16th Century Jesuit Fr. Thomas Sanchez

An excerpt of an original article by Al Heath

Over the centuries, the Church has not held that women who have abortions should be executed, and this is because the Church has held that they have not committed murder. Aquinas held that the embryo does not even have a soul during the first few weeks of pregnancy (a view later adopted by the Council of Vienne in 1312). By the 15th century, a line of moral reasoning had developed which held that a woman has a "prior right" in decisions relating to abortion. A variant of the argument was the fetus could be considered an "unjust transgressor" toward which a woman should be allowed, when necessary, a defense. (The theologian was Thomas Sanchez, a Jesuit. Ronald Reagan once expressed a version of this theory.) For most of Christian history, the status of "person" was denied an embryo or fetus, so that a fetus could not be baptized, given a Christian burial or interred in consecrated ground.
Link (here) to the full article in the Coloradoan

The a history of the Churches teaching on abortion (here)

More on Fr. Thomas Sanchez, S.J. (here) , (here) , (here) and (here)
(Spanish: 1550-1610) was an erudite moral theologian whose authority on moral questions was quite impressive. He won wide recognition particularly for his frequently re-edited 1602 book The Holy Sacrament of Matrimony . Thomas Sanchez expressed himself with clarity and precision, especially regarding distinctions needed regarding the principle of Probabilism. For example he stated that a genuine probable opinion required that "it does not rest on superficial grounds; the view of a wise and learned man is, however, not a superficial but, rather, a material ground." (Ban, Ham, JLx, Som). Link (here)

Blogger Note: I do not agree with the implications, the facts of this article, by Al Heath nor its tenor. The links refute the accusations