GUEST EDITORIAL

Catholics must elect leaders who show unconditional respect for human life

Posted

What is the choice? Is it to kill or not to kill an innocent, defenseless human being? A majority of elected RI representatives and senators have already passed a radical New York pro-abortion law which forces the state to deny legal protection to unborn children throughout all nine months. The 2019 law codified and expanded abortion rights in Rhode Island, making it easier for women to obtain late-term abortions for virtually any reason. To add insult to injury, these same anti-life politicians now intend to force taxpayers to fund the killing of the unborn, treating them as disposable objects.
These legislators could not have been elected without Catholic votes since Catholics comprise 44 percent of Rhode Island’s population, the highest percentage of any state in the nation, according to a 2017 Gallup Tracking Poll. Did voters really know who they were voting for or did party loyalty or ideological correctness play a part? Did Catholics make an effort to learn the position of candidates on crucial issues such as abortion, assisted suicide and religious freedom, or did they just go along with their party when casting their votes?
For those Catholics adrift in a sea of political correctness, media propaganda and party loyalty, it’s time to get back to basics. First, every proposal, policy or political platform is not equal and should be measured by how it touches the human person, whether it enhances or diminishes human life and how it advances the common good. It is impossible to promote the common good without defending the inalienable right to life upon which all other rights are founded.
All human life is sacred because it involves the creative action of God and no one can ever claim the right to directly destroy an innocent human being. The Commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” resounds in the moral conscience of everyone and refers to every innocent, defenseless person. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make good or licit an act which is intrinsically evil or illicit because it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every human heart and knowable by reason.
The Vatican Council II defined abortion and infanticide as “unspeakable crimes,” which allow for the murder of an innocent human being, totally entrusted to the protection of the mother who is sadly the one asking for the child to be eliminated. Catholics believe that life begins at the moment of conception, and that life is a new human being. And it is not the mother’s body which is left at the abortion clinic for disposal after the procedure, but that of a unique, irreplaceable new life.
In a free and diverse society no one should be forced to choose between following their faith or moral convictions or being at the mercy of unlawful, unnecessary government mandates. That means we have a right to demand not to be forced to take part in the morally evil action of funding the crime of abortion as put forth in Senate bill 2549 and House bill 7442. This proposed legislation is deeply offensive, contrary to reason and the natural law and therefore unjust. We should make sure it never sees the light of day in this state. In the future, let us pledge to elect only those who make unconditional respect for every human life the foundation of our renewed society.
Maria Parker, MBA, DM, is a former Respect Life Coordinator, Diocese of Providence, Assoc. Director of Public Policy, MA Catholic Conference.