Abortion: "disappearing issue"?

Anon posted the following comment: “I'd be interested to get bloggers' take on this column published in this week's Washington Post: http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/11/the_disappearing_abortion_issue.html".

In the column, the author, Anthony Stevens-Arroyo, depicts the Church’s stance against abortion as a “lost cause”. His basic point is that most Catholics no longer listen to the Magisterium when it comes to voting pro-life. He even argues that Vatican II has helped to bring this about. He refers to “a maturation for the Catholic conscience” and that “We have moved beyond a stage where lay Catholics rely on the hierarchy to tell them how to vote…most people-in-the-pews of Catholic America I have interviewed think this is a good turn of events.”


First of all, it depends on which people-in-the-pews are being interviewed. There are parishes within our Archdiocese where many people are pro-choice (pro-abortion), but there are also parishes here where many people are pro-life. My guess is that he just interviewed people from the former parishes, and not the latter ones. It is irresponsible and incorrect to say that most Catholics in Washington are pro-choice. A comment from the Post’s website bears this out:

“Mr Aroyo certainly has never interviewed the people in the pews where I go to Mass or he would have gotten a very different result to his "scientific" poll. The fact is that 70% to 75% of Catholics here will vote pro-life if at all possible. We do not see abortion as a dead political issue. We also do not resent our local Bishop's prolife stand nor his guidance when he reminds us that we must vote for life whenever possible. Unlike some Catholics who are obviously ill informed or just not able to be informed, we here are able to read and understand the writtings of the Vatican and we know that it is never a mistake for our heirarchy to stand for Catholic principles even to command that we vote for those principles no matter which party we have to vote for…”

Secondly, he is even more irresponsible when he suggests that Vatican II made the Magisterium of the Church irrelevant in political matters. He quotes Gaudium et Spes (76): "The Church and the political community in their own fields are autonomous and independent from each other." This statement is not a benchmark for new Catholic teaching; it is simply the Church’s reiteration of separation of church and state. Vatican II did not remove the Church from guiding Catholics how to vote! If so, why did the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops publish “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” in 2007? In this document, the USCCB wrote the following:

“…the obligation to teach about moral values that should shape our lives, including our public lives, is central to the mission given to the Church of Jesus Christ. Moreover, the United States Constitution protects the rights of individual believers and religious bodies to participate and speak out without government interference, favoritism, or discrimination” (n.11)

“In the Catholic tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation” (n.13)

“As Catholics we are not single-issue voters. A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support. Yet a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support” (n.42)

And, here are some statements from individual bishops (which we need more of…if these had been consistently by bishops, then this article would never had been written):

“Abortion is the issue this year and every year in every campaign. The taking of innocent human life is so heinous, so horribly evil, and so absolutely opposite to the law of Almighty God that abortion must take precedence over every other issue. I repeat. It is the single most important issue confronting not only Catholics, but also the entire electorate.” (Bishop James Timlin, “The Ballot and the Right to Life”, Fall 2000).

“As Catholics, we are faced with a number of issues that are of concern and should be addressed, such as immigration reform, healthcare, the economy and its solvency, care and concern for the poor, and the war on terror…But let us be clear: issues of prudential judgment are not morally equivalent to issues involving intrinsic evils. No matter how right a given candidate is on any of these issues, it does not outweigh a candidate’s unacceptable position in favor of an intrinsic evil such as abortion or the protection of ‘abortion rights’” (Bishop Kevin Farrell and Bishop Kevin Vann, 2008).

While it may be true that many Catholics have tuned out the Church when it comes to political issues, it is not true that the Church has told Catholics to tune her out. Overall, abortion is not a dead issue within the hierarchy of the Church or among Catholics. If Mr Stevens-Arroyo still thinks this, he should make a trip downtown on the March for Life in January. There, he can interview tens of thousands of pro-life Catholics – many of whom will be young. He might get a different response. I wander if he would publish that.