Statement on Senator Biden's Recent Comments on Church Teachings on Abortion
Bishop W. Francis Malooly
Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware
September 10, 2008
Earlier today, our United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a
statement to clarify remarks recently made by Senator Joseph Biden. They explain
the truth of the matter in a clear and concise way. As your Bishop, I want you
to understand our Church teaching, embrace it and promote it.
The USCCB statement is as follows:
BISHOPS RESPOND TO SENATOR BIDEN’S STATEMENTS REGARDING CHURCH TEACHING ON
ABORTION
WASHINGTON—Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on
Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop William E. Lori, chairman, U.S. Bishops
Committee on Doctrine, issued the following statement:
Recently we had a duty to clarify the Catholic Church’s constant teaching
against abortion, to correct misrepresentations of that teaching by House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on “Meet the Press” (see
www.usccb.org/prolife/whatsnew.shtml). On September 7, again on “Meet the
Press,” Senator Joseph Biden made some statements about that teaching that also
deserve a response.
Senator Biden did not claim that Catholic teaching allows or has ever allowed
abortion. He said rightly that human life begins “at the moment of conception,”
and that Catholics and others who recognize this should not be required by
others to pay for abortions with their taxes.
However, the Senator’s claim that the beginning of human life is a “personal and
private” matter of religious faith, one which cannot be “imposed” on others,
does not reflect the truth of the matter. The Church recognizes that the
obligation to protect unborn human life rests on the answer to two questions,
neither of which is private or specifically religious.
The first is a biological question: When does a new human life begin? When is
there a new living organism of the human species, distinct from mother and
father and ready to develop and mature if given a nurturing environment? While
ancient thinkers had little verifiable knowledge to help them answer this
question, today embryology textbooks confirm that a new human life begins at
conception (see www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/bioethic/fact298.shtml). The
Catholic Church does not teach this as a matter of faith; it acknowledges it as
a matter of objective fact.
The second is a moral question, with legal and political consequences: Which
living members of the human species should be seen as having fundamental human
rights, such as a right not to be killed? The Catholic Church’s answer is:
Everybody. No human being should be treated as lacking human rights, and we have
no business dividing humanity into those who are valuable enough to warrant
protection and those who are not. This is not solely a Catholic teaching, but a
principle of natural law accessible to all people of good will. The framers of
the Declaration of Independence pointed to the same basic truth by speaking of
inalienable rights, bestowed on all members of the human race not by any human
power, but by their Creator. Those who hold a narrower and more exclusionary
view have the burden of explaining why we should divide humanity into those who
have moral values and those who do not and why their particular choice of where
to draw that line can be sustained in a pluralistic society. Such views pose a
serious threat to the dignity and rights of other poor and vulnerable members of
the human family who need and deserve our respect and protection.
While in past centuries biological knowledge was often inaccurate, modern
science leaves no excuse for anyone to deny the humanity of the unborn child.
Protection of innocent human life is not an imposition of personal religious
conviction but a demand of justice.
# # #
It is my intention to build a supportive and trusting friendship with Senator
Biden and as many public officials as I can. I will do my best, with your
prayers, to assist him and all public officials as well as all citizens in our
Diocese and beyond to understand how crucial the sanctity of human life is to a
just society in the State of Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and our
entire nation.
Most Reverend W. Francis Malooly, D.D.
Bishop of Wilmington
