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A Game Changer for the Abortion Debate
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | Imperator |
| Last Edited | Imperator Oct 15, 2012 10:46am |
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| Category | Perspective |
| Author | George Weigel |
| News Date | Monday, October 15, 2012 04:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Pro-life commentary on the October 11 veep debate understandably centered on Vice President Joe Biden’s duplicitous (or, if you prefer, grossly ill-informed) attempt to square the circle and be a pro-life Catholic and a pro-abortion pol. And why not?
For in the space of a few sentences, Biden managed to make four errors that ought to have registered on any serious observer’s Gaffe-O-Meter. He misrepresented the opposition to abortion mounted by popes and bishops (which is based on biology and philosophy, not specifically on Catholic theology or “sectarian” premises). He channeled his inner Cuomo-Kerry and declared himself personally opposed to abortion but unwilling to impose his personal views on a pluralistic country (a delicacy Biden wouldn’t dream of applying to Obamacare, which is now rejected by the majority of this pluralistic country). He tried to tie Todd Akin around the necks of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan (imagine the howls if Ryan had — correctly — associated Obama and Biden with Sandra Fluke). And he falsely implied that his was the true Catholic “social-justice” position (whereas John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and the U.S. bishops have repeatedly taught that the pro-life cause is the Catholic social-justice issue, and that any attempt to drive a wedge between “social-justice Catholics” and “pro-life Catholics,” such that “social-justice Catholics” who tacitly or blatantly support the abortion license earn a Get Out of Jail Free card, has zero standing as a serious Catholic endeavor).
Ryan, for his part, correctly said that settled Catholic teaching on abortion is based on science and reason, and he nicely interjected sonograms — undoubtedly one of the biggest reasons for the growth of pro-life sentiment in the United States, which is now the majority sentiment in the country — into the discussion. |
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