Contra Samuel Gregg | National Catholic Reporter

Contra Samuel Gregg | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Someone tell Gregg that divine revelation is not knowable, merely our understanding of it.  Indeed, in Jesus day, the divine revelation on abortion was that it was to be used to prove adultery in the husband has found his wife pregnant and it is not by him.  This is why Joseph not referring Mary to the Law and Jesus not letting the adulterous woman be stoned were acts of divine mercy.



The current teaching on abortion is the product of reason, not revelation. We can find flaws in this reason, especially in those rare instances where an abortion or early induction would be beneficial to the mother and take nothing from a fetus who was doomed.  I see no intrinsic evil here and will argue the argument boldly, because the Church is wrong to try to suppress the truth.



What Gregg is objecting too is not being wishy-washy on evil, but being wishy-washy on the deal between the pro-life movement and the Republican Party.  That deal does not come from God, precisely because it forecloses solutions which involve rewarding women for keeping their children.  That is not bribery – all mothers deserve such security.  It is not charity either.  It is justice and it justifies tax policies the right-to-lifers hate – and that lack of justice is an intrinsic evil.



The current law on abortion is nested in the constitution and it depends on the personhood rights of the unborn.  Of course, changing that rubric has consequences that come regardless of what the movement wants, which is why I continue to assert that the movement is a sham – and as you recall the Decalogue includes a prohibition called “Thou shalt not defraud.”  If that is an intrinsic evil the movement has some explaining to do.  Sadly, the bishops seem more complicit then questioning – and that is a tragedy for the Church.