Background Information
U.S. Bishops’ New Pro-Life Plan in Condensed Form
As pastors and teachers, we proclaim that human life is a precious gift from God. Each person who receives this gift has responsibilities toward God, self and others. Society, through its laws and social institutions, must protect and nurture human life at every stage of its existence. These beliefs flow from ordinary reason and from our faith’s constant witness that “life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, #51). This teaching has been a constant part of the Christian message since the apostolic age.
A Consistent Ethic of Life
A wide spectrum of issues touches on the protection of human life and the promotion of human dignity. As Pope John Paul II has reminded us: “Where life is involved, the service of charity must be profoundly consistent. It cannot tolerate bias and discrimination, for human life is sacred and inviolable at every stage and in every situation; it is an indivisible good” (The Gospel of Life, #87).
Abortion necessarily plays a central role among important issues involving the dignity of human life. Abortion, the direct killing of an innocent human being, is always gravely immoral (The Gospel of Life, #57); its victims are the most vulnerable and defenseless members of the human family. It is imperative that those who are called to serve the least among us give urgent attention and priority to this issue of justice.
A consistent ethic of life does not diminish concern for abortion and euthanasia. It does not equate all issues touching on the dignity of human life. It recognizes, instead, the distinctive character of each issue while giving each its proper place within a coherent moral vision.
As bishops of the United States we have issued pastoral letters on war and peace, economic justice and other social questions affecting the dignity of human life—and we have implemented programs for advancing the Church’s witness in these areas through parishes, schools and other Church institutions (e.g., Communities of Salt and Light [1994]; Sharing Catholic Social Teaching [1998]). Taken together, these diverse pastoral statements and practical programs constitute a consistent strategy in support of all human life in its various stages and circumstances.
To focus on the evil of deliberate killing in abortion and euthanasia is not to ignore the many other urgent conditions that demean human dignity and threaten human rights. Opposing abortion and euthanasia “does not excuse indifference to those who suffer from poverty, violence and injustice. Any politics of human life must work to resist the violence of war and the scandal of capital punishment. Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing and health care” (Living the Gospel of Life, #23).
We pray that Catholics will be advocates for the weak and the marginalized in all these areas. “But being ‘right’ in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life. Indeed, the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘rightness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community” (Living the Gospel of Life, #23).
Pervasive Threats to Human Life
Where does one begin? Today, when human rights are proudly proclaimed and the value of life itself given public affirmation, the most basic of all human rights, “the very right to life,” “is being denied or trampled upon, especially at the more significant moments of existence: the moment of birth and the moment of death” (The Gospel of Life, #18).
Sometimes very difficult or even tragic situations can be the basis for decisions made against life. These circumstances can diminish the personal culpability of those who make choices that in themselves are evil. But as Pope John Paul II points out, today the problem goes further: “It is a problem which exists at the cultural, social and political level, where it reveals its more sinister and disturbing aspect in the tendency, ever more widely shared, to interpret...crimes against life as legitimate expressions of individual freedom, to be acknowledged and protected as actual rights” (The Gospel of Life, #18).
The question “Where does one begin?” is easy to answer: “We must begin with a commitment never to intentionally kill, or collude in the killing, of any innocent human life, no matter how broken, unformed, disabled or desperate that life may seem” (Living the Gospel of Life, #21).
Thus some behaviors are always wrong, always incompatible with our love of God and the dignity of the human person. Abortion, the direct taking of innocent human life prior to birth, is always morally wrong, as is the deliberate destruction of human embryos for any reason. Assisted suicide and euthanasia are not acts of mercy but rather are acts that are never morally acceptable. Direct attacks on innocent civilians during war and terrorist acts targeting noncombatants must always be condemned.
Our concern is only intensified by the realization that a policy and practice that result in well over a million deaths from abortions each year cannot but diminish respect for life in other areas. In this pastoral plan, then, we again recognize that the pro-life issues are all closely related: “Precisely because all issues involving human life are interdependent, a society which destroys human life by abortion under the mantle of law unavoidably undermines respect for life in all other contexts. Likewise, protection in law and practice of unborn human life will benefit all life, not only the lives of the unborn” (1985 Pro-life Pastoral Plan, 5).
This is why we focus here on the pervasive threat to human life arising 1) from the widespread recourse to abortion, 2) from public policies that allow, encourage, and even fund abortion and 3) from a growing effort to promote taking human life through euthanasia.
We Condemn Violence
Our goal is to eliminate violence against unborn children, their mothers and those who are dying. We unalterably oppose the use of violence in any form to achieve this objective, and we condemn the actions of those few who advocate otherwise.
During the past decade, several abortion practitioners have been killed or harmed by tragically misguided individuals claiming to be pro-life. Such violence against human beings is indefensible. It is an offense against God’s command, “You shall not kill.” It also unjustly stigmatizes the pro-life movement in the eyes of many Americans as being violent and intolerant. We abhor and condemn such violence unequivocally.
Abortion and Contraception
The Church’s teaching and pastoral efforts on responsible parenthood are appropriately treated more fully in other documents. We address the issue here, however, because some promote widespread use of contraception as a means to reduce abortions. They even criticize the Church for not accepting this approach.
It is noteworthy that as acceptance and use of contraception have increased in our society, so have acceptance and use of abortion. Couples who unintentionally conceive a child while using contraception are far more likely to resort to abortion than others. Tragically, our society has fallen into a mentality that views children as a burden and invites many to consider abortion as a backup to contraceptive failure. This is most obvious in efforts to promote as emergency contraception drugs that really act as early abortifacients.
With Pope John Paul II we affirm that contraception and abortion are “specifically different evils,” because only “the latter destroys the life of a human being,” but that they are also related (The Gospel of Life, #13). It is important to remember that means that are referred to as “contraceptive” are, in reality, sometimes also abortifacient. An end to abortion will not come from contraceptive campaigns but from a deeper understanding of our human sexuality and human life. These are sacred gifts deserving our careful stewardship.