Going To The Store: Mortal Sin to Buy From Stores That Sell Abortion Pill??

[Dwyer]

Question: Is it a mortal sin to buy goods from a store, like Target Inc. and Wal-Mart Inc, that sell the “Plan B” Abortion Pill???

I remember hearing Father Frank Pavone talk about the topic of buying and selling on an Ave Maria Radio broadcast on Kresta In the Afternoon (KIA).

Although he didn’t address this particular issue (this was over a year ago), he said something like if your doctor performs abortions, because he is in the business of murdering innocent life, you couldn’t as a Catholic support his practice.

Father Frank indicated that supporting any business that destroys innocent human life and is in the business of doing so is a clear no no (sorry, but I can’t express it any better than that).

This would be distinguished, I believe Father Frank said, from buying a car from Ford Motor Co., which advertises in homosexual magazines and has financially supported homosexual advocacy groups with donations, like the Michigan Triangle Foundation.

However, then towards the end of the broadcast, he sort of changed his initial statement about businesses like Ford, saying that if you can find an alternative business, that sells a similar product, you should (must???) buy from there.

It was a little confusing.

However, these pharmacies and stores that sell the Abortion Pill are now, in my opinion, also selling death and have chosen to be in the business of doing so.

It would seem to me: that buying goods from such a store / pharmacy, supports the store’s activity of selling this Abortion Pill.

Therefore, it would be, in my opinion, a mortal sin to purchase goods from such a store / pharmacy, because that $$$ would support the stores’ activities, one of which is selling death through the “Plan B” abortion pill.

What is your informed** Catholic** view?? I’m I right???

(I’d prefer that this thread doesn’t become a forum for secularist versus Catholic opinions.

According to Catholic moral teaching, the Plan B pill is an Abortion Pill, no ands, ifs, or buts about it.

I am seeking the** Catholic Answer** to my question).

 

[1ke]

It’s remote cooperation, at best.

As one is determining which businesses to patronize, one must consider many factors. Are there any readily available alternatives? Do I plan to inform the company why I am not patronizing them so as to influence their decisions? Do the stores have a choice-- in many states they are required by law to dispense these drugs?

While boycotting can be an effective change agent, it is **not **a mortal sin to shop at a store that also carries objectionable items.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Technically the Catholic answer is that by itself, the act of buying it is not itself a mortal sin.
Karl Keating:

Mortal sin requires three elements: serious matter, knowledge of the sinfulness of the act, and free consent. If any one of these is omitted, no mortal sin is committed.

(source for above quote)

Your question, perhaps, is whether it is a serious matter. Now I don’t have an official Catholic answer to that. My personal opinion is that it is no more sinful than purchasing from a drug store which provides medications to an abortionist’s patients, which is probably nearly every one.

Jesus said to give to Caesar what is due Caesar, and he himself paid the temple tax as well. He probably didn’t approve of some of the things that were done with His money – even if the money did come out of a fish.

Alan

 

[rlg94086]

Question: Is it a mortal sin to buy goods from a store, like Target Inc. and Wal-Mart Inc, that sell the “Plan B” Abortion Pill???

I remember hearing Father Frank Pavone talk about the topic of buying and selling on an Ave Maria Radio broadcast on Kresta In the Afternoon (KIA).

Although he didn’t address this particular issue (this was over a year ago), he said something like if your doctor performs abortions, because he is in the business of murdering innocent life, you couldn’t as a Catholic support his practice.

Father Frank indicated that supporting any business that destroys innocent human life and is in the business of doing so is a clear no no (sorry, but I can’t express it any better than that).

This would be distinguished, I believe Father Frank said, from buying a car from Ford Motor Co., which advertises in homosexual magazines and has financially supported homosexual advocacy groups with donations, like the Michigan Triangle Foundation.

However, then towards the end of the broadcast, he sort of changed his initial statement about businesses like Ford, saying that if you can find an alternative business, that sells a similar product, you should (must???) buy from there.

It was a little confusing.

However, these pharmacies and stores that sell the Abortion Pill are now, in my opinion, also selling death and have chosen to be in the business of doing so.

It would seem to me: that buying goods from such a store / pharmacy, supports the store’s activity of selling this Abortion Pill.

Therefore, it would be, in my opinion, a mortal sin to purchase goods from such a store / pharmacy, because that $$$ would support the stores’ activities, one of which is selling death through the “Plan B” abortion pill.

What is your informed** Catholic** view?? I’m I right???

(I’d prefer that this thread doesn’t become a forum for secularist versus Catholic opinions.

According to Catholic moral teaching, the Plan B pill is an Abortion Pill, no ands, ifs, or buts about it.

I am seeking the** Catholic Answer** to my question).

I think I take Fr Pavone’s position. It is not black/white, but it works for me. I don’t boycott or avoid stores that may give charitably to Planned Parenthood or have given money to a Gay Pride march, etc. However, I do try to support a) fellow parishioner’s businesses, b) Catholic-minded businesses c) local, small businesses. It’s more of a positive-focused shopping philosophy, rather than being negative-focused.

As far as the specific question, I don’t even know if my local supermarkets (all of whom have pharmacies) dispense abortificants. My guess is that most all of them do. I know my butcher, baker and produce shop don’t.

Just to be clear though, I take no issue with those who take the boycott route. I understand their reasoning, and it is a valid way to take action.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Just to be clear though, I take no issue with those who take the boycott route. I understand their reasoning, and it is a valid way to take action.

I agree with Robert. I would not say someone is doing wrong by refusing to purchase from a place for any reason.

Alan

 

[teachccd]

I agree with Robert. I would not say someone is doing wrong by refusing to purchase from a place for any reason.

Alan

Yes. I also agree but the merchant should know why you are boycotting or else the small loss in revenue could go unnoticed. Even a large loss without explanation would not allow the merchant to recognize the issue.

From a Catholic standpoint ( in as much as I understand) it would not be a sin at all to purchase something from that store. No more than it would be a mortal sin to financially support a family member whose beliefs go against the Church’s teachings. You have every right to state your views but you cannot be held accountable for the decisions and actions of another. Your firm purpose of visiting any establishment is not to dissect their inventory but to purchase your goods. Your intention is great and I would only hope that all Catholics would stand your ground.

This is a tricky and controversial topic as it is very subjective but the bottom line as defined by the Church is that your purchase does not constitute mortal sin…

I’m ducking now just in case any tomatoes fly my way. …

God Bless…teachccd

 

[StCsDavid]

That same drug store sells condoms which the use of also constitutes a mortal sin. So would one posit that purchasing a bottle of aspirin from store that also sold condoms was a mortal sin? If that’s the case then I guess I can’t buy gasoline anymore as nearly every gas station in my area sells condoms.

IMHO, it’s not a sin or cooperating with the sin. That might change if the store for instance put up a big, flashing, neon sign saying “Abort your baby here for only $9.99!” Otherwise, they’re simply offering a legal product for one to choose to purchase and use or not.

 

[Dwyer]

That same drug store sells condoms which the use of also constitutes a mortal sin. So would one posit that purchasing a bottle of aspirin from store that also sold condoms was a mortal sin? If that’s the case then I guess I can’t buy gasoline anymore as nearly every gas station in my area sells condoms.

IMHO, it’s not a sin or cooperating with the sin. That might change if the store for instance put up a big, flashing, neon sign saying “Abort your baby here for only $9.99!” Otherwise, they’re simply offering a legal product for one to choose to purchase and use or not.

Your moral reasoning, with all due respect, I think needs a little clarification.

You must stick with the question I asked.

The other examples you have offered are interesting, but I am focusing on one single item in this thread: a pill that causes abortion. The taking of an innocent human life, unless morally justified, as in a time of war, and is one of the most morally reprehensible serious crimes against God.

The contraceptives, such as a condom, prevent life from being created, but the condom itself does not destroy newly conceived human life.

You see, the condom and the Abortion Pill are two different, separate issues.

The Plan B Abortion Pill was designed specifically to prevent the implantation of a fertilized human egg.

Even though the product is considered “legal” by a secular fallen society that does not recognize God as being central to its functioning, that doesn’t mean that, as Catholics, we accept the legal classification, which is just some legislative piece of paper rubber stamped by a bunch of FDA Bureaucrats. They can call it whatever they want and stick a label on it and call it a “legal product.”

As Catholics, we know that their is a higher law than that of any government’s: there is the Natural Law and the Divine Law of God.

Since the product “Plan B” **destroys **human life, that is, it kills a nascent human life that has been created in the Image and likeness of God, we can’t just treat that casually.

I still maintain that knowingly buying goods or services from a business that is in the business of providing such a deadly product that destroys innocent human life, would be a mortal sin.

I analogize it to is the Abortionist Doctor’s office, who may provide other medical services. The Director of Priests For Life, Father Frank Pavone, said you cannot, as a Catholic, use such a doctor’s services.

What if Target had an actual Abortion Clinic in a room at its store?? Would that then change your opinions???

If so, what is the difference between only providing a pill that causes abortions, and having an actual Abortion Clinic at the store???

Is there ever a case, where, as a Catholic, you couldn’t purchase goods or services from a store, even if a store sold a suicide pill, for example???

 

[1ke]

I still maintain that knowingly buying goods or services from a business that is in the business of providing such a deadly product that destroys innocent human life, would be a mortal sin.

Please provide the Catholic doctrinal statement that supports that position.

You cannot, because it does not exist. This is your opinion only. If you believe it to violate your conscience to shop there, you are free to shop elsewhere.

You are not free, however, to state something is a mortal sin when it is not.

I analogize it to is the Abortionist Doctor’s office, who may provide other medical services. The Director of Priests For Life, Father Frank Pavone, said you cannot, as a Catholic, use such a doctor’s services.

That is Fr. Pavone’s opinion.

I would not **want **to patronize such a doctor, but I would not sin by going to him. Most especially in the case where the choice of doctors is limited such as my small, rural town.

What if Target had an actual Abortion Clinic in a room at its store?? Would that then change your opinions???

Apples and oranges. Then, it’s primary business has become abortion.

If so, what is the difference between only providing a pill that causes abortions, and having an actual Abortion Clinic at the store???

The morning after pill and the abortion pill are two different things.

And, as I stated, many states require them to carry it by law.

Is there ever a case, where, as a Catholic, you couldn’t purchase goods or services from a store, even if a store sold a suicide pill, for example???

If their primary business is the suicide business or the abortion business then the cooperation in the evil is much more proximate.

This is NOT a retail store’s primary business, and any cooperation on the part of a shopper is very remote unless that shopper is purchasing the pill in question.

 

[StCsDavid]

I see your point. You’re right, they are two different things; however, which mortal sin is greater? Do not both products result in the same outcome, the potential loss of the soul of the person who uses the respective products? Is it a greater sin to kill an innocent life or to prevent a life from ever being created? How do you determine that? Are not both are incredibly evil? So we can cooperate with one evil but not the other?

I really do understand where you are coming from; however, I’m not sure there is a solution that extends beyond the hypothetical, and I see a little faulty generalization in the argument that Plan B causes an abortion…Target sells Plan B…therefor Target is an abortion clinic. I don’t buy condoms or Plan B from a pharmacy, but I might buy a heart medication that saves my life. Should I not purchase my medicine because the pharmacy and every other pharmacy I have access to sells products that I find morally offensive?

 

[PaulinVA]

Dwyer, I believe that absolutely every grocery chain in my area has attached pharmacies. If those pharmacies carry the morning after pill, are you saying I must go without food, and not feed my family?

As I’ve said on other threads on this subject, you could find something to find offensive in most every business.

 

[Newbie2]

Please provide the Catholic doctrinal statement that supports that position.

You are not free, however, to state something is a mortal sin when it is not.

Dwyer, I believe that absolutely every grocery chain in my area has attached pharmacies. If those pharmacies carry the morning after pill, are you saying I must go without food, and not feed my family?

As I’ve said on other threads on this subject, you could find something to find offensive in most every business.

…and again,

 

[Dwyer]

Well, I did a little research on the topic, and, as I thought, this involves a doctrine of Catholic Moral Theology called the “Double Effect”:

Three questions determine whether an action with a double effect is moral or immoral.

1. The first is the question of intention. One can never intend the evil effect (CCC 1752). One’s intention must be only for the good effect. The evil effect must be a regrettable byproduct.

1. The second is the question of causality. St. Thomas Aquinas articulated the principle that “the end does not justify the means” (CCC 1759). One may never do evil hoping that good may come of it. A bad effect may be the consequence of a morally good act, or it may occur simultaneously along with it, but the anticipated good must never be a result of evil actions. Such acts are never morally licit (CCC 1756).

1. The third question is of comparable gravity. Is the good being done proportional to the evil consequences of the action? In order to justify taking the action, it must be. When an action has both a good and an evil outcome, the gravity of the two must be weighed against each other. Although “circumstances of themselves cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves; they can make neither good nor right an action that is in itself evil.” Still, they can and do “contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral goodness or evil of human acts” (CCC 1754).

By Matthew Newsome, Catholic Answers writer, in This Rock, September, 2006

If you have only one grocery store or one doctor and they perform abortions or sell the Abortion Pill, and that’s the only one for many miles the country round, then you are stuck, and you’re going to have to buy from them ( people don’t need to starve to death or go without medical supplies).

I did find confirmation that you should avoid stores like Target Inc. or Wal-Mart, because they are selling the Abortion Pill.

This was written by Jimmy Akin, Catholic Answers apologist; his example is Going To The Video Store in the November, 2005, This Rock Magazine; he did write it in the context of investing money in businesses:

Can one invest in businesses that donate to causes like Planned Parenthood? Or that provide employee benefits for homosexual partners? Or that cover abortions on their health plans? Or that manufacture immoral products?

The Church does not have official, magisterial documents that answer these questions, which means that one must apply the principles of Catholic moral theology and come up with the best answers one can.

Cooperation

The starting point is a set of principles moral theologians have worked out regarding cooperation with the actions of others. The two main kinds of cooperation are known as formal and material cooperation.

Assessing the Whole

Because we can’t untangle society and eliminate all cooperation with evil, we often have to make decisions based on how people or businesses act on the whole.

Suppose that you want to rent a video and there are two video stores in town. One of them carries some films that you don’t approve of, but it has no real pornography. The other has an extensive selection of pornography on its shelves.

All things being equal, it would be better to rent a video from the store that doesn’t carry pornographic movies, even if it has some movies that are morally offensive. There is no 100-percent good video store in town, so you just have to do the best you can with who you patronize.

This is the way it is with businesses and individuals of every kind. You want to help society by directing your business to those who do the most good and the least evil.

I’d find a business that does not sell the Abortion Pill, and shop from that business, even though it may cause some inconvienance.

You have to way the two actions in the end: yes your cooperation is not formal; it is some sort of material cooperation with the evil acts that the business is engaged in

Buying food and medical supplies is a good thing for my family and myself, yet by patronizing this business that sells the Abortion Pill, I will be supporting a business which murders innocent human life; remember, the **soul is created **at the very moment of conception.

You can read the two articles quoted above at the Catholic.com homepage, and click on “This Rock.”

For the person who was saying which was more grave: murder or contraception:

1. Murder is a great sin. A murderer violates the rights of God over human life, and, besides taking a life, robs his victim of the opportunity to gain merits for heaven, and prepare himself for death.

God created man, and has supreme dominion over life, “You know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him”
(1 John 3:15)

From My Catholic Faith by Biship Louis Laravoire Morrow, Doctor of Systematic Theology (S.T.D.), 1958.

 

[1ke]

Well, I did a little research on the topic, and, as I thought, this involves a doctrine of Catholic Moral Theology called the “Double Effect”:

No, it does not. The principle of double effect has nothing to do with this at all.

I did find confirmation that you should avoid stores like Target Inc. or Wal-Mart, because they are selling the Abortion Pill.

This was written by Jimmy Akin, Catholic Answers apologist; his example is Going To The Video Store in the November, 2005, This Rock Magazine; he did write it in the context of investing money in businesses:

No, you did not. You found a person’s *opinion *on patronizing video stores. Jimmy Akin is very well respected. But, his writings are not authoritative church teaching. Not only that, but you are not reading him correctly, either. It’s a far cry from his suggestion that we try to find the least morally offensive store to shop in to assert it’s a mortal sin if you don’t.

Please provide a document from the Magesterium stating your position that it’s a **mortal sin **to shop at Target.

I’d find a business that does not sell the Abortion Pill, and shop from that business, even though it may cause some inconvienance.

That’s very commendable. However, the Church does not **require **this.

You can read the two articles quoted above at the Catholic.com homepage, and click on “This Rock.”

I subscribe to This Rock. It does not change my position.

 

[Orionthehunter]

Dwyer: To simply answer your question (which wasn’t really a question but a statement of your opinion in the form of a question), no. The principle that applies is material cooperation in sin.

The purchase of product which is not sinful is not inherently material cooperation in the activities of a business that the Church considers sinful.

For example, if I purchase shaving items from Target, the profits generated from the sale of this item is “immaterial” to the percentage of Target’s profits which go to support Planned Parenthood.

Or, if I purchase a Ford vehicle, my purchase doesn’t express support that they provide employee benefits to homosexual couples. I have no say in what benefits they provide their employees.

If we held a standard that said that any cooperation was material, I suspect there isn’t a single large company which wouldn’t in some way conflict with Catholic Teaching requiring us to live a hermits life.

However, if I took my daughter to Target knowing that her purpose of going was to fill her contraceptive perscription, I would cooperating with evil and doing so would be material and thus sinful.

Or, even though taking my daughter to get a pap smear is licit, it would be inappropriate (probably not sinful because of intent is only to receive a pap smear) to encourage her to use Planned Parenthood because their pap smears cost less than a regular doctor’s clinic. We should not normalize or otherwise give credence to Planned Parenthood because their primary purpose of existence is gravely sinful conduct.

This being said, I think it is meritorious and an positive act of charity and mercy to do all we can to incorporate our Catholic views in all we do. Thus, if we can avoid patronizing a store that is has components of their business practices that are contrary to Catholic Teaching, we should do so. And, we should take the time to give management our views on why we aren’t patronizing their business. Walmart isn’t perfect but they don’t endorse Planned Parenthood openly through corporate contributions as does Target so I try to patronize Walmart vs. Target. But when I was on the road and realized I had forgot to pack underwear, I had no problem walking across the street to Target and buying some boxers.

 

[KathleenElsie]

IMHO the situation is a simple one. This is where I become pro-choice I can choose with feet, money and talents not to support those that promote things I see as evil. If you have an alternative available to a business that supports things you do not feel are moral then it is your choice to not do business with a company. For this to be of any long tern use you need to let the companies and businesses know why you will not do business with them.

If only one store has an item that is necessary for me to purchase and they also promote immoral items then we only buy the one item from them and let them know why.

As we feel that all of our purchases come from the blessings that God has provided we find it is our duty to be wise and informed in how and where we spread those blessings.

 

[Dwyer]

This was a question at the EWTN from the EWTN website’s Faith Section: “Ask The Experts”

Double Effect
Question from on 10-15-2002:
Is the principle of double effect a formally taught trine of the Church or a mere philosophical guideline?
Thank you,

Ryan King

Answer by Richard Geraghty on 10-26-2002:
Dear Ryan,
The teaching of double effect is part and parcel of the moral theology of the Church.

Dr. Geraghty

Dr. Geraghty is a professor of philosophy.

This was from another discussion on this thread, and explains Catholic Moral teaching as well as I would be able to:

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigE
Your saying the teaching on contraception has been declared infallible? Infallible with a big “I”? Please show me where the Pope spoke Ex Cathedra on this issue?

It is infallible by the universal and ordinary magisterium.

Quote:

1. Catholics are bound to believe everything contained in the Word of God, “whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed” (Professio Fidei I). All that has been set forth in this way is set forth as irreformable, and hence as infallible.
   Doctrines are set forth as infallible by the Magisterium (the Pope, and the College of Bishops in communion with the Pope) in three ways:

a) by the Supreme Pontiff speaking ex cathedra,
b) by the College of Bishops gathered in ecumenical council,
c) by the universal and ordinary Magisterium.

Catholics are bound to believe also doctrines definitively proposed by the Magisterium, not as divinely revealed, but as logically or historically connected with doctrines divinely revealed. Doctrines definitively proposed are also irreformable and set forth infallibly in the same three ways. The assent (theological faith) required of Catholics is the same for doctrines definitively proposed as for doctrines divinely revealed, except that in the latter case it is based on the authority of the Word of God, and in the former case it is based on the Holy Spirit’s guidance of the Magisterium.
Examples: Priestly ordination restricted to men; illicitness of euthanasia, prostitution, fornication, and contraception; that canonized Saints are in heaven…

No, it does not. The principle of double effect has nothing to do with this at all.

Well, if it doesn’t have anything to do with it, show me how you came up with that conclusion.

No, you did not. You found a person’s opinion on patronizing video stores. Jimmy Akin is very well respected. But, his writings are not authoritative church teaching. Not only that, but you are not reading him correctly, either. It’s a far cry from his suggestion that we try to find the least morally offensive store to shop in to assert it’s a mortal sin if you don’t.

Well, two can play the opinion game.

I would say that Jimmy Akin’s opinion would be an expert Catholic opinion.

He has been a Catholic Apologist for years, has obviously studied moral theology a great deal, deal with questions like this on a daily basis.

Therefore, he has acquired expertise in this field, and I would humbly defer my opinion to that of an expert.

You are right though, he didn’t say it was a mortal sin and he does say you should go to the other video store that does not have sinful videos for rent.

Should means you should just do it; as opposed to a stronger word like must.

Therefore, it would be, in my opinion, a mortal sin to purchase goods from such a store

You’re right, I am just expressing my opinion, and I am not a professional theologian.

However, you haven’t either shown why it is not a mortal sin. What are you basing your opinion on???

Is it a mortal sin to shop a at a store like Target, say when there is another store up the road / across the street/ nearby/ not far away?? I’m not sure; that’s why I asked the question.

Most folks here seem to be of the opinion that it isn’t, though all I’ve mainly heard as an analysis is something like “I think every store is like that” or “I’d be inconvenienced if I had to shop at another store.”

No, you did not. You found a person’s opinion on patronizing video stores. Jimmy Akin is very well respected. But, his writings are not authoritative church teaching. Not only that, but you are not reading him correctly, either.

I am talking about stores that have chosen to and engage in the **business of destroying human life **for financial profit.

I think that shopping at any store that kills human life is where I personally draw the line as being a customer of that store, and that any **reasonable **human being would come to that same conclusion if they sit for a while and think about it.

 

[Dwyer]

OK, I don’t know for sure if it is a mortal sin or not to knowingly shop at a store like Target or Wal-Mart that sells the “Plan B” Abortion pill, if you are physically able to, if there is another store and you can perfectly go somewhere else.

The Double Effect is part of Catholic moral teaching and is a doctrine of the Catholic Church as Dr. Geraghty stated.

It is part of the ordinary infallible teaching of the Catholic Church.

Whether or not it is a mortal sin, a venial sin, I am not sure.

I would say that knowingly purchasing goods and services from a store that engages in a business practice that kills innocent human life presents a moral problem that needs serious consideration by a Catholic, and more broadly, all Christians, and indeed all human beings, no matter what their beliefs are.

 

[goofyjim]

I have to shop at Walmart for my budget situation. Noone will tell me it is a mortal sin to do my shopping at a particular store.

 

[StCsDavid]

I would say that knowingly purchasing goods and services from a store that engages in a business practice that kills innocent human life presents a moral problem that needs serious consideration by a Catholic, and more broadly, all Christians, and indeed all human beings, no matter what their beliefs are.

I respect your passion; however how far does one carry the argument? I knowingly pay taxes to a government that sanctions and protects the killing of the unborn, and since I live in the state of Oregon, the terminally ill. If said government changed its laws then such products like Plan B would not be on the store shelves. Could not your application of the double effect put me into a moral dilemma with regard to paying taxes when there’s a chance even a penny of my taxes could go to help fund an abortion?