United States: Catholic Democrats Defend Their Pro-abortion Stance

The “statement of principles” begins by magnifying the “living Catholic tradition” which promotes the common good and affirms that the signatories work every day to advance “respect for life and the dignity of every human being.”

They also commit themselves “to making real the basic principles which are at the heart of Catholic social teaching”: poverty reduction, access to education, access to universal health care, and redress for racial and gender inequalities.

Then the legislators affirm to commit themselves “to reducing the number of unintended pregnancies,” which includes the promotion of alternatives to abortion: adoption, improvement of childcare services, and creation of a child benefit through the expanded Child Tax Credit.

However, the signatories add that “in all of these issues, we seek the Church’s guidance and assistance, but believe also in the primacy of conscience. In recognizing the Church’s role in providing moral leadership, we acknowledge and accept the tension that comes with being in disagreement with the Church in some areas.”

Passages from Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium are then exploited to highlight that the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect, nor is the Church a tollhouse.

Another argument advances the separation of church and state. This separation means that “the weaponization of the Eucharist to Democratic lawmakers for their support for a woman’s safe and legal access to abortion is contradictory.”

The authors conclude that “to pursue a blanket denial of the Holy Eucharist to certain elected officials would indeed grieve the Holy Spirit and deny the evolution of that individual, a Christian person who is never perfect, but living in the struggle to get there.” This attempt to defend elected Democrats completely overlooks a determining element: the fact that Canon Law punishes abortion with a penalty of excommunication (c.1398 of the 1983 Code). 

This was established to defend unborn children, poor innocent victims, and to prevent the spread of this sin which cries out to heaven for vengeance. And all those who support abortion in any way, especially politicians, allow abortion to spread. They often commit a more serious fault than the woman who aborts, because their action allows an indefinite number of abortions.