56% of Roman Catholics believe that abortion should be legal.
Why is this so, and how can we change that?
This article addresses:
- What most “pro-choice” Catholics really believe about abortion
- The reality of “separation of Church and state”.
- How pro-life Catholics can make more effective change
Disclaimer
I’m a Catholic who identifies as “pro-life”. Politics and connotations aside, that means I am in communion with the Church’s teaching that human life begins at conception and ends at natural death, and to terminate the life of an innocent child at any point would be considered a homicide.
Notice that I do not use the term murder (although in many cases, that certainly is what abortion is).
But I’ll touch more on this later.
“Disagreeing” with Church Teachings
Let’s go back to the fact that, it’s rather telling of the times we are in that a practicing Catholic would have to clarify that they are indeed, “pro-life”. But perhaps, it’s not that much of a surprise considering that many Catholics today do not actually agree with Church teachings. And although this is not the main problem that I want to talk about today, it is a problem that we should address before we go on any further.
I recently made a video where I went onto the Catholic dating website, CatholicMatch (purely for research purposes of course). What I was alarmed to find was that a significant number of Catholics claim that they do not agree with basic tenets of the faith, such as the true presence, sanctity of life, contraception, and even teachings on sex before marriage.
In this video, I pointed out that there is a difference between failing to live up to the Church’s teachings, and just flat-out disagreeing with the Church teachings. Because that is not how Catholicism works.
As Catholics, we all fall short of the Church’s teachings in one way or another as we strive towards holiness, and that’s a universal human experience.
However, to claim that you “disagree with the Church teachings”, is a completely different story, and a concept that should be foreign to Catholicism. As Catholics, there are certain fundamental truths that we have to accept in order to be in communion with the Church.
It’s not like Protestantism where it’s possible for you to just “believe in Jesus Christ and you’ll be saved”, where the exact teachings on faith and morals don’t really matter, because everyone kind of accepts that nobody really has the perfect doctrine so we all “agree to disagree”. That’s not Catholicism.
In Catholicism, rules are rules. So if you don’t agree with what the Church teaches on issues like abortion, contraception, and IVF, then you cannot consider yourself to be in communion with the Church.
Once again, being a Catholic doesn’t mean you have to be perfect.
After all, that’s why we’re “practicing” Catholics.
“Pro-Abortion” vs. “Personally Opposed to Abortion”
All that said, these are not the Catholics that I want to address today. Because while there is indeed a large number of pro-choice Catholics who truly do not agree with the Church teachings, most of them are just uneducated idiots (A whole different problem we need to solve). What I want to address today, are Catholics who claim to accept the Church’s teachings on abortion, but are pro-choice when it comes to legislation.
A prime example of this is none other than President Joe Biden.
Many of us pro-life Catholics probably have no idea what goes on in the minds of these “pro-choice Catholics”. We simply brand them as heretics. But perhaps the following quotes might give some insight into the minds of such characters.
In a 2007 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”, then Vice President Biden said:
“I’m a practicing Catholic, and it is the biggest dilemma for me in terms of comporting my religious and cultural views with my political responsibility.”
In a 2012 debate with Rep. Paul Ryan, then Vice President Biden once again said:
“My religion defines who I am. I’ve been a practicing Catholic my whole life…”
“With regard to abortion, I accept my Church’s position on abortion…”
“Life begins at conception, that’s the Church’s judgement, I accept it in my personal life. But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others.”
Full Video
A Deseret News articles summarises Biden’s stance on abortion as:
He does not oppose his church’s teachings on abortion; he has said that he is personally opposed to abortion. However, he feels that he cannot seek to impose his personal religious views on the rest of society.
Link to article
Father Edward Beck, a Catholic priest, said in an interview on CNN
“Of course, the Catholic Church teaches the cherishing of human life from conception till natural death. 56% of Roman Catholics believe that abortion should be legal, and that doesn’t mean that they’re pro-abortion, but that they believe there should be a choice.”
“I think some people in the pews are thinking that we’re focusing on one issue, an important one, abortion, but really not at all focusing on other important life issues.”
Link to Video
A common theme we’re seeing here is:
“I’m personally opposed to abortion, but I believe other people should have the right to do it.”
In other words, they believe in the separation of Church and State.
Separation of Church and State vs. Monarchy
To address the issue of separation of Church and state, let’s put on our chainmail armour and take ourselves back in time to the medieval era, where Church and state were very much intertwined. When kingdoms were ruled by monarchs who were at the end of the day, subject to the authority of the Church.
Fast forward to modern times, it has become a norm, and perhaps even an expectation, that our governments are not subject to any outside authority, Rome or otherwise. It has become so normalised that even most Catholics probably see “separation of Church and state” as a good thing.
The anti-monarchical sentiment does not merely lie with pro-choice Catholics. Many conservative American Catholics have also fallen into the American disdain for centralised authority. After all, the first American settlers were English Puritans fleeing the Church of England, believing that it retained too much of its Roman Catholic doctrine and authority structure. One could say that the anti-monarchical sentiment; or more specifically, the importance of separating Church and state; is ingrained into the American spirit.
Most of us would agree, that to be Catholic, is to believe in a singular, objective, truth. After all, that’s what differentiates us from the many different Protestant denominations who preach contradicting truths.
But perhaps many of us forget, that the reason why we have our much-prided consistency in doctrine is thanks to Christ founding his universal Church upon Peter, and not Peter + the rest of the crew. It is by God’s design that having a singular leader as the head authority ensures that the Church doesn’t fracture into a million pieces, the way Christendom has since the Protestant Deformation.
Whether we like it or not, Catholicism is a monarchy. It is the earthly kingdom that mirrors the heavenly reality where we have one God and one Truth. Even in the Old Testament, God always picked one singular guy to lead his people, Israel. Never a group of leaders, but one man to keep his people united.
Many Catholics have forgotten that in the past, rulers and kings were subject to the authority of the Church. Remember when a certain king wanted a divorce but the Pope wouldn’t give him permission, so he started his own church?
The reality is that the American ideal of “separation of Church and state” merely allows for a society that does not function in line with the Church’s teachings. For us Catholics, this means that as long as we have a secular government that is not subject to Rome, we will always be operating in a political system that will never be a perfect ideal for us.
This is the so-called black pill that I believe we as Catholics living in a secular world have to accept, that because our rulers are no longer subject to the authority of the Church, we are very unlikely to be able to achieve everything that we want.
Once we accept that there might never be a perfect solution for governance and legislation that is fully in line with our Catholic faith, perhaps we can then actually start looking at how we can at least make things better.
Where Is Our Manifesto?
At the heart of it, both pro-choice and pro-life Catholics are so far removed from the Catholic ideal, that both sides fail to act accordingly.
On one hand, pro-choice Catholics are too comfortable with the idea of “separation of Church and state”, and are more than happy to settle for the American ideal of “You do you, I’ll do me, let’s all just get along.”
(And if that sounds awfully Protestant, well that’s because it is.)
On the other hand, many pro-life Catholics fail to accept the reality that most countries are in fact secular countries that have little to no chance of ever becoming a Catholic nation, which is essentially the only way that every single law and regulation would be in line with Catholic teaching.
Look at it this way. Even Catholic Italy’s recently elected Prime Minister Giorga Meloni, who is known to be extremely conservative, does not have a full ban on abortion. In fact, there are extremely few countries in the world where abortion is completely illegal.
I’m definitely not saying that we shouldn’t work towards an ideal situation where infanticide is completely outlawed. What I’m saying is that if our modern society is so far gone, perhaps we are skipping a few steps by acting as though our immediate goal is to completely ban abortion by tomorrow. By doing that, we are essentially saying that we want to go to the moon without knowing how to build a rocket.
If our goal is to make abortion unthinkable, how exactly do we plan to achieve that? The communists had a manifesto, and so do the elites that we often conspire about. So where is ours?
We have none.
Once pro-life Catholics can accept the reality of the situation, maybe then can we actually start to make things better, if not perfect.
The Next Step for Pro-life Catholics
Changing hearts and minds begins with empathy and finding common ground, and that means understanding where pro-choice Catholics are coming from. In this article, I’ve explained why pro-choice Catholics believe in “the right to choice”, and how both sides of the conversation react differently to a common reality. One merely accepting an imperfect situation, and the other too gung-ho to make it perfect.
The pro-life movement in general has a PR crisis. But I do believe that as Catholics, we should be the ones leading by example by making some much needed improvements to the way we advocate for life, and perhaps even inspire “pro-choice” Catholics to take a stronger stand on this issue.
Below are a few problems I see with the current methods of pro-life activism:
Over-emphasising that the fetus is a human life
I understand that this is a controversial one, but hear me out. Think about this: Imagine if a group of people constantly went on and on about how the earth is round. Perhaps you always knew that the earth is round, but now that these people seem a bit too overly defensive of this stance, wouldn’t you start to get a bit skeptical? I say the same thing about Catholics being too overly defensive when it comes to Mary.
When you try too hard to defend something that is already objectively true, it naturally brings skepticism. “When life begins” should not be a talking point, but rather a clarification reserved for when the vocal minority of idiots actually come out with the nonsensical claim that it isn’t a life. Otherwise, it just serves to breed skepticism. After all, a majority of people do already accept that a foetus is a life, but are pro-choice for other reasons.
Referring to abortion as murder
I strongly stand by my earlier point on referring to abortions in general as homicide instead of murder. If we are to treat the foetus as a human life, then we have to also be consistent in our definitions.
Many pro-life activists today have adopted the term infanticide, and while it is just as accurate, I prefer the term homicide for the connotations it has. Firstly: When a pregnant mother is killed, we refer to it as a double homicide. Secondly: Before someone is legally charged with murder, the crime is referred to as a homicide. When we refer to abortion as murder, we are charging every mother who has had an abortion as a murderer, regardless of the circumstances they were in. The term homicide however, while fully recognising that a human life was lost, it does not necessarily place judgement on the person who may have been responsible.
Of course, many abortions today could definitely be classified as cold-blooded murder. As Catholics however, we cannot claim to know the situation of any specific individual when they had an abortion. Therefore, to paint all women who have had an abortion as murderers would be not only unproductive to the conversation, but uncharitable.
Over-associating with your political party
People are idiots, as I’ve repeatedly emphasised throughout this article. Therefore, people will make entire judgements and assumptions on your intentions and worldviews based on who you voted for.
With all this talk about recognising realities, this is a reality that we must realise as well. There’s a reason why pro-lifers are painted as far-right, MAGA Republicans who support misogyny. I understand that America is all about “freedom of speech”, but prudence would suggest not painting your social media profile with red baseball caps and political slogans.
Don’t give them fuel. The only thing you should be associating yourself with is the Catholic Church. If they associate Pro-lifers with Catholicism, we’re doing something right. If they associate pro-lifers with Catholicism + Trump, something is wrong.
Not addressing the prime concerns: poverty, rape, incest, and disabilities
In line with not over-emphasising on pro-life talking points, pro-life people need to stop avoiding the difficult conversations. While the “rape and incest are less than 1% of abortions” point is extremely valid, we have to acknowledge the reality that abortion is an extremely emotionally-driven issue. Most people are not pro-choice because they don’t recognise the humanity of a foetus. It’s because they put themselves into the shoes of someone who’s been raped, who can’t afford to support the child, or has just been told that their child will have severe disabilities. To a well-meaning and sympathetic mind, abortion seems like the only and best option.
Therefore, need to start addressing these issues aggressively and specifically. After all, most of the arguments made by pro-choice Catholics revolve around the idea that “pro-lifers don’t care about babies after they’re born.” By addressing the following, we’ll be giving them one less fence post to lean on.
Rape
Of course, exceptions for cases of rape are morally inconsistent since two wrongs do not make a right. However, the question still stands. How exactly is justice going to be carried out? The fact that I am unable to answer this despite being heavily exposed to pro-life activism is telling. How exactly is the rapist going to be held accountable? How are we making sure that rapes do not happen in the first place? How will the mother be supported in her pregnancy? I have never seen the answers to these questions, and these are the very questions pro-choice people have.
What solutions are we proposing? I’m fully for the rapist having to sell his organs if he is not able to fully pay for the cost of raising a child, and that’s on top of a lifetime in jail. How do we make that happen? These are the kind of propositions that we should be hearing about. Who wouldn’t be on board with this?
Incest
Seriously, how do you give an answer to this? Even though a life is a life, I have absolutely zero idea myself how to even begin to approach this situation, and that’s just hypothetically speaking! Again, we need to stop shying away from these topics and actually have honest discussions about it. In fact, I’m definitely going to start doing podcasts addressing these very topics.
Disabilities
Every life has value, regardless of what disabilities they may be born with. How could you possibly look at someone with down syndrome, and tell them that they do not deserve to live? While almost anyone could get on board with that sentiment, most people raise eyebrows when it come to the actual cost of supporting someone with a disability. What support is given to families? As much of a leftist talking point this may sound like, it is extremely valid that not everyone is financially equipped to care for someone with special needs.
Poverty
This is one of the areas where the pro-life movement is doing a decently good job addressing. There are plenty of pro-life organisations that provide financial and emotional support to people facing unexpected pregnancies. However, there is still much more to be done. In other countries like the UK, the benefits you get when you’re pregnant are so great that abortion rights aren’t even that big an issue. In fact, kids are getting pregnant on purpose!
Extreme Cases
Speaking of kids getting pregnant, we’ve all heard the argument of “What if a 10 year old gets raped?”. Though I’ve heard this argument countless times, I have never once heard a good answer. In her appearance on the Dr. Phil show, pro-life activist and fellow Catholic Lila Rose was faced with this very question. She did not answer the question.
Yes, of course legalising abortions in these cases will only perpetuate the cycle of abuse. And yes, of course the rape shouldn’t happen in the first place. We could even have all the conversations we want about porn culture being the root of all these evils, but it comes back to recognising realities. I’ve not met a single pro-life person who is able to give a good answer to this question, and neither can I. And the reality is that if we can’t have a good answer for the one case where people might see the need for an exception, then it’s going to be very hard to convince anyone, regardless of their beliefs on abortion, to agree that it should be 100% illegal.
What Now?
The abortion issue is an extremely emotional one. Opinions are driven by empathy, fear, and what-ifs.
In this article, I’ve addressed the following.
- Some Catholics are pro-choice not because they disagree with the Church’s teaching on abortion, but believe that people should have a choice.
- Pro-choice Catholics believe that they should not impose their faith onto others.
- As Father Beck said, pro-choice Catholics feel that there is an inconsistent life ethic and only a focus on preserving life before abortion and not after birth.
- Pro-life Catholics need to stop reaffirming said stereotypes, and start having difficult conversations about bringing real change.
The conversations that we need to have will be uncomfortable and difficult. However, it is the only way to win not only the hearts of our fellow Catholics, but of the world. As true as it is that some things are out of our control thanks to a “powerful elite pushing their agenda”, it is also true that we are not doing enough.
While many might say that it starts with criminalising abortion, the reality is that you cannot make abortion illegal without convincing the other half of the country.
I truly believe that if we can address the points raised in this article, we can indeed make an imperfect world a little bit better.
So, how do we truly make a society where abortion is truly unthinkable?
