Found on Facebook.
This is obviously incorrect, which most Catholics should recognize (but sadly, let’s be honest—most probably wouldn’t.)
Baptism is one of the seven sacraments, and sacraments are only for the living. If someone has died, they are not able to receive the grace that the sacrament imbues because their soul has separated from their physical body. So in most cases, a stillborn wouldn’t receive baptism—not because the Church doesn’t recognize their personhood, but because sacraments are for the living. Occasionally a stillborn (or a very recently deceased person) may receive a conditional baptism, but that is only because it is difficult to determine with certainty the exact moment a person’s soul separates from their body, and so even if a person has stopped breathing, their soul may still be present for a time. So if a priest thinks that may be the case, he can err on the side of caution and still offer baptism or other sacraments conditionally out of the highest concern for the salvation of the person. But anyone who argues that the Church doesn’t baptize stillborns because “life begins at first breath” is just wrong.
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