Why abortion?

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Please don’t flame me for this one :gopray:

We all agree that abortion is morally wrong. We also agree that adultery is morally wrong. As well as using birth-control, masturbating, viewing pornography, cursing the Lord’s name, missing Mass without valid reason, and committing acts of homosexuality. All of these actions are legal under U.S. law.

So here’s the question. Why must we fight for the cause against legalized abortion? A mortal sin is a mortal sin. WIth most mortal sins, we know that we should not commit them, but we never demand laws forbiding them. Why must we demand government outlaw one mortal sin (abortion) but not another (fornication, for example.)

This especially goes for politicians. (Not that’d I ever for a John Kerry or Ted Kennedy) Why does the Church mandiate a politication support a national ban on abortion, but not a national ban on skipping Mass, which is also a mortal sin?

For the record, I do think Roe v. Wade is bad law and should be overturned, but that’s more of a constitutional issue to me.
 
This sin involves another, an innocent, not involved in the sin, but directly attacked by it. The state has a duty to protect the innocents. We who render to Ceaser in a Democracy have a duty to protect the innocent with our votes.

Abortion is not a case of mutual consent
 
It’s not just because it’s a mortal sin, but also for the respect and dignity of human life, (not just the baby, but the mother as well.)

It’s murder.
 
From the CCC:

**2271 **Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:

*You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish. *

*God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes. *

2322 From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a “criminal” practice (*GS *27 § 3), gravely contrary to the moral law. The Church imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this crime against human life.
 
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Jabronie:
We all agree that abortion is morally wrong. We also agree that adultery is morally wrong. As well as using birth-control, masturbating, viewing pornography, cursing the Lord’s name, missing Mass without valid reason, and committing acts of homosexuality. All of these actions are legal under U.S. law.

So here’s the question. Why must we fight for the cause against legalized abortion? A mortal sin is a mortal sin. WIth most mortal sins, we know that we should not commit them, but we never demand laws forbiding them. Why must we demand government outlaw one mortal sin (abortion) but not another (fornication, for example.)

This especially goes for politicians. (Not that’d I ever for a John Kerry or Ted Kennedy) Why does the Church mandiate a politication support a national ban on abortion, but not a national ban on skipping Mass, which is also a mortal sin?
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First, please review the Catechism paragraphs 1897-1917 which deals with authority and the common good.

You are absolutely correct that we should not advocate for, nor approve of, laws that violate the common good, the moral law, and natural law including contraception, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, divorce, etc.

You need to understand that all of these things were at one time illegal. Catholic voters and politicians cannot in good conscience vote for *any * laws which make these things legal. That is the clear teaching of the Church.

The court system struck all of these things down in the name of “privacy”. Yes, it is absolutely our duty to attempt to restore the legal protections that have been removed. Many pro-life, pro-family groups are advocating to do just that-- you probably are just unaware of them.

The Church is absolutely consistent on its teaching, even if politicians are not consistent in their actions. We as voters and consumers must also bear responsibility for them. The Church battles on many fronts. Abortion gets considerable attention for several reasons including the huge money involved for the pro-abortion side and the cost in terms of human life on the pro-life side.

You are confusing the moral law and the natural law with Church discipline and Church Law, however. Some precepts are sinful not in their nature but by virtue of obedience to the church-- for example “missing Mass”. These are not things which are legislated in the secular civil code, they are legislated within Canon Law.
 
We must fight against any abuse towards the most helpless and vulnerable ones of society. That includes the unborn babies and the elderly.
 
I think people have missed the point. He is asking why only abortion as a focus and not these other things?

The answer of course is that we cannot in good conscience promote any of them and absolutely should work to repeal laws that make them legal.

Certainly abortion is evil, but all of these other items are also evils including contraception, homosexual sex, adultery, fornication.

It seems no one is on point here in their replies-- of course abortion is wrong, the original poster stated such. The poster is asking why aren’t there any actions being taken on these other issues?
 
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1ke:
I think people have missed the point. He is asking why only abortion as a focus and not these other things?

The answer of course is that we cannot in good conscience promote any of them and absolutely should work to repeal laws that make them legal.

Certainly abortion is evil, but all of these other items are also evils including contraception, homosexual sex, adultery, fornication.

It seems no one is on point here in their replies-- of course abortion is wrong, the original poster stated such. The poster is asking why aren’t there any actions being taken on these other issues?
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“What you do to the least of My brothers, you do unto Me.” The unborn are the most innocent and defenseless of God’s people.
 
Surely we can agree that some evil deeds are more serious than others?

Shall we give the same criminal sentence to a shoplifter as we do to a serial killer?

Unborn children are human beings. Abortion is murder.

We live in a society that tolerates wholesale murder of a specific group of people. We are no better than the Aztecs who slaughtered babies to appease their sun god or the Nazis who managed to convince everyday people that Jews were less than human and could be treated so. Young school children will someday read about our times and wonder how we could be so stupid and cold-blooded as to allow this.

Sorry to be blunt, but if you consider missing mass and abortion as equivalent horrors your conscience needs some serious help.
 
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Jabronie:
Please don’t flame me for this one :gopray:

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Why does the Church mandiate a politication support a national ban on abortion, but not a national ban on skipping Mass, which is also a mortal sin?
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Because something like Abortion is objectively evil. There are no possible circumstances where having an Abortion is ever permitted.

There are, however, circumstances however, where skipping Mass is permitted.

Mass attendance only obliges Catholics, it is not part of Natural Law.

Abortion is part of Natural Law, it binds everyone, everywhere in every era.

Civil Law should mirror Natural Law as closely as possible.
 
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manualman:
Sorry to be blunt, but if you consider missing mass and abortion as equivalent horrors your conscience needs some serious help.
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Thank you for your rude tone.

I DO NOT CONDONE ABORTION. You’re missing the whole point. I’m asking why the Church is requiring a political stance on ONE issue. I’m not even asking for my own benefit. I’m trying to defend the Church to a couple of Baptist friends who claim that the Church “takes away the free will” of its members by “telling them how to vote.”
 
Abortion pretty much trumps other issues.

If you have two candidates that have the same position on abortion, then you extend your reaseach on them onto other social justice issues (euthanasia, stem-cell research, etc etc etc).

Plus, the church has never told us who to vote for. I don’t remember them ever saying that.
 
**Because it is the most egregious and wide-spread human rights violation occurring in our society today. **

Life is the fundamental right that underpins all others. And, I fear, because we haven’t fought hard enough on the abortion issue, the right to life is further eroding in our legal system, vis a vis euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, etc. While the rest of the issues you cited are indeed bad, and actually help create the climate that permits abortion, in our current climate, abortion simply has to be the number one issue. If we don’t win this one our society will gradually descend into complete barbarism.

Best,

Margaret
 
I didn’t say you condoned abortion. You made it clear that you didn’t.

But you asked why the church pays it more attention than things like skipping mass or homosexual fornication.

I answered. It’s murder. Murder is dramatically more serious than anything you listed. If saying so is rude, then I’m guilty.

Presumably your Baptist friends would be more concerned if the class of people singled out in America today for legal dehumanization and legitimized slaughter were evangelical protestants.

But the fact that they need an intellectual discussion to decide that abortion needs more vigorous denunciation than the other things listed says to me that they unconsciously consider unborn babies less than fully human. In other words, their conscience is in need of some attention!

Baptists are notorious for considering all sin equivalent. But deep down, they don’t really. Ask them if they support the death penalty. If they don’t, well, you need a new line of questioning.
But if they DO, then ask them if they’d support the death penalty for their own child caught stealing a candy bar. If they don’t (I hope), then ask them if imperfect human senses of justice can differentiate between the magnitude of crimes, why do they think God can’t? And therefore, why shouldn’t the church make such distinctions!?!
 
We oppose abortion politically not because it is a mortal sin–I hope no one would argue that way in a political context–but because it is like infanticide and euthanasia in its detrimental effects on society. Those other sins do not snuff out a human being’s life. Abortion does.

(It can be argued that the legalization of contraception, fornication, sodomy, and no-fault divorce–and yes, all those things were once, in a better time, illegal–is also detrimental to society. But none is the equivalent of the deliberate taking of human life.
 
All the other sins you mentioned are those that someone does willingly on their own (their choice).

Abortion is something that is done TO someone innocent with no consent of their own (without a choice).

If our society preys on innocent victims because they are not human enough, too small, too much of an inconvenience, not a “productive” human being; this will only snowball into others who are deemed “unproductive” such as Terri Schiavo.

Who’s next? The mute who can’t speak for themselves? Someone in a coma? Me? Because I’m disabled and can’t work outside the home? Am I “unproductive”?

It is not man’s job to decide who lives and who dies; that belongs to God alone.
 
Since the question arose from a discussion with a couple of Baptist friends, let me turn the question around. One of my aunts was a very strict Baptist who did not believe in the consumption of alcohol anytime, anywhere, by anyone.

Now, if there were a political movement to legalize drinking by anyone, of any age, at any time, without parental approval or even parental knowledge, and that the government should provide liquor to those who could not afford it on their own–could she support such legislation and still remain a Baptist in good standing?
 
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Jabronie:
Why must we demand government outlaw one mortal sin (abortion) but not another (fornication, for example.)
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I know others have given you answers already, but here’s my take on it.

One of the roles of civil government is to handle legal matters between individuals. In particular, the government is to protect the rights of one person from being violated by another.

Now while any sin effects the whole community, many sins do not involve the violation of the civil rights of another person. The government is certainly involved in laws that regulate things like who can marry but we as Catholics are particularly concerned about the laws regarding life and death.

We as Catholics believe that the unborn are persons who deserve to have their civil rights protected. In fact, we believe such protection should be extended to the unborn from the very moment of conception. Such protection would mean that terminating the life of an unborn person could not be intentionally done without “due process”.

We can and should work to pass laws which govern behavior between persons and as such we will regulate the kinds of sins that involve the interaction between two persons. But there is evidence in the Bible to suggest Jesus considered sins such as murder to be more grave than other sins so it only makes sense that we should consider laws preventing such sins as more important.
 
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