Anti-Abortion Rhetoric

by Sue Rakoczy · November 21, 2008

Cardinal James Stafford, formerly Archbishop of Denver in the United States and now holding a high Vatican position, characterises the position of President-elect Barack Obama on abortion as “aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic”.� In a speech at the Catholic University of America he said,� “For the next few years, Gethsemane will not be marginal. We will know that garden,” Stafford said, comparing America’s future with Obama as president to Jesus’ agony in the garden. “On November 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake.

A priest in South Carolina has told his parishioners that they cannot receive the Eucharist if they voted for Obama without receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A diocesan spokesperson later said that this is not the position of the church. Other US �bishops have also condemned the election of Obama because of his stance on abortion.

I do not support abortion; I see it is a profound tragedy.� But the repeal of every law permitting abortions in every country in the world will not stop them. There have always been and will always be pregnant women who for various reasons decide that they cannot carry the pregnancy to term.� Throughout human history women have found ways to do abortions. In the early 1970s, before the Roe vs Wade decision in the United States, I listened in horror as a friend from my university days described how she did� her own abortion with knitting needles and almost bled to death.

The anti-abortion rhetoric of some bishops disturbs me greatly. �Why is this the only life issue for them? Why is the rhetoric so extreme? A man and a woman are involved in every conception but it is the woman who bears the child and it is women who come to the decision�that they cannot complete the pregnancy.� Does the father of the child support�and help the mother? Or does he run away and abandon her?� I have heard women say, “What does a bishop know about pregnancy? This is an easy issue for male celibates to focus on. They will never know women’s fear and terror�because of an�unwanted pregnancy.” Very true.

Rather than episcopal threats and extreme rhetoric, let these bishops examine the reasons for abortions and work to reduce their number. The church speaks of a “seamless garment” of life issues; concentrating only on abortion to the neglect of other life issues is certainly not helpful.