Testimony before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments
of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
March 7, 1974
His Eminence Humberto Cardinal Medeiros
Archbishop of Boston
Mr. Chairman:
I am Cardinal Humberto S. Medeiros. Like my colleagues, I wish to express my
gratitude for the opportunity to testify before this Subcommittee. With your
permission, the United States Catholic Conference will also submit a more
detailed legal memorandum at a later date.
My colleagues and I are aware that many members of Congress have sponsored or
co-sponsored proposals intended to correct the situation created by the Supreme
Court's abortion decisions of January 22, 1973. This is an extremely significant
expression of congressional sentiment. The Senators and Representatives who have
taken such action deserve the thanks of concerned Americans who perceive the
injustices created by the Court's ruling in denying to unborn babies their
inalienable and constitutionally defensible right to life and to birth and in
denying to unborn persons "equal protection of the law" and the right of "due
process."
A "states rights" amendment, which would simply return jurisdiction over the
abortion law to the states, does not seem to be a satisfactory solution to the
existing situation. Protection of human life should not depend on geographical
boundaries. The Supreme Court's action itself has made abortion a federal
question.
I am not a legal scholar and I shall therefore not attempt here either to
formulate a proposed amendment to the Constitution or to provide the language of
such an amendment. Rather, I shall attempt to set before this Subcommittee basic
and necessary considerations which should become the foundation upon which a
constitutional amendment should rest.
1. The constitutional amendment should clearly establish that, from
conception onward, the unborn child is a human person in the terms of the
Constitution.
2. The Constitution should express a commitment to the preservation of all
human life. Therefore the prohibition against the direct and intentional taking
of innocent human life should be universal and without exceptions.
3. The right to life is described in the Declaration of Independence as
"unalienable" and as a right with which all men are endowed by the Creator. The
constitutional amendment should restore the basic protection for this human
right to the unborn, just as it is provided to all other persons in the United
States.
As for an amendment which would generally prohibit abortion but permit it in
certain exceptional circumstances, such as when a woman's life is considered to
be threatened, the Catholic Conference does not endorse such an approach in
principle and could not conscientiously support it.
The teaching of the Catholic Church regarding abortion is very clear: "For
God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry of
safeguarding life- a ministry which must be fulfilled in a manner which is
worthy of man. Therefore from the moment of its conception life must be guarded
with the greatest care, while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes."
(Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,
no. 51)
This teaching has been recently repeated by the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops of the United States in their
resolution of November
13, 1973. They stated: "Finally, we wish to make it clear beyond doubt to
our fellow citizens that we consider the passage of a pro-life constitutional
amendment a priority of the highest order, one to which we are committed by our
determination to uphold the dignity of the human being and by our conviction
that this nation must provide protection for the life, liberty and pursuit of
happiness of all human beings, before as well as after birth."