Abortion: Catholics Making Some Noise At Pastors Door

by Jan Stephen James Cavanaugh, Ph.D. on 02/09/16

January 24, 2016                                

Dear Father Norm,

Thank you for all you do as pastor of St.  Anne’s Retirement Community.

At the urging of Pope Francis to make some noise, to knock on the pastor’s door, below our thinking on abortion.

We write about abortion in response to your homily given Friday January 22, “A Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Church”, for the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations  … committed through abortions.

We stand shoulder to shoulder as one with you on the matter of the sanctity and primacy of life. And take pride in our Church which has a long history of building a more just society based on that teaching. No less so, ironically enough, than in the matter of rights of women. And like most of humanity we still have a long, long way to go on that issue.

In the matter of abortion we believe it truth that a just and moral society is one in which the nearer zero the election of abortive surgery the better … all this to the greater Glory of God.

Your homily gives voice to the Church’s legal strategy to reduce abortion … overturn the law encoded in Roe v Wade which assures a citizen the right to abortion in a medically certified facility.  The problem with this strategy is that abortion is the symptom of the problem. Removing the symptom could make matters worse and will not solve the problem.  Why, because women know overturning Roe v Wade will reincarnate the injustice, the back room butchery done to women that prompted the Church to rightly condemn abortion in the first place… driving the practice underground again, a grave danger to women.

In the matter of First Amendment rights some of us believe overturning Roe v Wade is an intrusion of Church into State. Our Church’s stance risks violating the civil rights of all of us as assured under the law of the land.

Whatever the moral considerations, the problem with abortions is the demand for them. The solution to the problem of abortion is to reduce demand to near zero by bringing to near zero unwanted pregnancy.

The good news is the knowledge to bring unwanted pregnancy rates to near zero is scientifically established.

It is for these reasons that majorities of the people of God want the right to abortion protected by law as codified in Roe v Wade in the hope they never need its protection.

We remember Jesus came not to overturn the law but to fulfill it. Mercy.

In the matter of Roe v Wade an argument can be made to render onto Caesar what is Caesar’s. Instead of overturning Roe v Wade make an end run around it that reduces the need for abortive procedures to near zero.

The outcome is a just society in which abortive surgery is a woman’s right protected by law and covered by health insurance, but rarely used. This is a woman’s right protected by the Constitution. Now if women could get together to push for an equal rights amendment … that would set the house of patriarchy on fire.

We understand that living the sanctity of life can get messy and for our sins we ask God’s mercy.

In the Peace of Christ,

Louise Beighley

JanStephen Cavanaugh