Pro-life through and through

Before the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue its long-anticipated abortion decision in the Dobbs case. 

Because of an unprecedented leak, it is widely expected that the justices will uphold a lower court’s decision limiting abortion or possibly even overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in every state. 

Overturning Roe would return the ability to regulate abortion to the states.  

Pro-life advocates and those who recognize abortion as the preeminent social concern of our time are certainly heartened by this possibility.  

For nearly 50 years, we have been praying for an end to abortion. Abortion is an afront to the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person. Abortion destroys the life of an innocent child, but also inflicts a wound on mothers, fathers, families and society.

Even if Roe is overturned, the pro-life struggle goes on. Regarding abortion, the question of its legality will move to individual states. But beyond politics, the authenticity of our pro-life commitment demands that we be prepared to stand with mothers and families who will continue to face unexpected or problem pregnancies. They need support and care not only before birth but long after.

Our pro-life credentials in Oklahoma ought to be evident in our concern for the least among us by ensuring adequate nutrition, access to health care, education and any number of other goods that are necessary for each person to live with dignity and to promote authentic human flourishing.

Most Oklahomans are rightly proud to refer to themselves as pro-life. During the current campaign season, many candidates highlight their pro-life credentials because they are opposed to abortion. 

Abortion is the foundational issue for anyone who claims to be pro-life. But it doesn’t end there. Without that foundation securely in place, our pro-life claims and aspirations are like a house of cards. They soon collapse.

The challenge is to build on that foundation in a consistent manner. No single issue fully encompasses all that it means to be pro-life. The minimum is to uphold and defend the most innocent, the unborn. But it doesn’t end there.  

We must be pro-life through and through!  

As Catholics we recognize that the foundation of our pro-life commitment is our belief that we are all created in the image of God with inherent dignity that comes from God. We cannot forfeit or surrender that dignity.  

Sin defaces it but it does not destroy it completely. The state doesn’t grant it, nor can it take it away. We are redeemed by the blood of Christ who died and rose to deliver us from sin and death.  

We are created to spend eternity with God in the company of the saints. This is God’s plan. Every life is precious in God’s eyes.

For most Catholics in America, perhaps the most challenging application of these principles revolves around the question of the death penalty.  

The State of Oklahoma faces the prospect of the executing 25 convicted criminals over the course of the next two years. These men have exhausted their legal challenges and the attorney general has asked for dates for their executions. What a tragic spectacle this will be.  

There is no question that heinous crimes have been committed. Victims and their families have suffered. These crimes call for justice. But in a Christian worldview should not mercy season justice?

The truth, however, is that there are a variety of ways to exact justice without resorting to the use of the death penalty, which only perpetuates the cycle of violence. The use of the death penalty does not guarantee closure for the families of crime victims or bring them back. 

These families need our support and practical compassion. What about those who have been wrongly convicted? For so many reasons the death penalty is archaic and no longer necessary in a civilized society, let alone one based on the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The prayers, fasting and efforts of generations of pro-life advocates have brought us to the threshold of a time when we can envision no more abortions in our state.  

The prayers, fasting and efforts of pro-life advocates must continue until we can foresee the elimination the death penalty in Oklahoma as well.