Editorial: If Economic Policy can Change, Why not Life Policy?

Is the new President going to stake his place in history on a counterfeit notion of freedom?

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - On Monday, President Elect Barack Obama announced several of his Cabinet choices. He has put in place many of the same people who were a part of the last Democratic Presidents' team. The former First Lady and his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hilary Clinton has been the subject of continual Press reports over the last two weeks. She will soon be named the Secretary of State. Today, he introduced his economic team. Most of them were either former members of the Clinton administration or influenced by the economic thought of former Clinton Administration Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.

There is no doubt that the President Elect faces a serious international economic crisis. Word is that the economic tsunami of the last several weeks has changed the whole game, in effect "changing the change" he once proposed as a candidate. When all is said and done, some speculate he may even leave in place the old Bush tax cuts until they automatically expire. In addition, given the people he is putting in charge of the National Security and Foreign Policy infrastructure of his administration, it appears that the current Iraq policy will not change much either. That is odd since he ran as the only candidate who opposed the initial incursion into Iraq.

However, there is one area where he still intends to bring about radical change, in the treatment of our youngest neighbors, children in the womb. I take exception to the characterization of this issue as merely "social". The fundamental human right to life from conception to natural death is the mother of all moral issues. It is also at the heart of a just economic order. This first right to be born is the hinge of the entire infrastructure of human rights. Rights require living persons to exercise. The Right to Life puts the "Just" in Justice, whether it is economic, social or international justice. Good governance should protect, promote and further the goods of the human person, beginning with life. A just economy is one which is at the service of the human person, the family and the common good. A just international and homeland security policy is one which recognizes the need to protect human persons, the family and the common good.

The recent selection of cabinet appointees who advocate abortion on demand as public policy and the selection of Ellen Moran as White House communications director are ominous signs to every Pro-life American. Ms. Moran sold the "Emily's List" lie that unrestricted abortion will promote the common good. It cannot. It destroys it. Writing on behalf of all of our Bishops, Francis Cardinal George recently sent a letter to the President Elect in which he noted: "...The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion."

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Is the new President going to stake his place in history on a counterfeit notion of freedom which says that human beings should be "free" to kill their neighbors? Let us make no mistake - that is what every procured abortion is, the taking of the life of a human child in the first home of the whole human race. No-one with integrity has any doubt that the child in the womb is a human person; science has confirmed what our conscience has told us all along. Few even make the argument any longer. It has all come down to the dangerous idea that the choice to terminate a life should be left up to the child's mother, under some notion of personal liberty which allows the killing. The positive law prohibits the killing of our neighbors in every other instance except self defense. It enforces what we all know is right, whether we are religious or not, because it is revealed by the Natural Law. Why is it any different with the killing of our neighbors in the womb? Everyone agrees that we need to care for the mother before she even considers such a dreadful choice and assist with the care of the child after birth and through life. That is not the issue. The issue is whether we should sanction the killing of our youngest neighbors and use the Police Power of the State to enforce this brutal act of aggression.

In the waning weeks of the Bush administration, President Bush is trying to use the executive order power to ensure that there is a "conscience clause" so that those who do not want to participate in the killing of children in the womb are not compelled to do so. All of this is being done because of the President Elects' expressed pledge during the campaign to sign the "Freedom of Choice Act". If passed, this lethal legislation would remove all limitations on abortion and enshrine the holdings of Roe and Doe in the Federal law. In that same letter to our president Elect, our Bishops summarized the extreme nature of the Freedom of Choice Act in these words from Cardinal George:

"In the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that would, if brought forward in the same form today, outlaw any "interference" in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country.

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"Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial-birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. Abortion clinics would be deregulated. The Hyde Amendment restricting the federal funding of abortions would be abrogated. FOCA would have lethal consequences for prenatal human life.

"FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil."

In light of the events of the last week and the surprising "change of the change" which has occurred in the arena of economic policy, perhaps there can be more "changes of the change" in the arena of social policy, namely the protection of the fundamental human right to be born? I just received a mailing from Kristen Day of "Democrats for Life" entitled "Call to Action! Share Your Vision!" In it she writes:

"The Obama Administration's transition website includes a section where you can "Share Your Vision" (http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision). Please take a moment to complete this section thoughtfully and to urge President-Elect Obama to: 1.) pass the Pregnant Women Support Act which will drastically reduce the abortion rate in this country; 2.) allow funding only for stem cell research that does not involve the destruction of human embryos; 3.) listen to and work with pro-life Democrats and people who have differing opinions on abortion before making any major policy changes; and 4.) do not sign or promote the Freedom of Choice Act."

I urge all of our readers to take Kristen's advice. I also urge you to visit "Democrats for Life of America" at http://www.democratsforlife.org/. Let us raise our voices like we have never done before. Let us give our voice to the millions of our youngest neighbors who cannot be heard because their cry for life is muffled by the wall of the womb.

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