- Feb 5, 2002
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COMMENTARY: Even were there an avalanche of good political news on the horizon for other parts of our social-justice agenda, here are two good reasons Catholics must insist on an end to abortion.
Catholics have an even better argument than we are currently deploying regarding why we won’t let the abortion issue “go.” Regarding why we insist on bringing abortion up even at a political moment and regarding a new U.S. president promising several positive steps on otherCatholic social-justice hopes and dreams: Not a few commentators wrongly believe that many Catholics in the United States, including prominent bishops, are simply expressing their politics — specifically their claimed political conservatism — when they refuse to give the incoming administration a pass on abortion. Of course this is ridiculous on its face, as opposition to killing easily finds a home in both liberal as well as conservative philosophies and politics. Other commentators wrongly believethat when the Catholic Church flags the abortion issue, it is merely another expression of its aversion to sex and everything related to it. Wrong again.
First, abortion is the destruction of a human life, not a sexual act. And although the Church has had its ups and downs on matters sexual for quite a while now, it has settled on the healthy position that sex is a good gift from God that, at the same time, can be misused to harm another. (See, e.g., Pope Benedict XVI’s Deus Caritas Est, 4-15.)
Continued below.
Catholic Church Is Correct in Not Letting Abortion Issue Slide
Catholics have an even better argument than we are currently deploying regarding why we won’t let the abortion issue “go.” Regarding why we insist on bringing abortion up even at a political moment and regarding a new U.S. president promising several positive steps on otherCatholic social-justice hopes and dreams: Not a few commentators wrongly believe that many Catholics in the United States, including prominent bishops, are simply expressing their politics — specifically their claimed political conservatism — when they refuse to give the incoming administration a pass on abortion. Of course this is ridiculous on its face, as opposition to killing easily finds a home in both liberal as well as conservative philosophies and politics. Other commentators wrongly believethat when the Catholic Church flags the abortion issue, it is merely another expression of its aversion to sex and everything related to it. Wrong again.
First, abortion is the destruction of a human life, not a sexual act. And although the Church has had its ups and downs on matters sexual for quite a while now, it has settled on the healthy position that sex is a good gift from God that, at the same time, can be misused to harm another. (See, e.g., Pope Benedict XVI’s Deus Caritas Est, 4-15.)
Continued below.
Catholic Church Is Correct in Not Letting Abortion Issue Slide
