Catholics, Republicans and Abortion: How We Got Where We Are Today

Criss-Cross: Democrats, Republicans, and Abortion Human Life Review Summer 2006.

A fascinating article from a while back (which I uncovered revisiting old issues of First Things) asks a question that is relevant even today, while providing a conception-shattering history of how, in the words of Fr. Neuhaus, we got where we are today.

Here's a taste:

The Bernardin of 1976 developed a very powerful case for abolishing abortion. Appearing before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee in March of that year, he went out of his way to refute the argument (later advanced by Mario Cuomo) that opposition to abortion is a purely "religious" position which Catholics must not try to impose on non-Catholics. Abortion, Bernardin said, "is not wrong simply because the Catholic Church or any church says it is wrong. Abortion is wrong in and of itself. The obligation to safeguard human life arises not from religious or sectarian doctrine, but from universal moral imperatives concerning human dignity, the right to life, and the responsibility of government to protect basic human rights."

With the election fast approaching, Bernardin kept up the fire. Some weeks before Carter met with the Bishops' executive committee, he issued a statement anticipating Carter's argument that the Democrats' other positions were in accord with Church doctrine, aimed as they were at countering the threats to life from hunger, disease, drug and alcohol abuse, and other ills. Bernardin agreed that human life is threatened in a number of ways in our society. Abortion, however, stands out because it is "a direct assault on the lives of those who are least able to defend themselves.... [I]f we become insensitive to the violation of the basic right to life, our sensitivity to the entire spectrum of human rights will ultimately be eroded." After the meeting Bernardin repeated those views, reminding his listeners that the bishops had expressed strong disagreement-"indeed outrage"-with the Democrats' abortion plank. "We ... repeat today, with all the moral force we can muster, the need for a constitutional amendment to protect the life of the unborn."

Curiousity perked? -- Read the whole thing.