There are some Catholic bloggers and commentators saying that it is okay to vote for Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton because, even though they are pro abortion, they are “pro life” on other issues. Health care is a “life” issue, they argue. A living wage is a “life” issue. Good treatment of immigrants is a “life” issue. Torture is a “life” issue.
This is a lie. Do not be taken in by it and do not propagate this lie.
Use your common sense. Health care, immigration reform, gun control, a living wage, torture and care for the poor are not life issues. They are quality of life issues.
Abortion solves the “problem” of an unplanned pregnancy by killing an innocent child.
The equivalent of this with the immigration issue is to solve the problem by killing the immigrants. The equivalent of this for the health care problem is to kill all the sick people. The equivalent of this for the living wage or unemployment problem is to kill all the poor people.
Abortion is not on the same level of seriousness as these other social problems.
There are some other issues which are life issues. Euthanasia is a life issue. Capital punishment is a life issue. Unjust war is a life issue. These issues and the proportionality of these issues are fair topics for discussion and debate because they do involve the taking of a human life, and the Catholic Church’s teaching is clear on these issues too.
Catholics who want to vote for a pro abortion politician or party will say, “Well, the Republicans aren’t really that pro life because they have never taken steps to repeal Roe v Wade. This one fact may be true, but across the nation pro life governors and legislators have been successful in many different ways in bringing in legislation that restricts abortion and curtails the abortion clinics. Pro life politicians have done much in this particular battle, but most importantly, they do not formally and openly endorse abortion.”
Catholics who want to vote for a pro abortion politician or party will say, “Sure, but the Republicans are in favor of capital punishment and carpet bombing innocent civilians. So Obama’s drone don’t kill innocent civilians? This is not to justify an unjust war, but to make the point that killing in war and in capital punishment–while against Catholic teaching–is on a different scale than having an open and deliberate policy for killing.”
For this to be equivalent the Republican party should have as part of its platform, “Our open policy is to carpet bomb into extinction any city we deem to be an enemy.”
The bottom line is this: a Catholic cannot vote for a politician or a party that openly espouses and promotes abortion anymore than a Catholic could vote for a party or a politician that openly calls for extermination facilities for old people and the disabled.
Liberal Catholics think they can vote for Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton? Would they vote for a party or a politician that openly supported the construction of concentrate camps for the extermination of immigrants, criminals, the disabled and the infirm? No matter what other good policies that party had would they vote for a party that openly called for the need for the identification of people who were deemed sub human, disposable and were ready to continue funding the extermination facilities for such people?
I doubt it. But they think they can vote for a party and candidates who support the funding of abortion clinics and abortion up until birth?
C’mon.
Image Creative Commons
