Catholic-in-Name-Only Senator Joe Biden once again attempts to falsely misrepresent the Catholic Church's position on abortion. Abortion is a matter of morals, not faith. The indisputable fact is that abortion, at any stage of pregnancy, has ALWAYS been considered immoral by the Church. There have been some cases when certain theologians (namely, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and others) bought into ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle's notion of pregnancy as an evolution of plant, animal, and finally human ensoulment. (Aristotle's views are NOT a matter of Christian faith.) They considered it murder at the time of ensoulment; however, terminating life at any point is considered to be a violation of the natural law.We know, as a matter of science, not faith, that human life begins at conception.
NBC Meet the Press, Transcript, 9/7/08MR. BROKAW: Two weeks ago I interviewed Senator Nancy Pelosi ...when she was in Denver. When Barack Obama appeared before Rick Warren, he was asked...When does life begin? And he said at that time that it was above his pay grade...I asked the speaker...when life began, she said the church has struggled with this issue for a long time, especially in the last 50 years or so.... Edward Cardinal Egan, who's the Archbishop of New York. He said, "Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being `chooses' to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providingleadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name." ...When does life begin? Joe, as a Roman Catholic, what would you say to [Obama]?SEN. BIDEN:...It's a personal and private issue. For me, as a Roman Catholic, I'm prepared to accept the teachings of my church... that life begins at the moment of conception...For me to impose that judgment on everyone else ...seems to me is inappropriate in a pluralistic society....MR. BROKAW: But if you, you believe that life begins at conception, and you've also voted for abortion rights...SEN. BIDEN: No, what I voted against curtailing the right, criminalizing abortion...There is a debate in our church...Back in "Summa Theologia," when Thomas Aquinas wrote "Summa Theologia," he said...it didn't... occur until quickening, 40 days after conception...I don't support public, public funding. ..we're going to be spending our time doing is making sure that we reduce considerably the amount of abortions that take place by providing the care, the assistance and the encouragement for people to be able to carry to term and to raise their children.
I first read the Summa Theologica after a priest for whom I was a morning altar boy (about 15 years old) gave me his volumes. There is no doubt that if St. Thomas was aware that the unborn child, from conception, had a DNA distinct from that of his or her mother, which is a scientific fact, not a religious truth, St. Thomas would have held human life began at conception--because we are just talking about differences in development; St. Thomas never said or implied that the fetus had to have a fully developed mind for abortion to be considered murder. The fact is that abortion and infanticide were part of the Roman culture, and the earliest Church documents opposed the practices unconditionally. I already discussed the evidence in an earlier post.
Joe Biden is being totally disingenuous here. We don't go around discussing on religious-relativist terms whether there is consensus on burglary, perjury, or physical violence. Given freedom of religion, one could create a religion which negates any and all laws to which each charged criminal would happily join. As for Biden's technical distinction for being for decriminalization vs. legalization of elective abortion: most pro-life people aren't discussing putting women into prison. There's more interest in cracking down on the abortion industry itself and rebuking those people whom brainwash young women in trouble into believing abortion is their only option to a fulfilling life.
You have to confront the question straight on, Senator Joe. At some point, you have to determine when a baby gets his or her rights as a human being. Any decision beyond the point of conception is essentially arbitrary. You are a nominal Catholic whom pays lip service to the sanctity of life but will subordinate the Church's teachings on faith and morals to a sexually-permissive culture and your sacrifice of your integrity as a Catholic for the sake of political treasure. You are little more than a modern-day Judas selling out Christ to the intolerant high priestesses of abortion on demand. Your lip service to lowering the need for abortion, a gimmick also disingenuously used by Hillary Clinton, or to try to pin down pro-lifers into just what exceptions they will allow for the purposes of "proving" their "extremism" is transparent. The fact is, even if pro-lifers conceded abortions in the cases of rape, incest and the mother's life (and I'm sure the legitimate percentage of these is negligible), you will still oppose any meaningful restriction on elective abortions of any kinds and any reasons or no reason.
Joe Biden, there is a higher court than the Supreme Court, and one day you will be held responsible for your moral cowardice. And you won't be able to filibuster your way around that judgment.
