> New? Like it or not, the position of the Catholic Church on abortion has been extraordinarily consistent through the centuries.

That's not even remotely true!

For the vast majority of the history of the Catholic Church early term abortion was acceptable. It was only the 1588 that it was outlawed, and that didn't last long, only a few years. Another ban was instituted in 1869.

At the timescale of the Catholic Church, the current extremist position on abortions is extremely recent. Far less established as precedent than say Roe was.