Why do many Catholics vote for pro-choice candidates/parties?

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HomeschoolDad

HomeschoolDad

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  • I may be opposed to abortion, but I cannot/should not force my beliefs on anyone else.
  • Abortions will be performed “no matter what”, and we should keep it safe and legal.
  • I don’t think you can say it’s a human life until it can survive outside the womb.
  • Abortion is not a matter for the government to be involved in.
  • I don’t let the pope or bishops tell me how to vote.
  • Poor women need to be able to have an abortion as easily as women who are not poor.
  • I have to vote for the candidate/party that works in my best interests, the interests of those I care about, and in the best interests of the social class or demographic with which I have an affinity.
  • Abortion is just one of many issues, and I vote for the candidate/party that is the best overall.
  • The pro-life candidate is so horrible that it is the lesser of two evils to vote for the pro-choice candidate.
  • My family has always supported that party and they’ve always looked out for people like us.
  • I’m never going to have an abortion, so it doesn’t concern me.
  • Nobody is being forced to have an abortion, the law merely allows it.
  • There can be a good reason to have an abortion, and we need to keep it legal at least for situations such as that.
  • Abortion is only one of many “life issues” — capital punishment, climate change, affordable health care, feeding and caring for the poor, job security, world peace, and so on — and the “pro-choice” candidate is overall better on the “life issues” taken as a whole.
  • None of the candidates are truly “pro-life”.
  • The “pro-choice” candidate may actually have solutions that will make it easier for a woman to carry her baby to term. (This is why I voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primaries, that and the fact that he is not Hillary Clinton.)
  • It’s time that we had a(n) [insert social group here] president, even though they are “pro-choice”.
Can anyone think of any others?

Note: I am merely asking what reasons people could possibly give, not whether you, yourself, believe in any of these reasons. Also, there could be a scenario (such as the 2020 Democratic primaries) where all the candidates are “pro-choice” but some of them are less “pro-choice” than others (Tulsi Gabbard seeking restrictions on late-term abortions, Pete Buttigieg acknowledging that late-term abortion is a horrible thing, etc.).
 
JMMJ said:
They aren’t, nor does their religion require them to be, single issue voters.
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No, but isn’t there an obligation under the moral (or natural) law to resist evil the best we can? And can’t it be said that abortion is the greatest evil there could possibly be (aside from risk of a worldwide nuclear holocaust, or government-sponsored genocide that would also take millions of lives)?
 
It is perfectly acceptable to hold that view, but it is not required by the Church, with regards to voting.
 
JMMJ said:
It is perfectly acceptable to hold that view, but it is not required by the Church, with regards to voting.
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I have always taken as my guide the words of Humberto Cardinal Medeiros in 1980:

“Those who make abortions possible by law – such as legislators – and those who promote, defend and elect these same lawmakers, cannot separate themselves totally from that guilt which accompanies this horrendous crime and deadly sin. If you are for true human freedom – and life – you will vote to save our children, born and unborn.”
 
Yep. I go by “If a person never had the right to be alive/be born in the first place, why do any other rights matter?”.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
No, but isn’t there an obligation under the moral (or natural) law to resist evil the best we can? And can’t it be said that abortion is the greatest evil there could possibly be (aside from risk of a worldwide nuclear holocaust, or government-sponsored genocide that would also take millions of lives)?
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The Church has said that you may vote for someone who supports abortion provided you are not voting for that person because you agree with them about abortion.
 
@HomeschoolDad

That seems like a pretty complete list of reasons and I think I have heard almost all of them from Catholic politicians and Catholic acquaintances.
 
Not every religion believes that abortion is evil, particularly under certain circumstances. Our country is composed of people of different religions and people of no religion, all of whom still have moral and ethical values, just not exactly the same values that others have.
 
That is what I thought. In other words, you are voting for the candidate DESPITE their support of abortion, because you agree with them on other issues.
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
The “pro-choice” candidate may actually have solutions that will make it easier for a woman to carry her baby to term. (This is why I voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primaries, that and the fact that he is not Hillary Clinton.)
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I need to clarify this. I do not mean that Bernie would have been preferable to a pro-life candidate. I simply saw him as the lesser of two evils compared to Hillary. And his demand for universal free health care would, if enacted, make it much easier for poor women to consider keeping their babies.

I’d like to see us do everything in our power to ensure that a woman, if she has gotten pregnant without wanting to, has all of the resources she needs to make the disruption to her life as minimal as possible — free health care, housing assistance, help in keeping her job or finding one, free child care, educational assistance — every incentive she could be given not to abort. She could keep the baby or allow it to be adopted according to her wishes. I realize that this could invite abuse of the system (some women getting pregnant on purpose because they know they’ll get a lot of free goodies, seeing this as their best life option), but I’d rather see that kind of abuse to the system, than see babies aborted.
 
That is fine, but still not a required viewpoint, by the Church, with regards to voting.
 

Argument 1 Part 1​

What do we care about that occurred 2000 years ago? Do we care what the Romans did to innocent civilians? Enough to make a sad documentary, but that is about it.

Now imagine if every territory Rome conquered resulted in the permanent effect (which means visible today) of
  • making sea level rise 1.5 Inches per territory,
  • decreased crop yields by 1.5% per territory,
  • resulted in a more 1.5% more politically in-stable future as the result of increased water scarcity
  • etc.
If these things happened, we would care.

Argument 1 Part 2​

  • History says no government lasts 1000 years.
  • When a government is tossed all legal processes are tossed as well and new ones are created.
  • Any abortion progress will be canceled out.

Argument 1 Combine Part 1 and 2​

All legal progress on the issue will be eliminated over 1000 years and all climate progress will matter for several thousand years.

Argument 2​

The future of the United States is secular (regardless of us trying to Evangelize, as evangelization did not save the Evangelicals) , thus any progress in abortion will be eliminated.
Progress made in other issues will still be around when the culture is secular.
 
Voting someone DESPITE his support for mass children killing? I wonder what other qualities of these candidates justify your vote, even considering their agenda revolves entirely around immoral value like homosexualism, transgnderism and giving children in hands of deviated people. Also soon they will support pedophilia. Some lgbt circles have members wich are also pedophiles, and are pushing for normalization of it.
From my point of view being Christian and voting left is impossible at same time, either you believe in one, or on the other
 
Many Catholics vote for them because they do not have a proper relationship with our Blessed Mother and disregard the evil behind abortion.

For example, how many Catholics voted for Hillary Clinton even though she proudly accepted an award in Margaret Sanger’s name? Sanger was the “queen of death” while our Blessed Mother is the “Queen of Life.” How can any Catholic who loves our Blessed Mother excuse or look past the culture of death?
 
Amen. Maybe they think the Gospel is only for an hour on Sundays and should be separate from the outside world. The left even voted to remove God from their party.
 
Articles make me wonder about a hypothetical.
If Satan had a strategy to get elected…
 
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