By Nov. 5, the 2008 political races were over, most of the votes had been counted and a collective sigh of relief could be heard across the land. The intense campaigns were ended, the raucous rallies were done, the acrimonious attacks and counter-attacks of candidates stopped. America went back not exactly to normalcy but settled in to changed times. Many a commentator since then has written reflections on the election. Let me share some of mine, from a pro-life standpoint.
First of all I think the elections showed that many Americans continue to be accepting of secular values. The majority of Americans and a majority of Catholics voted for a presidential candidate who not only supports abortion in all circumstances but wants to enshrine it as a right, who endorses same-sex unions, who encourages embryo stem cell research, etc. It is true that he holds many values that are a part of the Catholic social tradition, such as, concern for the poor, for immigrants, for people without health care, etc. But he differs profoundly on the life issues. I suppose we can say that most people “voted their pocketbooks” in this election, but that meant tacitly accepting positions against life. We will see in the next few months how all of this will be played out. Will campaign promises be ignored — or hurried into effect? We will soon see.
In addition, there were other indications of anti-life messages. Michigan loosened restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, Colorado rejected a proposition that would have defined human life as beginning at fertilization, South Dakota voted against banning abortion in the state and California said no to a proposal that would have required notification of parents if a minor daughter wanted an abortion. Furthermore, and most importantly, the state of Washington became the second state, after Oregon, to legalize assisted-suicide. Doctors have been given a license to kill. This is worrisome.
Yet it is true that there were gains in some moral areas. In three states — California, Arizona and Florida — the majority of voters agreed that marriage was to be defined as a relationship between a man and a woman, barring same-sex marriages. That makes 30 states that do not accept gay marriage. Marriage in its traditional form is still held in regard by the American people. That is a good sign.
In the last months of the campaigns, we saw a great number of Catholic bishops write special pastoral letters encouraging voters to consider the life issues as the first priority when voting. Actually 59 bishops did that, some demanding that the letters be read in church. Another 21 bishops added their names to letters written by other bishops’ conferences. That was a total of 80 bishops who voiced their personal opposition to pro-choice views — largely, it is said, because they were not satisfied with the statement on voting “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” by the American Catholic bishops, published in November 2007.
The pastoral letters this year were meant to be a wake-up call to American Catholics. People may criticize the effort and say that it was too little too late, that the majority of Catholics in the country did not pay attention to the message. But if you look at the record, you will find that Catholics who go to church regularly — those who we presume heard the pastoral letters — voted overwhelmingly pro-life. The bishops at their November meeting will be discussing this matter. I hope that the discussion encourages the bishops to greater efforts in forming a clear and united front regarding crucial questions.
I know that there is frustration among some pro-life adherents as a result of the elections.
After 35 years we still have Roe vs. Wade and it seems that it may be enshrined in our legal culture even more deeply. We foresee that Supreme Court judges in the next few years will be picked because they support Roe. One of the Catholic scholars who came out for Obama just previous to the election, Professor Nicholas Cafardi of Duquesne University Law School, wrote in the article announcing his choice: “I believe we have lost the abortion battle — permanently.”
I do not think such a defeatist attitude is warranted. Now is the time to renew pro-life endeavors, to do battle so that the Freedom of Choice Act does not become law (which would establish abortion as a human “right”), to show that Roe was badly decided, to ensure that embryonic stem cell research is not given untrammeled freedom.
As Mother Teresa used to say: “God calls us not to success but to fidelity.” For me that fidelity means renewed pro-life efforts, not in 2012, but now!
Father John A. Leies, SM, STD, is president emeritus of St. Mary’s University and was formerly head of the Theology Department there.