ABSTRACT
Life and death as well as pregnancy and childbirth were among the things that came under Christian jurisdiction. The Church tried to introduce strict punishment for new sins, among them was abortion. The medieval society and Church law allowed for a basic distinction to be made between two stages of foetal development starting with a first stage, where the foetus is comparable to other animal life, and a second stage, where it can move and where it achieves the status of a human, in the making. Foetus movement, called as quickening, was used to indicate the difference between a growing seed and a human foetus. Since only human beings can have a human soul, Aquinas believed that the soul is infused at that point when the foetus is sufficiently developed, in its brain and sensory system. The absence of menstruation during pregnancy was because the menstrual blood, went to nourish the child, and after birth it was converted into milk.
