Archbishop Chaput: "Overturning Roe v. Wade is achievable."

Emily Stimpson interviewed Archbishop Charles Chaput for the November 2nd edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper. The leader of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Denver said, among other things, the following:

OSV: What do you say to Catholics who claim that we've lost the abortion fight; that we need to face the political reality that abortion is not going to be made illegal in this country?

Archbishop Chaput: I'd answer that I've been hearing that argument, in one shape or another, from a certain wing of the Church for more than 20 years. There's nothing new about it at all. Some Catholics -- including some clergy and Religious -- are simply embarrassed by the abortion issue. The abortion struggle gets in the way of their natural political alliances. Other Catholics finally don't agree with the Church's teaching, or really don't accept the humanity of the unborn child. Others just want a respectable way to surrender on this issue and get on with what they regard as the real work of the Church, whatever they imagine that might be. This year's election is a pretty good snapshot of all these trends.

I don't think we've lost the abortion struggle in any sense. Quite the opposite. A social conflict like abortion or racism is fundamental; it challenges the moral premises of a society and can easily go on for decades. Overturning Roe v. Wade is achievable. So are legal restrictions on abortion and legal protections for the unborn. Capitulating on these matters now -- which, in effect, is exactly the wrongheaded course being proposed by some people -- would be a failure of moral nerve.

OSV: What is the primary principle that needs to guide Catholics when they enter the voting booth this November?

Archbishop Chaput: Vote your conscience, but form your conscience in what the Church teaches, because she teaches God's truth on the word of Jesus Christ himself. You can't be a "faithful Catholic" and then ignore what the Church teaches on a vital matter of human dignity. So, however you vote, make it a vote for the sanctity of the human person -- from conception to natural death.

Read the entire interview. In related news, Archbishop José H. Gomez of San Antonio has written a column stating that although abortion is not merely a "Catholic issue," it is "an essential element of the Catholic faith” and the Church’s position on the subject must be clarified due to recent “misleading statements,” such as whether or not “the question of when life begins is ‘a matter of faith’.”

• Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life, by Charles J. Chaput

Comments

[Ressourcement]

I recently read "Render" and I highly recommend it. Very well done.

[Andrew]

I pray the bishop is right. However, I have a hard time imagining Roe being overturned in any way except through an overwhelming and sustained public outcry against abortion. When one considers that over 90% of down-syndrome children are aborted, and that over 50% of Americans claim to be pro-life, it becomes evident that to most pro-life people abortion is just a plank in a party platform. When it actually matters in their lives, most "pro-lifers" abort just like the "pro-choicers". The number of true pro-life people is, I'm afraid, much smaller than the polls reveal. This is, of course, no excuse for ever giving up the fight.

[Ed Peters]

"When it actually matters in their lives, most 'pro-lifers' abort just like the 'pro-choicers'."

That is simply not true.

[Andrew]

Dr. Peters, I certainly hope you are right and I am wrong. However, how do you account for 90% of down syndrome children being aborted?