Pro-life question

[ziapueblo]

It seems when I hear pro-life people talking on the news or radio they are only talking anti-abortion. However, does the Catholic Church view pro-life encompass more that that? I thought the Church taught that pro-life also means anti-war (in most cases), anti-capital punishment, and the treatment of those less fortunate than we are. Am I right?

Thanks for the help,
ZP

 

[nicolep]

Being Pro-Life covers a wide range of life issues. It’s basically from conception to natural death. Abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, stem-cell research, infanticide, genocide…I could go on forever. I’ve not had war ever come up at the Pro-Life chairperson at my parish, but the deliberate killing of another human is wrong.

Abortion gets the most attention because most people know about the issue surrounding that. At my parish, we really try to spread it over all of the causes though.

 

[Verisimilitude]

I think it does and find myself in major disagreements with other Catholics regarding it.

 

[Lancer]

Three short quotes for your consideration…I hope they help; I offer them respectfully.
First:

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) wrote in a letter in July 2004: “Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. …While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia” (Letter to Cardinal McCarrick, n.3).

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**Second:
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**Blessed) Mother Teresa (Nobel Lecture, delivered the day after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, 1979, Oslo, Norway) **

“The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion … Many people are very, very concerned with the children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a number die, maybe of malnutrition, of hunger and so on, but many are dying deliberately by the will of the mother. And this is what is the greatest destroyer of peace today. Because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing in between.”

Lastly:
Pope John Paul II: Apostolic Exhortation The Vocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World (Christifideles Laici), 1988**:**
"The inviolability of the person, which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights – for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination“ (19).

 

[Dale_M]

Abortion and euthanasia are the preeminent pro-life issues. They are also absolute issues - there is no room for disagreement.

Capital punishment, war, poverty… these are also pro-life issues. But because they involve prudential judgement, there is much more room for disagreement. But we have every reason to make these matters topics of conversation, rather than simply dismiss them.

Yes, I find it a bit disturbing when politicians and others describe themselves as pro-life when they only mean anti-abortion. But it would be difficult to argue who actually deserves the label pro-life.

 

[rwoehmke]

In my experience those in our parish who are anti- abortion and ignore the other life issues are judged as not being credibly pro-life by many of their fellow parishioners. That tends to mute the effectiveness of their voices when they communicate solely about the evils of abortion. It is an incredible, but true statistic that barely 50 percent of self proclaimed Catholics are anti-abortion. (result of a Pew Study).

 

[rlg94086]

Abortion and euthanasia are the preeminent pro-life issues. They are also absolute issues - there is no room for disagreement.

Capital punishment, war, poverty… these are also pro-life issues. But because they involve prudential judgement, there is much more room for disagreement. But we have every reason to make these matters topics of conversation, rather than simply dismiss them.

Yes, I find it a bit disturbing when politicians and others describe themselves as pro-life when they only mean anti-abortion. ** But it would be difficult to argue who actually deserves the label pro-life**.

I agree. Yes, as others have pointed out, the Church does give us clear teaching on these subjects, though She does give us the ability to differ on the application of Just War Doctrine, capital punishment and poverty. In fact, I would challenge the quote in the OP:

I thought the Church taught that pro-life also means anti-war (in most cases), anti-capital punishment, and the treatment of those less fortunate than we are.

There is no glossary of terms in the Catechism that spells out the meaning of “pro-life” and includes all of those items.

The secular world also doesn’t have a clear glossary of terms regarding the usage of “pro-life.”

At an absolute minimum, it applies to abortion, since I believe that is the genesis of the term - in opposition to those who trumpeted “pro-choice.” While not all “pro-lifers” include IVF, embryonic stem cell research and cloning, I would say most do. I would also say that most “pro-lifers” are against “gay marriage,” but I’m not clear that everyone considers that a life issue. In fairness, artificial birth control should be part of the “pro-life” movement from a Catholic perspective, but certainly our Protestant friends don’t agree on that one.

But, capital punishment, war and poverty? Those items were added in later, primarily by Catholics, and, at least in my experience, usually by Catholics who want to beat conservatives over the head with something.