Over the summer, the New York Times reported that the Catholic Archdiocese in Pennsylvania has banned Senator Joe Biden from receiving communion because of his pro-choice position. More recently, the Catholic Archdiocese in Denver has not only been vocally advising parishoners on how they should vote (via thinly veiled, continuous references delivered during homilies that have little or nothing to do with that day's readings) but also distributing pamphlets called "Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics" which is published by a group called Catholic Answers Action, based in California.
The Voter's Guide very explicitly instructs readers HOW to vote by outlining what they call the "five non-negotiables," which include abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, human cloning and homosexual unions. Although this guide stops short of actually naming the candidates and describing their positions, it is obvious what the agenda is.
Nobody expects the church to take a liberal stance on this issue. And certainly, it is hard to imagine ANYONE who is 100% pro-abortion. The term pro-choice refers to people who believe that under individual circumstances, a family or a woman, is able to make the choice that best applies to that situation. That situation could be rape, it could be incest, it could be poverty or, per her doctor's instructions, it might even be the case that it is a decision which needs to be made to protect the life of the baby, the mother, or both. The point is, this is a CHOICE that is best left to the person in the situation and her doctor and God. No one has the right to say what is best for a person or people whom they don't even know. If one truly believes in God, then one can take comfort in the fact that it is for God to judge a person's actions, not others. That being said, people must enact laws which protect all life, including the unborn, and this has been done. If Roe v. Wade is repealed, abortion will not go away. It will continue, as it did before Roe v. Wade, under despicable, unsanitary conditions which will benefit no one. Many women who seek abortions do so out of desperation, as a last resort. It is shameful to heap further guilt and horror on these women by staking out clinics and harassing those who use them.
Certainly, it is good and right to peaceably protest abortion and pray for solutions. It would be a great world if rape and incest and poverty and horror could be erased from our landscape. But the Catholic Church, in objecting to abortion, has done nothing to prevent unwanted pregnancy in the first place. Banning contraception, even for married couples, is wrong. No, contraceptives won't slow the rate of incest and rape but it would be a step in a responsible direction. The Church allows people with faulty hearts to take preventative steps such as medications and surgeries. It doesn't discourage or ban medical intervention in these cases, calling whatever happens "God's will." So why would it ban responsible contraceptive use? In this day and age, it is simply immoral to disallow poor couples contraception. It encourages people to have families they cannot manage or afford and it burdens the world's resources. Instead of only talking about abortion, the Church should take steps to ensure that people have access to proper health care and reproductive, responsible choice BEFORE it is too late. If and until that happens, there will continue to be abortions and other issues, such as capital punishment, war and other threats to human life will apparently take a back seat.
What would Jesus do? On election day, vote with your conscience, not your church.
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