The Catholic Church's position on abortion is based upon the Fifth Commandment which prohibits intentional killing. The Church holds the view that every human "from conception" has an inalienable right to life, and thus considers abortion a mortal sin, the procuring of which automatically incurs, for any Catholic, the penalty of excommunication "latae sententiae" (i.e. "by the very commission of the offence"). The "Catechism of the Catholic Church" (1992) states: "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law."