The Freedom of Choice Act which threatens the Catholic Pro-Life Movement strikingly invokes the American cause of freedom towards government sanctioned infanticide. What a peculiar contradiction that’s presented…freedom of choice for the pregnant mother, but no freedom of choice for the in utero developing child. This is clearly not a proposition that encourages either life, nor freedom nor even choice. American Catholics need to especially make note of the doublespeak that surrounds the new administration that carelessly abandons principles which foster the sanctity of all human life and suggests there is any type of moral and ethical freedom in choices that embrace government sanctioned homicide.
The right to life begins at the moment of conception and it is the responsibility of our American republic to provide protection and sanction for ALL human life, including the life that is confined to the nurturing environment of a mother’s womb. Unusually, there is popular support for this legislation which effectively permits all existing checks and balances on the process of terminating the life of an unborn child. America Catholics should be rightly be inflamed at this legislation that continues to demean the integrity and dignity of the greatest gift ever given, the right to life and its fulfillment.
What unfortunately surrounds this growing culture of choice is the sad fact that self professed Catholics subscribe to this erroneous moral conclusion and proudly proclaim their “choice†as an alternative to Catholic moral, social and ethical teachings. The Obama administration seems to present a rallying point for Catholic dissidents to join a movement that promotes an American culture that is antithetical to qualitative human life and happiness. What furthermore infuriates the situation is the lack of loud protest and admonition against these popular beliefs on the part of the American Catholic hierarchy.
The silence screams the message, “Moral injustice & legalized murder!†It is time for all American Catholics to start bombarding their congressional representatives with Catholic protests against the foolishly termed, Freedom of Choice Act! In the same manner, it is time to shake up the sacerdotal purple in each and every Catholic institution in the United States. Silence on the part of the American Catholic hierarchy lends even more credence to the belief…that silence gives consent!
The fundamental principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness encapsulate the American ideals of a living and fully functional society with the preservation and proclamation of human life as the focus of our united common good. Our principles of American government are established on the precepts that include the choice to live without restrictions on our natural human lives. It is of particular note that the terms, Life and Liberty were foremost in the thoughts of the Founding Fathers, not choice and death.
The struggle incumbent on all American Catholics is living our properly informed Catholic faith in a society that is secularized and divorced from an appreciation of the sacred life that God extends to all human beings. The simple fact that there are some American Catholics that believe our Catholicism is a selection of multiple choice beliefs and observations makes us more like a fast food religion, than one of the oldest monotheistic institutions in history. So called American-Catholic politicians use the secular arena to incorrectly provide a platform for their own interpretation of Catholic morality and theology. As previously stated the Obama administration is filled with Catholics that erroneously use their faith and sacraments as a spiritual seal of approval on their misguided legislative and political agendas. The guiding principles for Catholic politicians should not be the popularity of the legislative content that is placed into the secular deposit of legislative laws and congressional bills. What should be the most important issue for Catholic politicians is the legislation conforms to all of the moral and ethical norms of their Catholic faith as well as the implementation of moral and ethical principles that protect and foster all human life.
The Freedom of Choice Act should be considered by Catholics and all peoples that seek to pursue a qualitative human life no less heinous than the Nuremburg laws of 20th century Germany or the proclamations against the Christians in Diocletian’s Rome. If indeed we sanction the disregard for human life through legislation such as the Freedom of Choice Act, it logically follows that such immoral actions afforded to life in the gestational stages will subsequently be applied to all dimensions of life from conception to the geriatric stage, that will be prematurely be interrupted by the infamous freedom of immoral choice.
Hugh J.McNichol is a freelance Catholic author that writes on uniquely Catholic topics and issues. He attended Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where he studied both philosophy and theology. He writes frequently at http://verbumcarofactumest.blogspot.com & http://nothing-left-unsaid.blogspot.com . Hugh writes about his Irish Catholic upbringing and educational experiences at http://graysferrygrapevine.blogspot.com . He has contributed works to Catholic News Agency, Catholic Online, The Irish Catholic, Dublin, the British Broadcasting Company, London and the Philadelphia Bulletin, Pewsitter.com and Blogger News Network.
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8 users commented in " Freedom of Choice Act diminishes American Freedom! "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackTake a look at the Baby Grace case this week and the torture so many apparently unwanted children go through at the hands of so called “parents”. Free birth control should be provided to all U.S. individuals who are engaging in sexual activity and don’t want to raise children. More birth control given before the activity that results in unplanned pregnancies would prevent the number of those seeking abortions. Every child should be a wanted child. It is time to stop the abuse and death of so many children in this country at the hands of that don’t love and cherish the lives they’ve created.
I am not Catholic but I believe life starts at conception. There is no xcuse for killing a child regardless of stage of developtment or years in age….Killing a unborn child is wrong and should be stopped.
Sheller – So it is to be considered the fault of the taxpayers and Pro Choice supporters that children are abused?!? Let me make this very clear to you: We do NOT owe you anything. Simple contraceptives are not expensive and if you are absolutely not able to buy a condom, you have NO business having sex. So do not try to get onto the blame game: It will not work. Ignorant people who become “accidentally” pregnant would not have sense enough to use free contraceptives if they were provided with instructions. No such thing as “accidental pregnancy.” Take responsibility; we cannot be blamed for people’s urges nor their apathy towards bringing unwanted children into the world.
Pickles, likewise I am not catholic but I strongly support the catholic views (along with yours) concerning the abortion issue.
I would like to prevent the need for people to ever go seeking abortions. Providing birth control so that they don’t produce unwanted children that they may in turn not take care of, destined to live a life of abuse or neglectful parenting seems logical to me.
Apparently, turning a blind eye and pointing fingers saying,You should be more responsible! would work better?
For society to offer $2.00 worth of condoms to someone who never has intentions of actually parenting a child they produce seems like a small price to pay. We can pay the 2.00 now or thousands later, for medical care, mental health, foster care, or burial expenses?
I agree they have no business producing them if they don’t want to take care of them.
These irresponsible urge followers will continue to have accidental pregnancies, no matter how responsible we want them to be. Society will be in turn charged with either raising them or dealing with the results of horrendous parenting.
Simple equation: Charity is enabling the problem. By providing free contraceptives, the government would be encouraging that promiscuity is acceptable.
Here is why we should be pro-choice: It is only for women that pregnancy may represent a health risk. It is only women’s career, which is put on hold, that pregnancy and the ensuing maternity leave affect. There are important questions to be debated, such as whether a pregnant woman in a significantly bad health condition should carry the unwanted pregnancy to term, or whether only healthy women in their child-bearing prime should anti-abortion legislation be targeted at.
Sheller, Do you realize that the Catholic Church is against absolutely all forms of birth control including both pills and condoms?
Pickles, life does not start. Life has only started once and has just kept the ball rolling ever since. The question is not when life starts but when the zygote/fetus/child becomes human. Abortion does not kill children, that is a very emotional arguement and simply put emotions and religion have very little place in government.
Flash, would you want someone without the sense to use a condom correctly even if given instructions parenting a child? Also i don’t see how giving condoms away is directly promoting promiscuity. In case you weren’t aware people other then sexed up teenagers do use condoms to protect from both disease and pregnancy
olook10, of course as has been stated if a fetus is a human being it would be given rights. Of course this is a very big if. But Pro-Lifers often seem to decide that saving the life of an unborn possible eventual human being is more important then protecting the health of a definitely human woman who is going through a very hard time during pregnancy.
What abortion really comes down to is the sexual recklessness of today’s society. People who are against abortion aren’t trying to force women to stay pregnant – they’re tying to make those women take the responsibility that THEY brought upon themselves. Everybody knows what happens when you have sex – if you don’t want a baby, don’t have a sex. It’s that simple.
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