Understanding abortion, the Catechism and voting

Here is what the Catechism says:


Abortion
2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.72
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.73 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.74

2271 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:
You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.75 God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.76

2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,"77 "by the very commission of the offense,"78 and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law.79 The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.
2273 The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:
"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."80
"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights."81
2274 Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being.
Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, "if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human fetus and is directed toward its safe guarding or healing as an individual. . . . It is gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent of a death sentence."82
2275 "One must hold as licit procedures carried out on the human embryo which respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but are directed toward its healing the improvement of its condition of health, or its individual survival."83
"It is immoral to produce human embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material."84 "Certain attempts to influence chromosomic or genetic inheritance are not therapeutic but are aimed at producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined qualities. Such manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being and his integrity and identity"85 which are unique and unrepeatable.

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Can supporting a candidate for election that approves of abortion be considered a mortal sin?

Can supporting a candidate for election that approves of abortion be grounds for excommunication?

Is "Pro-Choice" considered an approval for abortion?

Is "Pro-Life" considered an approval for abortion?


Please advise.

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Under some circumstances, yes, this could be a mortal sin. Under other circumstances not.

Under some circumstances, yes. Under other circumstances not.

I think so.

"Pro-life" is a term that sems less well defined that "pro-choice". A pro-choicer specifically supports the right of a woman to choose to procure an abortion. So-called "pro-lifers" are all over the map. Some contend that favoring making abortion illegal (or evem just making it a state's rights issue) is sufficient to call oneself pro-life.

The definition I would use (and I suspect most other Catholics agree with me on this) is that in order to be pro-life, one must:

Support the right to life for all people from conception to natural death.

Oppose the death penalty except where absolutely necesarry. Most agree that it is not necesarry in developed countries.

Oppose Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide.

Oppose abortion.

Oppose unjust war.

Oppose embrionic stem cell research.

Oppose the proliferation and needless stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction.

Feed the hungry.

Heal the sick.

It could be, if you intentionally vote for the person because of his/her abortion stance. However, as I understand it, some overwhelming reason that has a greater consequence (which I find hard to conceive) may be permissible. (I heard Archbishiop Caput of Denver speak of that, but I am not sure I quote him correctly.)

The Church bends over backwards to avoid excommunicating anyone, even one who is a candidate who supports abortion. However, if the individual is most outspoken in his/her beliefs concerning abortion, that person can, after many warnings from the bishop of he diocese one lives in, can be excommunicated.

This happened in Corpus Christi, TX, by my former bishop (who was the founding bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, my home town) actually excommunicated a candidate for office when all efforts to get the individual to recant failed.

Again, is is actually quite rare, done only when the individual is so vocal about his/her stance as to be a great scandal. But one who has a abortion, assists in an abortion or even advises one to have an abortion, including attending nurses, automatically incurs excommunication, which can be absolved by the bishop of the diocese. At one time, as I understand it, such an absolution was "reserved to Rome" the sin is considered so great.

"Pro-Choice" is a euphemism, for "Pro-abortion."

No, is the term used for those who are against abortion.

God bless,

PAX

Bill+†+


Christus Vincit! Christus Regnat! Christus Imperat!

Originally Posted by JacktheCatholic

Can supporting a candidate for election that approves of abortion be considered a mortal sin?

This is a good question to ponder. I would ask your priest this question because as a lay person, my own personal opinion will show itself and that wouldn't be fair in answering your question.

Personally, I believe that abortion is so intrinsically evil and horrific and very much a genocide against unborn helpless babies... babies that should be protected by their mother and yet, for whatever reasons, the baby is rejected and unwanted by it's mother to the point of the mother having her baby aborted. Of course, when I look at society and the values that are taught to young ones, how can a young mother or any age mother not truly understand the intrinsical evil part of abortion when society teaches them that it's their own body and therefore, it's their choice and that the baby is only a blub of tissue. We need to re-educate what abortion truly is in order for people to realize how horrible it is.

That being said, I agree with Bill. I believe that if a candidate is proclaiming to be Catholic and then is actively involved in fighting for abortion and/or fighting for pro choice, which subsequently leads to abortion and like Bill said, if their bishop has given them many opportunities to recant, to develope a true conscience against abortion, if they continue on contradicting the very faith that they proclaim to be, then they can be excommunicated. But like Bill said, if the person comes to realize their error and truly with a remorseful heart in sincereness repents and confesses, there is always forgiveness and hope for a better tomorrow.

It is unusual though for a lay person to be excommunicated and it would only be done rarely and for an extremely good reason.

Can supporting a candidate for election that approves of abortion be grounds for excommunication?

This is a hard question because the real question is how much knowledge does an individual truly comprehend when it comes to abortion, how much culpability is there...

I believe that if I vote for a pro abortionist candidate, that I would be contradicting my Catholic faith and I believe that somehow that would be a grave and mortal sin for me because of what I know.

Like Bill said above, excommunicated a lay person does not happen very much at all and I don't believe it is grounds for a public excommunication.

Another good question would be, What does the word excommunication truly means?

I believe that we lay people excommunicate ourselves when we go against the fundamentals of the Catholic faith. So does the Church excommunicate people for voting for a pro abortion/pro choice candidate, most likely not, but I can't help but think that when a Catholic does this, that in a way, they have excommunicated themselves from one of the most basic Catholic teachings... All life is precious.

Is "Pro-Choice" considered an approval for abortion?

Indirectly, it is. That being said, pro-choice has other definitions as well. People who say they are pro-choice are truly saying that they believe that each individual has a right to make decisions about health issues in their own bodies. They are saying that a woman should have the right over her own body to decide what her own body should do or not do.

What they may not realize is by having this option, they are ignoring the rights of another human being that is apart of their body, but once a woman becomes pregnant, her body is NOT just her body anymore.

Also, in a way pro choice is a contradiction because while saying a person has a right over their own body, yet we are killing people in the hospices like the woman Teri. Michael, her husband, allowed her life support system to be pulled out and for weeks, they watched her starve to death and dehydrate to death and did nothing, and this is still going on, but much more rampantly than ever before and yet we do not hear about it on the news. I wonder why the media is ignoring this kind of issue. Why can a woman decide about her own body and yet others who are sick and on life support system have no rights over their own body? It's a contradiction.

All life is precious.

So in essence, the answer to the above question is an indirect yes.

Is "Pro-Life" considered an approval for abortion?


Please advise.

Now Jack, you know the answer to this one. Pro life is against abortion. Although, not everyone who claims to be pro life is completely pro life. Some are against abortion while they support pulling the plug on life support systems... we live in a world of contradictions and that is why we need to pray and pray and pray.

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Where Peter is, there is the Church. Where the Church is, there is eternal Life.



"The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society"- Mother Theresa

"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion?

As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts... her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.

And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion". - Mother Theresa

As for me....On judgement day, I want to be able to say that I never knowingly voted or supported a pro-abortion politician.....which is why I will be writing in names this election.

Vote for "JacktheCatholic" and vote Pro-Life. LOL

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I'm not aware of any "pro-abortion" politicians. Why is term Pro-Choice so often mis-quoted has pro-abortion? What about voting for a politician that may be Pro-Life on abortion issues (and yet not actually do anything about it) but yet engage in voluntary wars like Iraq (as opposed to WWII), supports capital punishment, doesn't want to even discuss health care for all or take steps to help the homeless. I think the definition of being Pro-Life needs to revisited.

Pro-Choice means that the mother has the right to decide about the life of the baby. It should not be my mother's right or my father's right whether I live or die. That should be an exclusive right reserved for the individual. That is why Pro-Choice is not Pro-Life and it is Pro-Abortion.

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That's what makes the Pro-Choice brigade so laughable. They remove all choice from the baby. The baby doesn't get a say, has no rights, according to Pro-Choicers.

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"If you blow on a spark, it will glow; if you spit on it, it will be put out; yet both come out of your mouth " ~ Sirach 28:12