Since you have not previously asked me, I find your comment confusing.
Then I shall paraphrase: I trust this will be the last time I will have to ask you to refrain from putting words in my mouth on this subject.
The basic thrust of your comments has been that you do not think that it is right for anyone to do anything to influence one way or another a woman’s decision to kill her unborn child, as this decision comes under the heading of “free will,” according to you.
When others post that taking your statements to their logical conclusion means a bad outcome in other areas, you protest that they are putting words in your mouth.
Sorry, but it doesn’t really make sense to say that in one area you are ok with people doing whatever they please, when in other areas, you are not ok with their doing whatever they please.
I have said repeatedly that we must follow our individual consciences. My conscience tells me that it is inappropriate to intervene in the personal and profoundly life-altering decision of whether or not a woman friend, acquaintance or stranger should or should not have an abortion. I do not claim that her decision has its root in free will: this is a fact, just as every decision she will have made before that and every decision she will make after that. If your conscience tells you that you need to get in a pregnant woman’s face, force her to look at pictures of aborted fetuses, call her a baby murderer, tell her that she will go to Hell, impair her access to an abortion facility, harass the man or woman who must accompany her to the clinic, take pictures of doctors entering or exiting the building, set pipe bombs on the facility property, shoot doctors in both arms to try to prevent them from performing any further surgeries, etc., etc., then that is your prerogative. Anything you do that is illegal will be dealt with by the justice system; anything you do that is morally offensive to God will hang over you until He judges you upon your death. And if God finds that your efforts have been commendable, then He will reward you.
You are free to attempt to take my comments and scenarios to what you believe is their “logical conclusion”, and you are also welcome to experience confusion and frustration over my beliefs, for it truly has no impact on me. I think you have attempted to compartmentalize my beliefs in a nice, neat little envelope that can be set aside on the desk and be ignored. I do not feel that I have contradicted myself. Civil and common law are applicable to every citizen. Likewise, every citizen has free will. Some will break the law because they feel free to do so, or they are smug in their belief that they won’t get apprehended. Some never do get apprehended. But every criminal is morally liable for his/her actions.
There is no current law on the books prohibiting abortion in the U.S. So the question centers instead around the im/morality of the act. Some women will have an abortion because they know they are free to do so, or they are smug in their belief that it is an act with little consequence. Some never feel anything about it. But every woman who has an abortion is morally liable for her own actions.
In either scenario, moral liability is a very broad term encompassing many faiths, little faith, no faith. I know and understand and accept the fact that Roman Catholics abhor abortion. There is a strong belief that people are all somehow responsible for one another and wherever you can change one woman’s mind you will be making progress. As a woman who chose and experienced a surgical abortion decades ago I can tell you my mind could not have been changed by ugly placards, speeches, threats, or violence. What this boils down to is this: we are given free will. We can do any damn thing we please behind free will. This does not make our actions noteworthy or meritorious. But God have us free will as individuals. That makes decision making a solitary experience with solitary consequences. I do not hold you responsible for anything I’ve done that’s illegal or immoral. I chose to do the things I’ve done and I will face God when the time comes to be judged. It appears that Catholics appreciate safety in numbers; you bolster one another with a common moral code and you find satisfaction and safety in this joint effort. I simply do not live this way. And again, you are free to your confusion and even your contempt.
If you are not attempting to persuade anyone of anything, what are you doing and why?
I am sharing with readers that it is possible to live a moral life without being a practicing Roman Catholic. Based on what I have read here, some CAF readers could benefit from this.
Limerick