Pope Francis equates abortion to 'hiring hitman,' says it's unacceptable

Pope Francis on Saturday said abortion was always unacceptable, regardless of whether a fetus is fatally ill or has pathological disorders.

Speaking at a Vatican-sponsored anti-abortion conference, The New York Times quoted the Pope as saying that the abortion was not a religious issue, but a human one.

"Is it legitimate to take out a human life to solve a problem?" the Pope asked.

"Is it permissible to contract a hitman to solve a problem?" he further questioned.

The Pope also stressed that the decision to abort based on medical information about an ill fetus amounted to "inhuman eugenics," and denied families the chance to welcome the weakest of children.

He argued that using abortion as a mode of "prevention" could never be condoned and that such a position had "nothing to do" with faith.

"Human life is sacred and inviolable and the use of prenatal diagnosis for selective purposes should be discouraged with strength," the Pope was quoted as saying.

The pope's remarks come in the wake of a raging abortion debate in the US, where multiple states, including Alabama, Georgia and Missouri severely limited or banned abortion after six weeks, prompting an outcry by pro-choice advocates.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church, which considers abortion a grave sin, argued that children who were not expected to live long after birth deserved to be treated in the womb "with extraordinary pharmacological, surgical and other interventions." Such care "helps parents to grieve and not only think of it as a loss, but as a step on a path taken together."

"Every child" in the womb is a gift that "changes the history of a family," he said.

The latest comments follow the Pope's previous condemnations of abortion, though he had struck a more sympathetic tone towards the women who had the procedure and made it easier for them to be absolved of the sin.