March (and More) for Life | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: As I have said before, the March for Life is ill-timed, because it focuses on Roe v. Wade and its repeal - something that won't happen ever - as doing so would overturn all the equal protection law passed in his wake. While many right wing bishops would love to get rid of gay marriage, legal sodomy and a variety of other things, while many Republicans would also stop counting Latinos as a protected class - doing any of that would be a disaster for liberty and charity. The reason both sides have dug in is because the controversy is great for raising money on each side, both for staffs and campaigns. No one wants to end that. This is why I say the issue is a fraud - one that the USCCB should step away from. If you want to shake things up - do that. Withdraw from the March and leave the school kids at home until the pro-life side is ready to deal.
It was a pity that the Cardinal did not have a copy of the State of the Union Address when he wrote is speech. Imagine the howls from the right if he had endorsed Obama's tax plan, which is what scripture demands, actually. Acting like this all the time would change the nature of the movement. It is not enough to scold the pro-business Republicans (is there any other kind?) once a year. It should be a constant focus. Let beatings commence until morale improves!
The pro-choice side needs to act like this message on economics is welcome - at least meet the Church half way. Indeed, Obama himself endorsed a more robust protection of late term pregnancies in his second debate with McCain. I am sure both sides said no thanks. This is the time for Obama to bo harder. It is not actually hard to find a total comrpomise on abortion - first trimester embryos probably cannot be saved by making them persons, because first trimester miscarriages would receive the same protection in law - and this would be difficult - especially for those families who have miscarried who face an interview with law enforcement (its already been suggested by the pro-life side).
After the first trimester, the problems multiply, because usually abortions at this point have a medical reason - althugh sometimes not a good one. Of couse, if we want to save Downs Syndrome babies, we need to give the parents and the children a lot of free help - and by that I mean lifelong help (we should help all of the disabled as much). I dout the right wing is willing to do that - or to double down on Obama's call for a higher Child Tax Credit ($1,000 a month per child seems like the right level to me - so this is a double-double).
The Church also needs to ease up on its protection of every pregnancy. A pregnancy that is doomed to end before live birth due to defects is better ended as early as possible for the health, if not the life, of the mother. The moral standard for juding this issue is not the innocence of the child, but the danger to the mother. Until that is realized, the Church has no place in the debate over late term abortion - even within the Church.
There is the whole sex thing too. Pro-lifers, when challenged about the money thing go back to sexual responsibility and personal financial responsiblity. Sadly, the Church often encourages the former and does little to condemn the latter (one homily a year - anything more hurts donations to the Lenten Appeal). Indeed, condemning teenage and collegiate sex leads young women and their parents to cover it up with an abortion. If you doubt that, survey a Catholic high school anonymously. We parents seem to be part of the problem here. Encourage marriage instead - even the non-canonical kind - and provide for young families (fathers included) who seek an education - and not just through high school. Concerned that a sex plan will be used to pay for college? Then find another way so that all youth, especially youth with children, can go.
Right now, its cool to celibate when you go to the March for Life. Indeed, the sign at this year's March says that this view is generational. This is usually only the case until virginity is lost, usually well in advance of marriage. Men learn tolerance real quick about their partner's reproductive issues. These young Republicans start thinking that the Demorcats have something to say after all - which is why some change is inevitable once the older marchers die off and end their role in the GOP nomination process. Something might change, but not this year. Not in time for Obama to get his tax bill through.
Where does that leave us? About where we are now in terms of abortion (unless aid to families increases). I suspect that this is why the fundraisers for both sides care little about actually ending abortion. The most they could do is not so different from the status quo, at least on the legal side. Pity that.
No comments:
Post a Comment