Catholic Bishops Urging Voters To Make Abortion 'Top Priority,' Boston Globe Reports

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 31 Oct 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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More than 60 Roman Catholic bishops in recent weeks have urged voters to make abortion their "top priority" in the upcoming presidential election, the Boston Globe reports. According to the Globe, the bishops' "urgency" reflects "increasing concern" regarding an argument among abortion opponents that the "battle" to ban abortion is "hopeless" and that they would be more effective if they focused on reducing the need for abortions by preventing unintended pregnancies rather than banning abortion.

Nicholas Cafardi, a legal scholar at Duquesne University, said he believes that abortion-rights opponents have "lost the abortion battle - permanently" and that even if Roe v. Wade were overturned, many states would not ban abortion. Jim Wallis, a progressive evangelical, said many social conservatives say the "banning-abortion position" is not "realistic" and is "never going to happen." Wallis added that it is possible "abortion reduction could result in a more pro-life outcome than taking what have become symbolic stances that are never going to be achieved."

Mark Silk, a professor at Trinity College, said the debate is an "emerging civil war" within the Catholic Church and is playing out in Catholic newspapers, speeches, blogs and opinion pieces. The new group Catholic Democrats recently posted a question and answers section on its Web site that suggests Democratic candidates would be more effective in reducing the abortion rate than Republican candidates. In addition, the liberal group Catholics United has launched a mail campaign in swing states urging Catholics to reconsider what it means to be "pro-life."

Two officials from U.S. Conference for Catholic Bishops last week issued a response to the debate. "The Catholic community is second to no one in providing and advocating for support for women and families facing problems during pregnancy," the bishops said, adding, "These efforts, however, are not an adequate or complete response to the injustice of Roe v. Wade." Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver in a recent speech said, "People who claim that the abortion struggle is lost as a matter of law, or that supporting an outspoken defender of legal abortion is somehow pro-life, are not just wrong; they're betraying the witness of every person who continues the work of defending the unborn child."

According to the Globe, the bishops' efforts do not seem to be having an effect on voters as recent polls have found Catholics are leaning toward Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who supports abortion rights, rather than Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who opposes abortion (Paulson, Boston Globe, 10/30).

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