Bishop Carlson on Abortion and Catholic Voters

Any serious Catholic voter must recognize abortion as the premier threat to human rights and dignity in our day. The right to life is the right through which all others flow.

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SAGINAW (Catholic Online) - In keeping with our commitment to presenting the clear moral teaching of our Bishops on the proper exercise of our faithful citizenship catholic Online presents a pastoral letter by Bishop Robert J. Carlson of the Diocese of Saginaw in Michigan:
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I. On Abortion and Catholic Voters

As the presidential election approaches, I want to respond to a few questions that many Catholics are asking themselves, and each other.

"Isn't abortion the only issue in this election?" No. Any serious Catholic voter must be concerned about a great many issues in this election: the right to life, education, war and peace, how we treat the poor and the vulnerable, the economy.

"Isn't abortion just one issue among others in this election?" No. Any serious Catholic voter must recognize abortion as the premier threat to human rights and dignity in our day. The right to life is the right through which all others flow.

"So, how's a Catholic to vote?" Let me put the matter as simply as I can: Abortion results in the killing of approximately 1 million children in the womb every year. A Catholic can, in good conŹscience, vote for a pro-choice candidate only if other issues outweigh this one in number and in kind.What do I mean by "in number and in kind"? Let's take an example. The Church is opposed to the use of the death penalty. But the death penalty does not outweigh abortion because:

1) they differ in number: over 1 million abortions per year vs. less than 100 executions per year, and 2) they differ in kind: the directly willed death of the inŹnocent vs. the directly willed death of those found guilty in a court of law.

Aren't there other issues to be considered? AbsoŹlutely. Immigration, the economy, the use of miliŹtary force, the care of the poor, the use of renewŹable energy. These are all important issues in the life of the country. In good conscience, a Catholic voter must weigh them all.
But there is also a scale of values. In good conŹscience, a Catholic needs to recognize that all isŹsues do not have the same weight. The directly willed death of over a million innocent children each year certainly places a special burden on the conscience.

Can any other issue, or combination of issues, attain sufficient gravity to outweigh the directly willed destruction of 1 million children every year? That's the question we must ask ourselves and each other as we weigh our election choices.

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II. Finding Cures and Protecting Life

Proposal 2 asks us to amend the state constitution to expand the use of human embryos for the purŹposes of embryonic stem cell research. Regarding the presidential election, there is the potential for Catholics to reach different concluŹsions in good conscience. Regarding Proposal 2, however, the duties of every Catholic voter are clear.

In the first place, Proposal 2 is scientifically unnecessary for following reasons. 1) The use of adult stem cells has already played a role in the treatment and cure of over 70 types of diseases, including sickle-cell anemia and various types of leukemia. The use of embryonic stem cells has resulted in 0 treatments or cures. (For more inŹformation, go to www.stemcellresearch.org) 2) Researchers prized embryonic stem cells because of their capacity to become any other cell in the