Portrait of Blessed Pope Pius IX Mastai Ferretti by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1871, Painting. Photo: Picryl.com How should I respond to the claim that the church allowed abortion up to 166 days’ gestation until Pope Pius IX in 1869 declared all abortions wrong? The short answer to your question is that the church has never allowed abortion, at any stage of development of the foetus. The condemnation of abortion is one of the church’s oldest …