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The Catholic and Protestant traditions differ in their views of sin and natural law. Broadly speaking, the Catholic tradition cultivated the theory of natural law while Protestant thinkers moved away from it. Catholic writers have attempted to phrase precise principles and define specific sins and degrees of sinfulness. The Protestant tradition has often viewed this as overly legalistic. In its place, Protestants have emphasized the relationship of the individual to God, the weakness of human nature, the gift of salvation, and the use of scripture.

Nevertheless, in formulating arguments against abortion, some Protestant writers have found the natural law tradition to be quite helpful. A natural law argument can be formulated without relying on scripture. This has clear advantages in the United States, where most public political argument is carried on in secular terms.

It is well known that the Catholic Church claims that certain papal pronouncements on faith and morals are infallible. It is less well known that the Church also has a long tradition affirming the power of natural reason to discover truths of theology and morals. In keeping with this view, there have been many Catholic natural theologians and theorists of natural moral law. Thomas Aquinas is one example. Aquinas' views on homicide and the double effect are still studied by some authors.

This tradition places little stress on scripture or papal infallibility and provides the basis for many of the Church's arguments against abortion.