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100 days after Dobbs: Biden calls for abortion, while Catholic bishops celebrate life

Katie Yoder By Katie Yoder for CNA

The scene outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., after the court released its decision in the Dobbs abortion case on June 24, 2022. / Katie Yoder/CNA

Washington D.C., Oct 5, 2022 / 16:09 pm (CNA).

President Joe Biden and the U.S. bishops’ pro-life chair each have marked 100 days since the overturning of Roe v. Wade: one by advocating for abortion, the other by celebrating the intrinsic worth of every human person.

“The Catholic Church recognizes that all people, born and unborn, have been created in the image and likeness of God, and therefore have inherent dignity, and the right to life,” Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in an Oct. 4 press release.

The Supreme Court on June 24 issued a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — a case that overturned Roe and frees states to enact abortion policy. Oct. 2 marked 100 days since that decision.

In remembrance of that day, Lori stressed the importance of both the unborn baby and the mother.

“When a woman is carrying a child, both mother and child are valued and should be protected, and the life of one should not be set against the life of another,” Lori said. “The goal is always to save life, never to intentionally destroy life.”

Even in difficult situations such as rape, abortion is not the answer, he added.

“The Church seeks the protection of all unborn children; this includes the innocent child conceived in rape or incest,” he emphasized.

After Roe, he called on Catholics to love and support mother and child to build a culture of life.

“Mothers should also be protected and supported, and we all have a responsibility to stand with mothers in need and provide the material and emotional support necessary to allow mothers, children, and families to live in dignity,” he continued. “In the post-Roe world, we must act in radical solidarity with the pregnant woman and her child as we work and pray for the day when abortion is unthinkable.”

In addition, he said, the U.S. bishops support protections for the unborn in the law.

“The USCCB supports legislation that seeks to limit the harm of abortion, including some legislation that includes exceptions,” he said. “We will continue to pray and work for the day when all human life is welcomed in love and protected by law.”

Lori’s statement comes after he recently expressed support for a nationwide abortion ban aimed at protecting unborn babies after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The legislation, proposed by Republicans Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, would ban abortion after 15 weeks, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger.

That same day, Biden accused Republicans of holding an “extreme position” with the proposed abortion ban during a meeting with his “Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access.”

The president, a Catholic, condemned Dobbs as a “fairly extreme decision” during the event.

“And I’ve said before, the Court got Roe right nearly 50 years ago and that Congress should codify the protections of Roe and do it once and for all,” he said.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona — who met and planned to marry his wife in a Catholic church, according to a local news outlet — said that he shared Biden’s concerns.

“Access to health care, including reproductive health care, is critical to the well-being and success of our nation’s students,” he said. “If you’re committed to student success, you must be committed to student health.”

At the same meeting, Vice President Kamala Harris repeated her claim that religious Americans can support abortion.

“One does not have to abandon their faith or beliefs to agree that the government should not be making these decisions for the women of America,” she said.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which summarizes Church teaching, recognizes the intrinsic dignity and worth of the unborn from the moment of conception and considers abortion a grave evil.

Abortion, as the “directly intended termination of pregnancy before viability or the directly intended destruction of a viable fetus,” is “never permitted,” according to the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” published by the U.S. bishops.

Pro-life medical experts agree that abortion — defined as a procedure with the sole or primary intent and purpose of ending human life in the womb — is never medically necessary, including with cases of ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages, and situations where the woman’s life is threatened.


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6 Comments

  1. “(4) the 1930-73 period, in which there developed, at first slowly, and then in the 1960s rapidly, an overt rejection of anti-abortion norms which was then reflected in corresponding changes of the law. Several possible factors in the liberalization of abortion attitudes are briefly presented, perhaps the most important being the development of low-fertility values evoked by the emergence of a modern industrial society” (Attitudes to Abortion in America, 1800-1973 R. Sauer JSTOR). Pew shows 58% today’s Catholics who definitely believe in God also believe abortion be permitted in all or most cases. And Pew shows 26% Catholics who attend Mass at least once a week also believe abortion be permitted in all or most cases.
    If we take the 1950-60 era when Mass attendance [at least once a week] was approx 70-75% the statistic for those who believed abortion be permitted in all or most cases would have been putatively much lower than 26%. What the data shows is that an increasing number of Catholics who definitely believe in God and attend Mass at least once a week are for abortion in all or most cases. Statistics have a meaning besides numbers, here the indication is that Catholics are increasingly reconciled with their faith and abortion practice. In turn, the message reaching Catholics is that while doctrine prohibits abortion, the overwhelming cases of abortion are rectified due to circumstances and conscientious conviction.
    This, the sorrowful truth, the propagation of a false message that is misleading the faithful into the wilderness and death.

    • My comment addresses the ill effect of misinterpreted doctrine and misinformation conveyed to the people. Cardinal Gerhard Muller in a written statement intended for the consistory on the reformation of the Curia made the clearest indictment of what is the real source of the present travail, That the authority of the Roman pontiff is not, cannot be a participation in the omnipotence of God. My personal addition, We have one Messiah. Jesus of Nazareth.

  2. All right, look. Could we please stop referring to Biden as “a Catholic”? We all know he’s not that.

    Quite the opposite, in fact.

    If we need to describe his spiritual life at all, I suggest that by his fruits we shall know him.

    I recommend “a satanist” as a more honest, more accurate description.

  3. Archbishop Lora says, among other things – “We work and pray for the day when abortion is unthinkable.”

    No sarc intended, but we reached that point long ago.

  4. I am sure pro-Biden Cardinals Gregory, Tobin, Cupich and McElroy are very proud of themselves and agree with Biden that Dobbs is extremist. All the USCCB pronouncements are meaningless. The de facto leadership of the US bishops is on the other side, and it’s time to publicly state the obvious.

  5. “The president, a Catholic, condemned Dobbs as a “fairly extreme decision” during the event.”

    Although the claim is made that Vatican Ii changed no Dogma in regards to The Deposit Of Faith, the fact is , by no longer recognizing The Charitable Anathema, in essence, one no longer can honestly say they believe that Christ Has Revealed, Through His Life, His Passion, And His Death On The Cross, that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.

    That is not “cheap” Grace and Mercy, but Life-affirming, Life-sustaining Salvational Love, Poured Out From The Cross.

    Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
    “Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”

    J.M.J.

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