New York Times Examines Divide On Abortion Rights Among Roman Catholic Voters

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 18 Sep 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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The New York Times on Wednesday examined the divide among Roman Catholic voters in swing states over the issue of abortion rights. According to the Times, Catholic voters -- who previously were a reliable Democratic "voting bloc" -- have "emerged as a pivotal swing vote" in recent presidential elections.

According to the Times, after the 2004 presidential election progressive Catholics organized to remind the faithful of the Democratic Party's support for Catholic teaching on issues such as the Iraq War, immigration and health care, and last fall the Catholic bishops revised an official statement on voting priorities to allow Catholics to vote for candidates who support abortion rights if the candidate supports church teachings on other issues.

However, some progressive Catholics have said that Democratic leaders -- such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden (Del.) -- are engaging in a "distracting" debate with Catholic leaders by discussing the church's history of abortion opposition rather than the current issues related to the topic, the Times reports. Chris Korzen, executive director of the progressive group Catholics United, said that focusing on the theological history of the issue is "just not helpful," adding that it would be "wise" for the Democrats to "focus on how policies they are going to implement as leaders are going to move forward the church teachings they say they believe in."

Conservative Catholics who previously have been concerned that the "progressive forces" in the church will have more influence on voters now are "reveling," Deal Hudson, a Catholic conservative who previously worked with President Bush's campaign and is now an adviser to Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), said the Democrats have "given back some of the progress" they had made on abortion rights.

Both McCain and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) are seeking support from bishops and other church leaders, the Times reports. According to a Times-CBS News poll conducted earlier this year, Catholic voters account for about one-third of voters in battleground states such as Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania and one-quarter of voters nationwide. Terry Madonna -- a political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. -- said that "[w]hoever wins the Catholic vote will generally win [Pennsylvania] and, most of the time, the nation" (Kirkpatrick, New York Times, 9/17).

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