The older penance for abortion ran until death; Basil fixes ten years, graded by repentance. The wording for the formed and unformed pair varies slightly between editions; PG 32 reads 'fully formed and not yet imaged'. Quoted from the PG 32 scan, whose OCR is poor and often reads kappa as chi.
Full English of this work is being translated · Source text
Basil of Caesarea c. 330–379 ADLetter 188, to Amphilochius (First Canonical Letter) Canon 8 (close)
And so those who give drugs that cause abortion are themselves murderesses, as are those who receive the poisons that kill the embryo.
Canon 8 sorts killings into voluntary and involuntary, and closes by placing abortion under the same heading of murder: the woman who supplies the drug and the woman who takes it are both counted murderers. Basil uses the same rare word for the drugs (amblothridia) as Athenagoras.
Full English of this work is being translated · Source text
Καὶ αἱ τοίνυν τὰ ἀμβλωθρίδια διδοῦσαι φάρμακα φονεύτριαι εἰσὶ καὶ αὐταί, καὶ αἱ δεχόμεναι τὰ ἐμβρυοκτόνα δηλητήρια.Migne PG 32 (scan text) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
Witnesses not in the library yet
These writers also matter for this question. Their texts will join the timeline above once they are translated.
314
Councils of Elvira and Ancyra, Elvira canon 63; Ancyra canon 21
Church penalties for abortion.
How this page was made
Every early quote was read in its Greek or Latin and translated for this page by Claude (Opus 5.5) on 13 October 2026. Each line names the printed edition it was read from. A quote marked indirect does not state the answer outright; read its note. A writer's silence is never counted as an answer.