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There is no moral, ethical or philosophical issue that has generated greater public or private controversy over the past 40 years than abortion.

Our Church has taught consistently and authoritatively that the right to life is universal and God-given; and that civil authority has not only a responsibility but also a vested interest in protecting and defending the sacredness and value of every human being.

While not defining when personhood begins, the Church has determined that from the moment of conception the unborn child must be accorded the dignity and respect due every human being and that the destruction of innocent human life is morally wrong.

Science affirms 
This theological teaching of the Church has been reinforced in recent years by the increased knowledge of embryology and genetics which make clear the identity and continuity of human life from conception forward. This scientific data makes it difficult to separate the acceptance of abortion from the acceptance of infanticide.

Indeed, the three-dimensional pictures of babies moving in the womb which contemporary technology can produce has brought home vividly the humanity of a baby living in the womb.

One, therefore, need not only rely on respect for Church authority in opposing abortion but can also appeal to philosophy and science to support the conclusion that abortion is evil.

In the 36 years since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision and the tragic killing of more than 50 million unborn children, Americans have become more and more wary of abortion on demand.

A December 2008 poll commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and conducted by Harris Interactive has found that four out of five adults (82 percent) think abortion should either be illegal under all circumstances or its legality should be limited. Only 9 percent said abortion should be legal for any reason at any time during pregnancy, the current status under U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

Pro-limits 
According to the poll results, here is what the public supports:

• 95 percent favor laws ensuring that abortions be performed only by licensed physicians;

• 88 percent favor informed consent laws (i.e., that require abortion providers to inform women of potential risks to their physical and psychological health and about alternatives to abortion);

• 76 percent favor laws that protect doctors and nurses from being forced to perform or refer for abortions against their will;

• 73 percent favor laws that require giving parents the chance to be involved in their minor daughter's abortion decision;

• 68 percent favor laws against partial-birth abortion (i.e., aborting a child already partially delivered from the mother); and

• 63 percent favor laws preventing the use of taxpayer funds for abortions.

A 2008 ABC News/Washington Post poll revealed only 22 percent believe abortion should be legal in all cases.

This data on public opinion makes all the more incredible the current efforts of pro-abortion advocates to reverse even the modest limits the courts and federal and state legislatures have placed on access to abortion. 

Take, for example, the so-called Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act (RHAPP) which is making its way through the legislature in Albany. This bill, which is similar to the much-criticized federal Freedom of Choice Act, would usher in abortion rights far beyond those approved in Roe v. Wade and subsequent U. S. Supreme Court cases, at the expense of women and others. 

The bill would elevate abortion to a "fundamental right," requiring government to guarantee it and forbidding anyone from discriminating against it. This would make it very hard to impose reasonable regulations on the abortion industry, putting women at risk. 

The act would expand the pool of practitioners who could perform abortion, eliminating the requirement that abortions be performed by doctors. The bill would knock out reasonable restrictions, such as banning gruesome partial-birth abortions. 

Coerced choice 
The legislation would seek to compel all health care providers to offer abortions. The aim is to do away with conscience protections and force religious hospitals to permit abortions. 

This bill could also undermine many beneficial maternity programs in our state, such as the Prenatal Care Assistance Program, which helps low-income mothers afford prenatal care and reduces infant mortality. Because the bill says the state could not "discriminate" against the fundamental right to abortion, such programs, which favor childbirth over abortion, would be put at great risk.

Some years back a group of pro-abortion advocates sued the state, insisting that the Prenatal Care Assistance Program was unconstitutional because it failed to fund abortion. They were unsuccessful, but they are insistent on their agenda and unyielding in their extremism. 

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) now pending in Congress is also a far reaching bill that would declare a "fundamental right" to abortion in our land. 

It would elevate that right to a level equal to such rights as freedom of speech and the right to vote, and permit absolutely no interference with that right. The FOCA legislation would abrogate the Hyde Amendment restricting federal Medicaid funding of abortion and have lethal consequences for pre-natal human life.

Catholics speak 
In response to the radical RHAPP bill on the state level and the FOCA legislation at the federal level, the bishops of our state and nation are urging people to let our elected representatives know of our opposition to these bills. The proposed laws would eliminate the gains that have been made since Roe v. Wade to restrict abortions, to provide accurate information about the realities involved in taking innocent human life, to protect parental rights and to uphold the personal and institutional consciences of health care workers and facilities in not being coerced to participate in a morally evil act.

Next month we bishops and Catholics from throughout the state will be meeting with our governor and members of the state legislature to express our opposition to RHAPP. As the FOCA legislation unfolds on the federal level, we will be asking people to communicate to our Congressional representatives similar opposition.

Presently in New York State 33 percent of pregnancies are terminated by abortion, and in the nation as a whole 19 percent of pregnancies end in abortion. Our laws hardly need to be strengthened to encourage more abortions and our public policy should be geared to making abortion rare and unnecessary.

I urge us, then, to act now by letting our elected representatives know of our adamant opposition to both RHAPP and FOCA. More information on RHAPP - including a video presentation, fliers and legislative updates - are available at www.nyscatholic.org or on FOCA at www.nchla.org. Our diocesan Office for Evangelization, Catechesis and Family Life (518-453-6600) or the New York State Catholic Conference (518-434-6195) also can be excellent resources.

A democracy demands that an informed citizenry champion those causes that contribute to the common good and oppose whatever degrades human life and dignity. The right to life is the most fundamental of all human rights.

We must do everything in our power to protect that right and to inhibit any further erosion of the protections that are already in place. Please act now.

(02/05/08) [[In-content Ad]]

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