We would like to commend the writers of The Spire’s article “Why You Should Care About the Texas Heartbeat Act” published on December 3, 2021 for their interest in discussing abortion from a Catholic perspective. Certainly, the care they show for Catholic values and our Holy Cross identity is admirable. This is particularly shown in their deference to Catholic Social Teaching (CST): “we value the call to family and community, solidarity, the preferential option for the poor and the life and dignity of the human person.” However, they overlook the true gravity of the right to life and human dignity about which they speak. It must be understood that the right to life applies from “womb to tomb,” undergirding the preferential option for the poor, and all other CST principles.
These seven principles of CST, born out of Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, are: life and dignity of the human person, call to family, community and participation, rights and responsibilities, preferential option for the poor, the dignity of work and the rights of workers, solidarity, and care for God’s creation. These principles build and depend upon each other; the foundational principle is the right to life and the inherent dignity of every human person. This is why, “The preservation of life is the bounden duty of one and all (Rerum Novarum 44).” The other principles have no ground to stand on without this. Why would we care about feeding those who starve among us, if we don’t recognize their right to life? Why else would it matter if they perish? You can’t clothe, house, or feed a dead person. So then, how can we say we support a preferential option for the poor without first recognizing that those poor are valued and deserve life? The Catechism is very clear that “social justice can be obtained only in respecting the transcendent dignity of [the human person] (CCC 1929).”
The authors of the Spire article ask, “As men and women for others, should we not support those who are struggling in poverty?” The answer is yes! In fact, it is our duty. However, our call to provide a preferential option for the poor extends beyond just the mother to her unborn child as well; the unborn are the poorest among us. As Catholics, we know that “human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception (CCC 2270).” But, we don’t need to refer to the catechism for this. Basic science and common sense is enough. Take your parents for example. Are they any more human than you are because they’ve lived longer? Are your little siblings any less human? No, our humanity is not something that changes with age. So what about a child that is 2 months old? 1 month? 1 week? 1 day? 1 minute? 1 second? Is this child any less human from that second she was born to those months after? No. What about that same child, just seconds ago in the birth canal of her mother. Was she any less human then? How about a week before in her mother’s womb? Or a month ago? Or 2 months? Or 9 months? At what moment did this child go from any other being to a human person endowed with such great dignity? This child undergoes no significant change in the birth canal, other than a change in her location – less than a foot from the inside of her mother’s womb to being swaddled in her mother’s arms. What about her development? What biological change instantly grants her all those rights a human being has? There is no discreet moment except conception, when she receives a unique set of DNA from her mother and father. Indeed, this is the only problem we can see with the heartbeat laws in Texas and across this country: they define life at a heartbeat, which is just another arbitrary stage of biological development, holding no weight as to a person’s humanity. They are a step in the right direction, but we should not fool ourselves into thinking that they accurately define the beginning of human life.
If abortion isn’t the real solution, what are real solutions? Visitation House is one. This Worcester, MA organization provides a supportive home for pregnant women during their pregnancy and the first months after the birth of their child. Here, women are given the resources, respect, and love needed to care for themselves and their children. Organizations that supply food, housing, medical care, counseling, child care, and parenting support are all part of extending the preferential option for the poor to both mothers and unborn children. Let’s put our time, energy, effort, and resources into these organizations instead of organizations that murder children and claim to help. This is not to mention the lasting effects that abortion can have on the physical and mental health of women. It’s convenient to pay $500 to Planned Parenthood. It’s far more difficult to raise a child and support a mother. And yet, we must.
We cannot neglect our duty to extend a preferential option to the poor because it’s inconvenient. Recognizing the dignity of both mother and child, we know that our Holy Cross value to be men and women for and with others does not conflict with our Catholic values that call us to respect life at all stages. Rather, we see that our Catholic faith provides us a great gift: we have more people, both mother and child, whom we can love and serve.This gift of life is born of God’s love for humanity. God’s love which is ir-rationable and irrational. In the Gospel of John, we hear how Jesus used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 (John 6:1-14). After everyone was fed, there were still twelve baskets of bread leftover. All were satisfied and there was still an abundance. God does not ration his love, so neither should we. As we strive to imitate the ways of Christ as men and women for and with others, we can and must choose to love and nourish people of all ages, abilities, and intellects. We must choose to love both the born and the unborn – the women who are pregnant and their children.