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Abortion and the Catholic Politician

Abortion Stance for Catholic Politicians.

The Catholic Church teaches that the Abortion is the killing of a human being while still in the womb.  (This is a position backed up by biology).  Human life is a continuum from the fertilized ovum to the corpse. The fetus is an independent human life.  It has its own DNA and blood stream. The mother is providing substance and shelter for her child, but its growth and development are governed by its own genes.  Biologically speaking it is independent of the mother’s body.  It is not a disease.  Thus, it is hard to argue that an abortion is not the killing of a human being.

Abortion is not new   It has been with us from Greco-Roman times and probably well before.  Modern technology makes it far safer and less visible.  The support for abortions is wide-spread and probably cannot be ruled out by legal means in our secular democratic society.  Even if it were, it would merely go underground and become much more dangerous.

There are 3 large groups that strongly support abortion.

1.    Some Women themselves. They are the ones taking all the heat.  Many women find themselves when pregnant in an exceedingly difficult situation affecting their lives and careers.  An abortion appears to offer quick fix.

2.    The Boyfriends, et al.  They are staying quiet.  Many men when faced with the unexpected pregnancy of a girlfriend want to be sure that she is able to do “the right thing”. The choice for the boyfriend may be between 18 years of child support vs a quick resolution.

3.    The Environmentalists.   There are people who believe that there are too many people in the world already and any thing that helps reduce the population or slow down its growth is a plus.  The current population of the United states is about 330 million.  There have been 62 million abortions since 1973 (Roe vs Wade).  That is a reduction of population of nearly 20%.  These people consider this a great achievement.

Facing this large diverse voting block, it is difficult to see how any politician emphasizing his/her support of the abolition of abortion can be elected.  What can this politician do?  He/she can advocate positions that encourage women who are pregnant to give birth to their child.  These are programs that include pre-natal, post-natal help and childcare.  Such programs should have wide support.  Elimination of abortion is unlikely, but reduction is possible and doable.

John G Clark March 2021

Your comments are welcome John.Clark@VelaVentures.com