Jugend für das Leben

Befruchtung At conception the sperm enters the egg and fertilises it. At that precise moment a new human life has come into being. All criteria that define life hold true in the case of the fertilized egg. These properties are demarcation from the environment, metabolism, ability to procreate, growth, excitability and response to a stimulus.

The fertilised egg already carries the information for all that is to come, all of the following development. It contains a complete genetic code: this code not only defines the new life as human, but also its sex, eye colour and a myriad of other individual characteristics. Thus, from its very beginning, the unborn child is a unique human being that can never again be repeated.

The development of the child is continuous. Apart from conception, which represents the beginning of human life, there is no obvious turning point that would justify being called the beginning of life.

A human being does not develop into a human being, it develops as a human being. It does not become a human being, it is a human being, in each phase of its development, starting with conception. - Prof. Blechschmidt, Dr. of embryology

How can we prove that the unborn child is a human being from its very beginning?
The unborn child is alive. There are only three kinds of substances: inorganic, dead (formerly living), and alive. As egg and sperm are organic substances, they cannot become inorganic after fusion. If the unborn child were dead, it could not be born alive. Therefore it has to be alive from conception.
The unborn child is a human being: Each living being belongs to a species from its beginning to its end. The young rhinoceros does not grow up to be an elephant. An acorn does not grow into an apple tree. Accordingly, a fertilised human egg will always develop into a human being. The unborn life belongs without doubt to the human race. Its genetic heritage is without doubt that of a human and no other living being.
Even if it were not possible to prove that the unborn life is human, in order to be correct in the eye of the law, one would have to apply the maxim "In dubio, sequendum quod tutius est - In doubt, the safer course is to be adopted". A hunter who cannot tell if a hare or a human being is hiding in a bush must not fire his gun. Accordingly, unborn life must not be killed if there is a suspicion that it may be human.

2. How does the unborn child develop?

12 to 24 hours after coitus: fusion of sperm and egg

5th to 12th day: The embryo attaches to the mucosa of the womb (nidation), where it will be nurtured until birth. A close relationship between mother and child has begun, but the embryo does not sustain its own circulation until week 3 or 4.
Day 15: The first blood vessels appear. The embryo is 1.5mm long.
Day 18: The brain starts growing.
Day 21: The heart starts beating.

42 Tage Week 6: The embryo can move hands and arms. Soon it will be able to grip the umbilical cord.

Week 8: The embryo has now become a foetus. It is about 3 cm long and weighs 10 grams. All organs are present, and even toes, nipples, eyelids and crown of the head. Ultrasound can detect patterns of movement. Growth is greatly reduced now. If the foetus continued to grow at the same rate as the embryo it would weigh 14 tons at birth.

Week 9: The sense of touch has developed. The nervous system develops with the experience of touch. Various reflexes develop:

When its lips are touched, the child reacts with movements all over its body.
Its hands grip when its palms are touched.
If its cheek is touched the child turns its head to the stimulus (rooting reflex).

Fusserl Week 12: The foetus measures 8 centimetres and weighs 30 grams. The development of bodily functions is complete. It can raise its eyebrows. Private parts and fingernails are visible. It is sensitive to feelings and experiences of its mother. It has been proven that it reacts to music and is even able to learn. It has a sense of taste and loves swallowing the sweet amniotic fluid and sucking its thumb.

In most countries, at this point in its development, the unborn child can be aborted without giving reasons.

15 Wochen 4th month: The baby can grab, swim and turn. It can pull on its umbilical cord (which might not be good for it). Its mother can feel its movements for the first time. It develops its own rhythm of sleep, which is unfortunately not necessarily the same as that of the mother.

6th month: Hair and eyelashes begin to grow. From week 26 the baby could survive outside the womb (at first in an incubator), as it possesses a special lung surfactant, which enables the small bubbles in the lung (alveoli) to inflate.

8th month:

The child weighs 1.5 to 2.2 kg,
measures 35 to 40 cm,
has coordinated and purposeful movements,
is aware of light,
reacts to sound,
and has all its hair.

lustiges Baby 9th month: After a significant increase in weight, birth is triggered by the hormones Oxytocin and Prostaglandins.

3. How many abortions are there?

In most Western European countries, as well as in the United States about one third of all children die from abortion. In Eastern Europe Romania leads with 76%, followed by Russia with 60%.
The womb has thus become the most dangerous place in the world.

The W.H.O. estimates that worldwide 50-60 million abortions take place each year. By comparison, 50 million people died in the 7 years of the Second World War.

4. What does the law say?

PIn Austria, the Code of Penal Law excepts abortion from punishment when it is done by a doctor within the first three months and when medical advice has preceded it.

There are three cases in which abortion up to birth is not punished:

when there is serious danger that the child would gravely harm the mother's physical or psychological health;
when there is serious danger that the child will be mentally or physically handicapped;
and when the mother was under 14 when she conceived.

What are the problems with the Austrian abortion law?

The life of the unborn has absolutely no legal protection within the first three months. This is an offence against each person's right to life and makes the vast number of abortions possible.
The necessary medical advice can be given by any doctor whatsoever, even by the doctor who procures the abortion and profits from it.
There are no statistics in Austria, which makes it very difficult to investigate into the motives and offer concrete help.
The abortion law changes the mentality of the people. The longer the law is in force and is considered 'normal', the more the people's consciousness of injustice vanishes.

5. How are abortions done?

a) Abortion up to the third month

Vacuum aspiration and dilatation and curettage ("D&C")

A doctor introduces a suction probe into the womb and sucks out the body of the embryo thereby destroying it. If the head is too large it has to be crushed with forceps. Thereafter the womb is cleared of all that is left behind by curettage. Most abortions are done like this, usually around week 12. There are ultrasound pictures of such an abortion that show the baby desperately trying to evade the suction tube, moving its limbs and opening its mouth as if it was screaming, while the frequency of its heartbeats increases, thus indicating distress. The first film showing this to become publicly available is entitled "The Silent Scream" for this reason.

The abortion pill (Mifegyne)

The abortion pill can be used up to week seven. The mother is given three pills in the hospital under medical supervision. The pills contain a hormone, which antagonises the hormone progesterone, which is necessary to maintain the pregnancy. Thus the body of the mother is made to believe that it is not pregnant. The uterine mucosa degenerates and the embryo loses its nutrition. After 48 hours most embryos are dead. The hormone contained in the pills and some prostaglandin induce the womb to expel the embryo.

This kind of abortion has some additional dangers, such as increased risk of infection and blood loss. The pressure of time on the mother is enormous, thus giving little time to contemplate alternatives to abortion. The mother has to live through the two days of knowing that her child is dying, which is often traumatic and won't be forgotten for the rest of her life. It is easy to put pressure on the mother, as "swallowing three pills" sounds so much more harmless than it is. Lastly, the baby is treated like a disease ? with pills.

b) Abortion up to the ninth month

Abortion by Caesarean

The child is born by caesarean, and then left to die or even killed. All babies move to some degree at this stage, and some even breath and cry. This method is used in abortions that are too late for other methods to be safe.

Prostaglandin induced abortions

Injecting prostaglandins induces an artificial miscarriage. If the child survives being expelled it is left to die. This method can be used at any stage of pregnancy. In the words of one doctor:

"If one, like me, has experienced, how the intact body of the unborn child, measuring 4 to 5 cm, is brought to daylight and suddenly lies in the dish in front of you, one knows for sure that this act is the killing of a human life. The embryo, who looks very much like a human being even in the 2nd and 3rd months of pregnancy, desperately moves its limbs for a few seconds, until the body turns pale, shivers, the heart stops beating and the child lies still and dead"

Salt solution

Gianna Jessen - durch Salzlouml;sung
abgetrieben The amniotic cavity is punctured, the water drained and a salt solution introduced in its place. The child is burned and usually dies. Hormones are used to expel the body. Many children are still alive when they are brought to daylight. The famous case of Gianna Jessen, who survived her own abortion, is well-known. Having been saved by the nurse, she was brought up by a foster mother. Now she travels all over the world to witness to the dignity of the unborn child.

Partial-birth-abortion

This method illustrates the awful reality of abortion particularly well. A doctor grips the baby with forceps and delivers limbs and trunk. He then introduces scissors into the baby's skull and sucks out the brain. The limbs of the baby, which might well have been moving before, suddenly become limp. This kind of abortion is not counted as murder for the sole reason that the head of the baby has not been born yet.

6. What are the consequences of abortion?

An abortion has more than one victim: The child pays with his life, but mothers often incur long and painful suffering. Fathers, too, and even siblings can be affected by the consequences of abortions.

a) What are the physical effects of abortion?

Abortion causes physical injuries. It is an aggressive intervention into the natural bodily functions, which are trying to protect and nurture the child. The tools of abortion can injure the womb as well as the child. Infections are an added danger, particularly if parts of the child are left behind.

Injury to the uterus
Loss of blood
Infections and inflammations
Deformities in the uterus
Infertility as a consequence of infections
Miscarriages and premature births by weakening the muscle at the entrance to the womb
Tubal pregnancies

b) What are the psychological effects of abortion?

In psychological terms, the trauma that a woman suffers after abortion is called Post-Abortion-Syndrome. In a situation that is judged dangerous to their existence, human beings react with the fight/flight mechanism. If however the danger cannot be overcome through fleeing or fighting and one is submerged in it without help, one sustains trauma. Examples are assault, rape or the death of a loved one. In the case of trauma the affected person undergoes the dangerous situation without defence, thus the energy that is meant to overcome the danger lies unused. Human beings experience such an event as "unfinished". The experience lies deep in their memories and resurfaces for a long time again and again.

What are the symptoms of PAS?

The PAS is well described through interviews with numerous suffering women. The most common manifestations are:

Post-traumatic stress syndrome:: Flashbacks [63%], Nightmares

"Terrible nightmares torture me night after night. But I am not allowed to talk about them. Dead children, wherever I look." - P.S.

Depression [88%] including suicide attempts [28%]

"Doctor and counsellor had told me: There is nothing there yet. I didn't realise that there had been life there until my child became a shadow on my soul. The trauma of abortion has destroyed my life."- B.G.

Crying fits, changing moods, hysterical fits [51%]

"With each period I am reminded of my child and the whole thing starts again: migraine, anxiety, pain, endless crying. I just can't overcome it." - H.R.

Guilt, Regret and self-accusations [85%]
Loss of feelings

"I feel like a robot who is doing its work mechanically. I can't be happy, laugh or even cry. Nothing matters." - A.G.S.

Problems with relationships: 70% dof couples separate within a year of abortion.
Psychosomatic illness

Various studies prove that most women would not have a second abortion, and the majority would have decided differently if someone had offered them help.

Why don't all women suffer under the PAS?

The psychological effects of abortion are connected with the psychological nature and the emotional maturity of the mother. Sometimes they do not occur at all or not until years later.
Many women suffer psychological and psychosomatic problems but do not connect them with their abortion.
PAS is still a taboo not to be talked about. Affected mothers often do not dare to talk about it, as they are afraid of not being understood ? quite reasonably so.

Commonly, women who have had abortions are found among the most militant fighters for abortion. This is partly because abortion produces a state of psychological hardening. Abortion is made to sound harmless and suffering is pushed away. Thus, they don't have to admit to their guilt.

"I had five abortions. It was like an outer force: pregnancy, abortion? As if I wanted to prove that abortion is harmless. With my sixth child I just couldn't do it again, even though my situation was no better than before. I had to have this child. Today I am a ruin of only 33 years." - S.W.

What help is available?

There are various self-help groups for affected women who try to understand and overcome the trauma together. The women's problems are talked about freely and not made into a taboo. Some women seek reconciliation with their child by naming it and burying it symbolically. Always, the experience of reconciliation with God in confession helps, too.

Do siblings suffer?

About half of all living children have aborted siblings. Many were themselves exposed to the danger of being aborted. The knowledge of being a chance survivor is usually not without effects. According to the research of Dr. Philip Ney, Professor of medicine and psychiatry in Canada, most of the abortion-survivors have some idea of their history. Sometimes they come to know about it when they hear their parents talk. In many cases, however, the children know intuitively that something is wrong in their family. They dream of missing siblings and play with them in their thoughts. Many suffer from the oppressing feeling of the continual presence of a second person. A young woman said that she was afraid of looking into the mirror, because she thought she would meet somebody there: "I felt that something was very close to me, almost like a twin.."

7. What are the alternatives to abortion?

Help for mothers in need
The best solution would obviously be for the mother to find a way to raise her child herself. If she wants to do that it is usually possible with a network of support agencies. There are numerous charities and agencies that can offer help for financial and legal problems, with unemployment and housing.

Adoption
Nowadays, there are many more parents waiting to adopt babies than there are mothers who need to give their child away. For a reason hard to understand society sees adoption as a greater evil than abortion. Women who give their child up for adoption often experience more adverse reactions than those who have an abortion. However, adoption is a good and advantageous solution for three reasons::

The child can live and grow up with loving parents.
The mother knows that her child is in good hands. It is difficult to give up a child, but it is much more difficult to have taken its life.
The adoptive family have had their greatest wish fulfilled.

Fostering
If the mother cannot decide for an adoption, but cannot raise the child herself at the moment, the child can be fostered for the time being. This decision is not final, unlike adoption. The mother can stay in contact and can take it back if her circumstances improve, for example, she has finished her education. She can equally decide for a later adoption.

8. Questions and answers

Why is it wrong to have an abortion?

a) Can one dispose of the life of another?

Each and every human being, whether disabled or healthy, Black or White, born or unborn, is of the same value and has the same rights. This is true without exception for every human being from the point of conception. For a long time, Black people were thought to be less worthy and were made slaves. In Hitler's Third Reich Jews and disabled people were label.ed unworthy and killed. Today, these atrocities are seen as evil, but still unborn life is thought to be unworthy and can be "removed".
As every life is worth the same, no human being has the right to judge another human beings right to life, whether that human being is born or still in its mother's womb. Article three of the declaration of human rights states clearly the right of life for every human being. It is the most fundamental right of all.

b) What is just?

Different aspects and needs of life are attributed different values. Life is the most basic, followed by basic needs like food and clothing, safety, love and belonging, being valued, and last of all needs peculiar to a given individual. Every human being has such a "pyramid of needs", thus also mother and child. It is not just to ask for another human being to give up a basic need (life, food), in order to achieve one's own wishes for the upper regions of the pyramid. For example, it is not just to ask for one's choices in life (education, holiday, career) to be put in front of somebody else's most basic right and need, that is life. These thoughts apply to all reasons for abortion.

c) Can abortion be the 'choice' of the mother?

It is not the freedom of the parents to abort their child, as the freedom of one person stops where the freedom of another human being starts. Abortion does not just intrude on the child's freedom, it is annihilated. The child is deprived not only of its freedom but of the basis of freedom, which is life.

d) Does abortion concern us?

Abortion is not a private matter, nor is it only an issue of morals. It is in the very first instance unjust, as innocent human beings are deprived of their right of life. It is therefore not enough to be against abortion, it has to be fought against actively. By comparison, if a drunken man hits a child, it is not enough to be against child abuse, one has the duty to intervene.

e) Does abortion concern men?

Man and woman bear responsibility for the child together. Since it is the mother who carries the child in her womb, the father often leaves the decision to her alone. To be left alone, however, is what the mother needs least in this situation. It is the duty of a father, to welcome his child by supporting and encouraging the mother by all possible means.

f) Are there cases in which abortion is justified?

What if the life of the mother is in danger?
This case does not really exist nowadays with modern medicine. That is to say, a direct abortion is never the only way to save a mother's life.
There are, however, diseases that can only be treated with therapies that have dangerous side effects for the child, for example chemotherapy for cancer of the removal of a tube in an ectopic pregnancy. In this case the principle of double effect states that the child's death was not wanted, it was a sad side-effect of a treatment necessary for the mother's life. It is the duty of doctors to do their utmost in order to save both lives.

What if the child is disabled?
In Nazi Germany, disabled people were seen as unworthy of life. One would hope that the terrible crimes of the Nazis and the suffering they caused might have taught us the evil nature of the ideas and principles which inspired them. We should have learned that disabled people have the same human dignity and right to life as any other person.
BMoreover, disabled children are not just a burden, they often enrich the lives of their parents precisely because of their disability. The open and happy nature of many children with mental disabilities can be a cause of great joy for the rest of their family. Parents and siblings learn charity and humility. In fact, it is very difficult to tell if a baby is disabled before it is born!

What advice would you have given, for example, to the following family: The father suffers from syphilis; the mother has Tuberculosis. They have four children already, the first is blind, the second died, the third is deaf and dumb, and the fourth has TB like its mother. The parents are expecting their fifth child, and they would have an abortion if you advised them to do so? If you say they should, you have just decided to abort Beethoven!

What if the mother was raped?

Pregnancies after rape are extremely rare. The female body has protective mechanisms in extremely stressful situations. Her ovarian tubes will contract and thus almost always prevent conception.
One evil cannot be made better by committing another evil. It's the criminal that has to be punished, not the child who carries no responsibility for its fathers crime. For the mother, the abortion often constitutes a second trauma. An affected woman said: "I could just about live with the rape, but the abortion was too much for me."
If the mother cannot love the child, which can happen after rape, she can give it up for adoption. This enables the child to live and spares the mother from much suffering.

g) Should abortion be punished?

The person who commits the crime, that is the doctor, should be punished, not the woman. Thus abortion will not be commercialised..
The aim of the punishment is not revenge, it is protection. Every human being is of the same value, and should be protected equally in the eyes of the law. Thus, with murder of a born person being a crime, murder of the unborn child must be a crime, too.
The punishment protects the mother as well as the child, as she can use the law as an argument against the pressure of her environment.

"My mother and my then boyfriend literally carried me to the doctor. Now my baby is dead! Who protects us women from force and violence when we have fallen pregnant?" - an affected woman

Does prohibition imply a return to back street abortions?

The number of women who have come to harm or were even killed by illegal abortions has been greatly overestimated by pro-choice supporters. Dr. Nathanson who campaigned for freedom of choice in the United States admitted to the following:

"We knew that the overall number of abortions in the States was about 100,000 a year. We propagated numbers of one million a year, again and again, to the public and in the press. We also knew that the number of women who died each year from illegal abortions was between 200 and 250, but we told the media that there were 20,000 deaths a year."

Legalising abortion for reasons of protection is equal to forbidding door locks, so that burglars cannot get hurt when they break the windows. Such a law will be seen as an invitation in the long term. The feeling for what is right and wrong dwindles and the number of abortions increases.

h) Is the world overpopulated?

The Western world has had a reduction in birth rates for many years. In order to keep a population up at the same numbers each woman has to have at least two children. The average in Austria is 1.2 at present, which will lead to an inversion of the population pyramid. An ageing population poses increasing social and financial problems.

Concerning the developing world, the following is to be taken into account:

The fertility rate is decreasing in every country in the world. Increasing education of women and increasing wealth are the main factors. The UNO expects the world population to stagnate at around 9000 Billion people.
The increase in food production (2.1%) is higher than the increase in population (1.7%). Food and resources would be well enough for everybody if they were distributed fairly.
Famines are mainly caused by wars and corrupt governments.
The developing world doesn't need abortion and contraception, it needs education and well-constructed help to fight the poverty. When poverty improves the fertility rate will fall by itself.

i) Sexuality and conception regulation

What does the marital union mean?
Man is a wonderful union of soul and body. Thus the body, too, essentially belongs to manhood. It is the expression of the soul. A smile, a hug, or a kiss do not only concern the body. Rather, they are gestures that manifest man's soul. Still less is sexual union of man and woman something merely biological, but it is the expression of the innermost core of the person. In the depth of his heart everybody knows what sexual union means in the language of the body: Total self-gift.
If one were to put the language of this union into human words, one would say: "I love you with all that you are, I decide for you without reservation, I accept you with your past and with your ? our rather our ? future, whatever may happen, and I gratefully consider your capability to become father/mother as a gift and task for us both."

What are the requirements for true union in love?

The requirements of the body:
Complementarity. Man and woman are fit for each other according to their bodies, but also according to their characters. In homosexual relations, on the contrary, no true union can take place, since no complementarity is given.
Union. When man and woman become one, they express their mutual self-gift. Sexual "practices", however, do not conform to this meaning. In place of loving union, satisfaction becomes the main constituent of the sexual act.
Openness for life. Sexual union is naturally fruitful. The capacity to give life to a new human being is an essential part of becoming one. But sexual union loses its integrity and completeness if it is manipulated by artificial means.

The requirements of the soul:
Freedom. Only when both partners freely decide for the union, it can truly be acted out in love. Nothing is more contradictory to true love than rape. But even the hidden violence of seduction excludes a free and conscious act of the will.
Assent. Only in the security of an irrevocable assent, the partners can truly become one. Only when both partners have decided for each other without reservations 'for better and for worse', the union is true and complete. Marriage is the expression of this decision. "Free cohabitation", on the other hand, does not grant this security. It is restricted to the mutual gift of self for a certain period and contradicts the inner significance of the act.
The motive of love. Conjugal union demands that the partners pay attention to their mutual love. To come together in a thoughtless or careless manner does not accord with the dignity of this human act. Even when the couple intends to beget a child, the guiding motive must always be love. Much less is the intention merely to satisfy one's bodily needs adequate for the conjugal act. On the contrary, it is an insult to the one who is used in such a way.

Can contraception prevent abortions?
Contraception does not rule out the 'need' for abortions. On the contrary, rising use of contraception seems to go with rising numbers of abortions.

In the 60s Western contraception was introduced in conjunction with the sexual revolution. Despite contraception being widely available abortion was legalised in most Western countries.
Abortion laws are more liberal in countries that offer contraception.
Women who use contraception have a higher rate of abortions. Those women who have had an abortion use more contraception.

What are the reasons for the connection between contraception and abortion?

If contraception fails, abortion is the insurance option. 50 % of abortions happen after contraception failure.
Contraception leads to an attitude against children. The intimate relationship of sex and children is denied. The child is seen as a danger and an intruder.
Contraception enables frequent changes of partner. This leads to more unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions.
In the one-sided contraception advice and relationship advice habitually provided for young people sexuality is portrayed exclusively as a source of fun and as an outlet for lust. Young people feel they have to keep up with the others. This again can lead to pregnancies and abortions.
Some contraceptive methods are actually abortive. The step to abortion thus becomes small. Condom (contraceptive) ->Pill (contraceptive and some abortive features)->Morning after pill (abortive)->abortion

What are the side effects of the contraceptive pill?

It carries a higher risk of strokes and heart attacks. The combination of smoking and contraceptive pill increases the risk 22 times.
The hormones of the pill increase blood clotting. This increases the incidence of thromboses.
The pill increases the risk of breast and liver cancer.
Further effects can be weight gain, depression, loss of libido?

Are condoms an adequate protection against AIDS?
Condoms have a Pearl-Index of 10, which means that of 100 couples who have regular intercourse for a year, 10 will get pregnant. In the absence of contraception this number would be about 70.
Women are only fertile on 4 days of their cycle, and then only about 30 % of the time. Women are therefore fertile for only about 5% of any given cylce, and yet even with condom use there are 10 pregnancies for 100 couples per year.
HIV can be transmitted every single day of the year. Consequently, the danger of contracting the disease is 20 times higher than the probability of becoming pregnant.

Is natural family planning safe?
The sympto-thermal method according to Dr. Josef Roetzer, which has been tried on thousands of couples, has a Pearl Index of less than one. This is as good as that of the contraceptive pill. The correct method necessitates daily temperature measurement and testing of discharge. It is also based on a relationship of trust between the partners: they need to communicate well and they need to be able to abstain.

What are the advantages of natural family planning?

The woman gets to know her body and cycle intimately.
The partner learns to respect the woman's cycle and cannot regard the woman's body as an object to be used..
It promotes communication and alternative ways of showing each other affection.
It is free of charge or side effects.

j) What does the Church say about abortion?

Holy Scripture testifies that man possesses his unique dignity already before birth:

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.." (Jer 1,5) "My frame was not hidden from thee, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth." (Ps 139,15)

Why is the Church so determined?
Man possesses a special dignity, since he is the only living being on earth who carries in himself the image of God. At the moment of conception God creates an immortal soul for every individual man. Each one receives the capacity to know and to love Him. For each one Christ has died on the Cross. For each one He has a plan.
In this context the fifth commandment "You shall not kill" is clearly intelligible. We do not have the right to decide over the life of another human being, who is equal to us in dignity. For this reason, man must be respected as sacred in all stages of his life, as John Paul II points out in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae.

How does the Church punish abortion?
The Church inflicts the punishment of excommunication upon all who collaborate with abortion. The judgment need not be pronounced explicitly, for in the case of abortion, the deed automatically procures the judgment.
Excommunication does not mean that a person is excluded from the Church, but only that he is not allowed to receive the sacraments. However, as soon as he is reconciled with God and the Church through confession, he may receive the sacraments again.