Pastoral Message on Abortion
A Pastoral Issued
by the Administrative Committee of the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops
February 13, 1973
1. Almighty God, the Creator of the world, has imprinted in the heart
of man a law which calls him to do good and avoid evil. To obey this law is
the dignity of man; according to it he will be judged (cf. Constitution on
the Church in the Modern World, No. 16). In the encyclical, Peace on Earth,
Pope John XXIII spoke of how nations can achieve justice and order by
adhering to God’s law:
Any human society if it is to be well-ordered and productive, must lay down
as a foundation this principle, namely, that every human being is a person, that
is, his nature is endowed with intelligence and free will. By virtue of this, he
has rights and duties of his own, flowing directly and simultaneously from his
very nature. These rights are therefore universal, inviolable and inalienable
(Peace on Earth, No. 9)
2. The Supreme Court, in its recent decision striking down the laws of
Texas and
Georgia regulating abortion, has stated that the unborn child is not a
person in the terms of the Fourteenth Amendment. Moreover, the Court held
that the right of privacy encompasses a woman’s decision to terminate a
pregnancy, although the right of privacy is not an absolute right, and is
not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. In effect, the Court is saying
that the right of privacy takes precedence over the right to life. This
opinion of the Court fails to protect the most basic human right -- the
right to life. Therefore, we reject this decision of the Court because, as
John XXIII says, "If any government does not acknowledge the rights of man
or violates them, its orders completely lack juridical force" (Peace on
Earth, No. 61).
3. The Court has apparently failed to understand the scientific
evidence clearly showing that the fetus is an individual human being whose
prenatal development is but the first phase of the long and continuous
process of human development that begins at conception and terminates at
death. Thus, the seven judges majority went on to declare that the life of
the unborn child is not to be considered of any compelling value prior to
viability, i.e., during the first six or seven months of pregnancy, and of
only questionable value during the remaining months. Ultimately, this means
that the fetus, that is, the unborn child, belongs to an inferior class of
human beings whose God-given rights will no longer be protected under the
Constitution of the United States.
4. We find that this majority opinion of the Court is wrong and is
entirely contrary to the fundamental principles of morality. Catholic
teaching holds that, regardless of the circumstances of its origin, human
life is valuable from conception to death because God is the Creator of each
human being, and because mankind has been redeemed by Jesus Christ (cf.
Peace on Earth, Nos. 9 and 10). No court, no legislative body, no leader of
government, can legitimately assign less value to some human life. Thus, the
laws that conform to the opinion of the Court are immoral laws, in
opposition to God's plan of creation and to the Divine Law which prohibits
the destruction of human life at any point of its existence. Whenever a
conflict arises between the law of God and any human law, we are held to
follow God's law.
5. Furthermore, we believe, with millions of our fellow Americans,
that our American law and way of life comprise an obvious and certain
recognition of the law of God, and that our legal system is both based in
it, and must conform to it. The Declaration of Independence holds that all
men are endowed by "their Creator with certain unalienable rights," among
which are "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Preamble to the
Constitution establishes as one goal of the people of the United States "to
secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity." Without
the right to life, no true liberty is possible.
6. The basic human rights guaranteed by our American laws are,
therefore, unalienable, because their source is not man-made legislation but
the Creator of all mankind, Almighty God. No right is more fundamental than
the right to life itself, and no innocent human life already begun can be
deliberately terminated without offense to the Author of all life. Thus,
there can be no moral acceptance of the recent United States Supreme Court
decision which professes to legalize abortion.
7. In light of these reasons, we reject the opinion of the U.S.
Supreme Court as erroneous, unjust, and immoral. Because of our
responsibilities as authentic religious leaders and teachers, we make the
following pastoral applications:
(1) Catholics must oppose abortion as an immoral act. No one is obliged to
obey any civil law that may require abortion.
(2) Abortion is and has always been considered a serious violation of God's
law. Those who obtain an abortion, those who persuade others to have an
abortion, and those who perform the abortion procedures are guilty of breaking
God's law. Moreover, in order to emphasize the special evil of abortion, under
Church law, those who undergo or perform an abortion place themselves in a state
of excommunication.
(3) As tragic and sweeping as the Supreme Court decision is, it is still
possible to create a pro-life atmosphere in which all, and notably physicians
and health care personnel, will influence their peers to see a value in all
human life, including that of the unborn child during the entire course of
pregnancy. We hope that doctors will retain an ethical concern for the welfare
of both the mother and the unborn child, and will not succumb to social pressure
in performing abortions.
(4) We urge the legal profession to articulate and safeguard the rights of
fathers of unborn children, rights that have not been upset by this Supreme
Court opinion.
(5) We praise the efforts of pro-life groups and many other concerned
Americans and encourage them to:
(a) Offer positive alternatives to abortion for distressed pregnant women;
(b) Pursue protection for institutions and individuals to refuse on the basis
of conscience to engage in abortion procedure;
(c) Combat the general permissiveness legislation can engender;
(d) Assure the most restrictive interpretation of the Court's opinion at the
state legislative level;
(e) Set in motion the machinery needed to assure legal and constitutional
conformity to the basic truth that the unborn child is a "person" in every sense
of the term from the time of conception.
8. Bringing about a reversal of the Supreme Court's decision and
achieving respect for unborn human life in our society will require unified
and persistent efforts. But we must begin now—in our churches, schools, and
homes, as well as in the larger civic community—to instill reverence for
life at all stages. We take as our mandate the words of the Book of
Deuteronomy: "I set before you life or death, . . . Choose life, then, that
you and your descendants may live..." (Dt 30:19-20).
