Christians must act on Freedom of Choice Act

At the recent general meeting of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), special attention was given to the probability that our unborn citizens will face great danger. President-elect Obama, in his voting as a senator and in his campaign promises, has shown a determination to treat abortion as health care.

The bishops approved a proposal that a letter be written by the conference president, Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, to President-elect Obama to express especially our concern about the passing of the so-called Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). This act was introduced previously but did not pass; in the new congress with a new president it has much more support, probably enough to be enacted.

Cardinal George commented in his letter that Obama’s election was “principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world.” It was not a referendum on abortion.

In an opening address, Cardinal George reminded us that the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision (1857) denied all rights to African-Americans. Had that not been reversed, Barack Obama could not be president. The Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision opened the door to deny rights for the unborn, permitting their murder by abortion. Had this decision been just a few years earlier, Obama may not have survived to birth.

FOCA is especially radical in expanding the 1973 decision. Although suggesting a “freedom of choice,” “it would deprive the American people in all 50 states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry.”

In a September 2008 statement the USCCB explained that FOCA claims that every woman has a “‘fundamental right’ to have an abortion, and no government may ‘deny’ or ‘interfere with’ this right. … If a public program supports motherhood it must equally support abortion.” The statement presented the following to demonstrate the Act’s far-reaching implications:

1) FOCA will invalidate laws to protect a woman from unsafe abortion clinics and to ensure that she is informed about abortion.

2) FOCA will require taxpayers to pay for abortions.

3) FOCA will require states to allow “partial-birth” and other late-term abortions.

4) FOCA will require states to allow abortions by non-physicians.

5) FOCA will bar laws protecting a right of conscientious objection to abortion.

6) FOCA will deny parents an opportunity to be involved in their minor daughter’s abortion decision.

In the words of Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, “Catholics need to promote the Gospel of Life and understand … that the question of the moral legality of abortion is non-negotiable. It is always and everywhere wrong … an intrinsic evil.”

Bishop John Kudrick leads the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma OH.