CLEF Poll #1 - What does Pro-Life mean to you?

[skater314159]

There is a whole lot of talk today as to what "Pro-Life" means... forget the rhetoric. What does "Pro-Life" mean to YOU?

[theredpen]

1. Other: pro-Life, but not anti-Abortion

It's a difficult position to justify, I admit.

If you adopt the CLE posture outlined in the EV, you agree that unnecessary abortions are "wrong." An oversimplified version of this would be "don't use abortion as birth control."

There are circumstances under which the EV permits abortion. For this reason alone, it must be a safe and legal procedure. When is this safe and legal procedure unethical? I believe that it up to Medical Ethicists, and the woman herself to decide that. I don't think we need laws telling doctors how to do their job, or women how to make moral choices.

The Gospels give a clear message that we are each responsible for our own adherence to God's commandments and not everyone else's.

What about laws against murder? First of all there are solid secular arguments for those. Second of all, even the EV doesn't claim that all abortions are murder. This claim is made by polarized groups whose membership that wants easy answers to complicated problems. Experience shows that these kinds of answers are usually the wrong answers.

Rule of thumb: if your theology fits on a bumper sticker, you probably aren't equipped to handle public policy.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Rather than a change in laws, we need a change in hearts

and minds. When there are 1.6 million abortions a year in the U.S., it's obvious that abortion is being used for birth control. Certain forces in society have convinced many women that they're not carrying a baby unless they want it to be a baby, and told outright lies such as "It's just a few cells, no different than scraping skin off your hand."

[skater314159]

4. Excellently stated! n/t

[DemBones DemBones]

5. Thanks! I just came back to kick this post up, see

if we can get some more attention to it.

:kick:

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Evangelium Vitae clearly states that abortion is wrong.

"The Second Vatican Council, in a passage which retains all its relevance today, forcefully condemned a number of crimes and attacks against human life. Thirty years later, taking up the words of the Council and with the same forcefulness I repeat that condemnation in the name of the whole Church, certain that I am interpreting the genuine sentiment of every upright conscience:

"Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others like them are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who practise them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonour to the Creator".5

The above is from Section 3 of the Introduction. There are other statements against abortion in the EV.

You wrote: "There are circumstances under which the EV permits abortion." In what part of the EV do you find such a statement?

The Church teaches that a pregnant woman may receive required medical treatment even if it endangers the life of her unborn child but may not have a direct, deliberate abortion. If a pregnant woman is found to have uterine cancer and advised to have a hysterectomy, she may do so, even if the baby is not yet viable outside the womb. If she has to have chemotherapy or radiation or any treatment that may kill or harm the baby, she may have it. The baby may also be treated in utero and the baby's life should be preserved whenever possible but the mother should not be killed to save the baby's life.

[mrgorth]

6. I chose

"Anti-Abortion, Pro-Death Penalty. Extensive Social Welfare, Anti-War, Pro-Environment, Social Justice."

I'm pro-choice because I really don't think it's possible to make a set of laws to account for all the times that abortion may be warranted. That said, I think there should be heavy restrictions.