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S i d e b a r
We Have to Work Backward
To Develop a Culture of Life
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This Rock
Volume 14, Number 3
 March 2003 
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TR: Are things better or worse than they were five or ten years ago?
CB: If you mean by better that there is a greater hope that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, the answer is yes, things are much better. For example, there is evidence that fewer abortions are being performed each year today and fewer doctors are willing to be involved in abortions. Also, more Americans identify themselves as pro-life; the numbers of those saying that they are pro-choice have declined significantly. We also have technical means that help us a great deal: Ultrasounds and other medical advances have made possible a greater appreciation of the humanity of the unborn child—so much so that the pro-abortionists can no longer claim that we are not dealing with a human being. Their tactic has changed, and now they emphasize the choice of the woman.
In the 30 years since Roe v. Wade, individual parishes, Catholic social service agencies, and pregnancy resource centers have provided practical assistance and support that has changed the minds of thousands of women facing difficult pregnancies. Also, most state legislators today have enacted measures to restrict, at least, or to regulate the practice of abortion and reduce its incidents. All of this has happened and has been a sign of increased hope that eventually we will see the end of legalized abortion.
TR: Some argue that the drop in the numbers of abortions is due to more effective contraception.
CB: That’s a possibility. But abortion, remember, is considered by many as a safeguard against a failure in contraception. We have to eliminate even that—abortion being the safeguard—and that means changing the minds and attitudes of people so that it would be despicable even to think of abortion. And that is gradually happening.
TR: One would hope so, although, as Pope Paul VI saw so clearly in the sixties when he issued Humanae Vitae, abortion is the logical conclusion of the contraceptive mentality. I’m afraid that those two issues are separate in the secular mind.
CB: To change that mentality would change a great deal, but we can’t afford the time. We have to work backward. We must start with abortion—the real fact that a child is being killed—and change the attitudes of people into a culture of life regarding the unborn.
TR: Beyond praying, what should Catholics be doing to bring an end to abortion?
CB: Well, I’d say increase your prayer life against abortion. In addition, I think Catholics should become actively and personally involved in the fight against abortion, primarily to eliminate its legalization. The bishops of the United States have said that it is unconscionable that any Catholic would knowingly vote for a pro-abortion candidate [unless the alternative is a candidate who is even more vigorously anti-life].
TR: Is it a mortal sin?
CB: I will not make any judgments on that. That’s going into a field that requires careful nuance. That’s why I use the word knowingly. I have to leave that judgment up to the conscience of the person.
But I also believe that education is so important. People must be educated on the humanity of the unborn so that they know how to talk to people or to answer questions. We know that abortions are performed throughout the whole nine months of pregnancy, even to the horrific point of partial-birth abortion. People must be educated also about the traumatic, psychological harm that comes to so many women as a consequence of abortion.
Armed with this knowledge we can help change the climate in this country regarding abortion. But people must be knowledgeable to be able to defend the pro-life cause, because the only way we will ever eliminate abortion is to change the whole country—the attitude, the mind of the people, the cultural climate. That climate is set in ordinary circumstances, whether it is in offices or in neighborhoods or in beauty parlors—wherever people talk to each other. That’s the only way we will develop a culture of life. |
