Abortion and the Christian Conscience: Thirty Years Since Roe v. Wade
Thirty Years Since Roe v. Wade
By
Bishop Edward K. Braxton
Time magazine had a magnificent cover story the week of November 11, 2002, when the Catholics Bishops of the United States were meeting in Washington, DC. The article, "Inside the Womb: An Amazing Look At How We All Begin," was accompanied by remarkable photographs and computer generated images of embryonic human life from conception to the time of birth. The article describes the reaction of a husband and wife as they look at a wall video monitor. As a crystal probe slides across her midsection, the mother is wide-eyed in amazement. "She can make out a head with a mouth and two eyes. She can see pairs of arms and legs that end in tiny hands and feet. She can see the curve of a backbone, the bridge of a nose. And best of all, she can see movement. The mouth of her "child-to-be" yawns. Its feet kick. Its hands wave. They can hear the gush of blood through the umbilical cord and the fast thump, thump, thump of a miniature heart."
Nowhere in the amazing account is the four month and one week old in the womb referred to as anything other than a fetus. The closest the article comes to calling this fetal life human, not to mention a human being, is when it says that the mouth of the "child-to-be" yawns. (The quotation marks are mine). The author feels constrained not to say "The child yawns." Or even "The child-to-be yawns." No, it is simply a mouth that yawns. Had the author written, "The baby yawned." His editors might not have allowed it and, if they did, he might well have received angry letters saying his language implicitly supports an anti-abortion or a pro-life position which deprives a woman of her reproductive rights, her right to choose. However, if a woman seventeen weeks pregnant who wants her child had a miscarriage, she and her comforters would almost certainly say she lost her baby, not her fetus.
With the possible exception of race, no issue divides Americans into opposing camps and heated, sometimes violent arguments as readily as the issue of abortion. The same week that the Time article appeared, the American Bishops, issued the statement, "A Matter of the Heart: the Thirtieth Anniversary of Roe v. Wade." The media’s exclusive interest in our revised "Essential Norms" concerning priests who sexually abuse children largely obscured our statement.
In our statement we noted that every year on January 22nd, the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, many people pause to recognize the date in some way. Some speak out, some march, some reach out, some educate, some just reflect. Many pray.
Our efforts on behalf of the unborn will not cease. Our firm conviction as Catholics that life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception has been a part of the Church's constant witness since the Apostolic age and has inspired millions to defend human life from conception to natural death. Against the backdrop of a society in which many institutions of influence endorse legal abortion, the pro-life movement has grown year by year, in numbers and in vitality.
In the United States abortion is legal throughout pregnancy. Yet Catholics and many others believe that abortion is a violation of human rights incomparable in magnitude and an atrocity for the whole human family. While Roe v. Wade appeared to create a right with some limitations, Doe v. Bolton, which was decided the same day, erased those limitations by creating a "health" exception so broad that it effectively allows abortion for any reason at any time. The lack of any limits to legal abortion was never more clear than in the case of Stenberg v. Carhart in 2000, when the Supreme Court ruled that even the horrific partial-birth abortion procedure could not be restricted. Most Americans are surprised and shocked to learn about the lack of any meaningful legal limitations for abortion. Together with those from many other faith communities, Catholics must continue to work to bring about a society that recognizes abortion for what it truly is.
Many young people today comprehend the legacy of Roe. They look at thirty years of legal abortion and weep over the 40 million lives destroyed. They are aware that one in every four pregnancies ends in abortion, and they grieve for the world they will soon inherit. They mourn the fact that each year approximately 1.3 million abortions take place, and that thousands of them are done in the sixth month of pregnancy or later, when the child would likely survive if born.
Many who came of age at the time of Roe were hopeful about what it was said to promise: an end to poverty and abuse. Who would not hope for these things? But legal abortion promised what it could not give. It promised women a freedom to participate more fully in society. Many women have suffered physically, emotionally, and spiritually because of abortion; some have even lost their lives. Many men, too, mourn the loss of their children, while others carry the heavy burden of having persuaded their daughter, wife, or girlfriend to have an abortion.
Thirty years after Roe v. Wade, some may think that the pro-life movement's efforts have not accomplished much because Roe v. Wade still stands. But this is not true. Today, fewer abortions are being done each year and fewer doctors are involved in performing abortions. More Americans identify themselves as pro-life, while the numbers of those saying they are "pro-choice" have declined significantly. As the description in the article from Time makes clear, ultrasound and other medical advances have made possible a greater appreciation of the humanity of every unborn child. In these three decades thousands of pro-life groups, individual parishes, Catholic social service agencies and pregnancy resource centers have provided practical assistance and support to thousands of women facing difficult pregnancies. Most state legislatures have enacted measures to restrict or regulate the practice of abortion and reduce its incidence.
Among those who defend abortion, there are many who do so despite the pain abortion has brought into their lives, or even sometimes because of it. Many contemplating abortion believe they have no other choice. We listen to them, we understand their sense of isolation and despair. We must strive to know their hearts.
On this thirtieth anniversary the American Bishops renew our offer of assistance to anyone considering abortion. We will try to help those who feel overwhelmed by the decisions they face, those who cannot afford medical care, and those who are homeless or feel helpless. Inspired by the word and example of Jesus Christ, I call upon the Catholic people of Southwest Louisiana to reach out to those contemplating abortion and those who have had abortions with compassion and without condemnation.
Through Project Rachel and other ministries, the Catholic Church continues to help those whose hearts have been broken by abortion. Those who resort to abortion out of a sense of desperation often find the cruel reality of abortion too difficult to bear. But it is too difficult only in a world without God and therefore without hope.
We, too, must not abandon hope. The extraordinary photographs in the Time article make it obvious to many Americans that it is not simply a mouth that yawns. It is a developing human being that yawns. This is why we must continue to work, hope and pray, for the day when all Americans will accept this reality and respect the right of that developing human being to life. Certainly we Catholics whose consciences have been formed in the light of the Gospel of Life must do all we can to respect and protect fragile and developing human life in the womb.
As Pope John Paul II has written, "it is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop" (The Gospel of Life, no. 101).
