Prudent Flexibility

Thus Juan Masia, S.J., in a commentary on the Japanese bishops' statement, wrote that

"the Church's declaration of 'protection of life from the time of conception' most certainly does not mean that the reason for this is because this is a person from the time of conception."

Rather, he argues, the church adopts the viewpoint of protecting the process from its inception, and thus it may be possible to apply the position of the theologians mentioned above "with prudent flexibility also to exceptional cases."

Link (here) to the article entitled, Learning from the Japanese, written by Gary L. Chamberlain, originally published in Sept. 17th, 1994 in Jesuit magazine, America.

Teachings of the Magisterium on abortion (here)