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Catholics and Abortions

As Catholics have been quite rightly mentioned in the 'Salient' as being prominent in the extensive opposition to abortion, I would like to point out some reasons for this opposition.

First, there is the high value Catholics put on the dignity of the human person. In this context we see that a person gains fulfilment not only through using the good things in life, but also through struggling against difficulties, through facing up to obligations and the crises of life. We all know that the human person has a dignity which raises her or him out of the realm of merely seeking and enjoying a comfortable life. A person is meant for greatness. And pain and trouble often provide the opportunity for the heroic. Catholics support opposition to the degrading 'easy way out' of inconvenience or obligation.

Second, we realize that man knows the nature of the human person. Because a person is of such a kind certain actions are violations of her/his human dignity while other actions emphasise this dignity. Talk about one person being unjust to another illustrates this. Because we know what we are we realize that we have rights. But we also have obligations to ourselves and others. Catholics join with the many others in saying that foeticide violates our own humanity and the (at least) potential human person in the womb.

Finally Catholics oppose the view that in this age mankind has grown-up, that the human race is nearing the peak of perfection. The examples of South African Apartheid and American involvement in Vietnam etc. show that technological advancement is quite different from moral advancement. Mankind is more clever now, not more good. So men still make wrong moral decisions. The human person always remains weak but potentially great.

With these considerations, plus the fact that the scientific and social factors of the abortion question weigh heavily in our favour, Catholics feel honoured to participate in what is the most rational and humane stand concerning abortion.