This philosophy starts with the Catholics. Not only do they believe that life begins at conception, but they believe that there is no circumstance where it is ethical to terminate a pregnancy prematurely, even if it’s to save the life of the mother. Which is fine for Catholics to believe, but they need to acknowledge that this view is an extreme view. Other faiths (and those with no faith) do not view things this strictly.
I find it interesting, though, how evangelicals in the US (many of whom don’t even consider Catholics to be Christian in the first place) have seized on this concept also. But as far as I can tell, it’s for purely political reasons. They realize they can build up political capital by pushing to outlaw abortion. (Of course, they can do this because laws are mainly for the poors – they know that no matter how illegal they make it, they still know how to get access if their mistress needs one, so that’s all that matters to them.)
But a lot of Catholics are also immigrants in the US, and in the process of becoming single-issue voters on Abortion, they created the scenarios where many Catholic families are being torn apart in immigration raids. Was it worth it?
We’ll see what happens to Catholics if an Evangelical theocratic government really does entrench itself here. They might regret leaning into anti-abortion politics so heavily. All American Bishops had to do instead was to tell their congregations is “we don’t care if it’s legal, just don’t get one” and so much of this could have been avoided.
This philosophy starts with the Catholics. Not only do they believe that life begins at conception, but they believe that there is no circumstance where it is ethical to terminate a pregnancy prematurely, even if it’s to save the life of the mother. Which is fine for Catholics to believe, but they need to acknowledge that this view is an extreme view. Other faiths (and those with no faith) do not view things this strictly.
I find it interesting, though, how evangelicals in the US (many of whom don’t even consider Catholics to be Christian in the first place) have seized on this concept also. But as far as I can tell, it’s for purely political reasons. They realize they can build up political capital by pushing to outlaw abortion. (Of course, they can do this because laws are mainly for the poors – they know that no matter how illegal they make it, they still know how to get access if their mistress needs one, so that’s all that matters to them.)
But a lot of Catholics are also immigrants in the US, and in the process of becoming single-issue voters on Abortion, they created the scenarios where many Catholic families are being torn apart in immigration raids. Was it worth it?
We’ll see what happens to Catholics if an Evangelical theocratic government really does entrench itself here. They might regret leaning into anti-abortion politics so heavily. All American Bishops had to do instead was to tell their congregations is “we don’t care if it’s legal, just don’t get one” and so much of this could have been avoided.