Do You Vote For Pro-Abortion Candidates?

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Last update: 11-9-08

This is an issue that affects all who claim to be Christian, not just Catholics.

The pro-abortion people think the abortion issue is important enough to vote for candidates that support their views, why don't pro-life people feel this way?

Some people who claim to be pro-life still vote for pro-abortion candidates because of their stand on other issues, claiming other issues are "more important" or that elections are not about "one issue". This is wrong. Nothing is more important than the lives of unborn children. All other "rights" depend on the right to life.

During the summer of 2004 the media printed this statement from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI):

When a Catholic does not share a candidate's stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.

Unfortunately the media "forgot" to mention that this statement was part of a longer memo to the U.S. Bishops dealing with giving Communion to pro-abortion candidates and that it was NOT an "official" document. Also, Cardinal Ratzinger did not mention what "proportionate reasons" could justify voting for a pro-abortion candidate.

Side note: Cardinal Ratzingers memo was quite clear on the Communion issue: NO Eucharistic Communion for politicians who systematically campaign for abortion. Also, Cardinal Ratzinger made it quite clear that for a politician to disagree with the Catholic church on other life issues like capital punishment or war is NOT IN THE SAME CATEGORY as disagreeing with the Church about abortion.

So, what is a proportionate reason to justify favoring the taking of an innocent, defenseless, human life?

Bishop Emeritus Rene H. Gracida of Corpus Christi, Texas, answered this question in this letter:

When a Catholic does not share a candidate's stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons strictly defined. Since abortion and euthanasia have been defined by the Church as the most serious sins prevalent in our society, what kind of reasons could possibly be considered proportionate enough to justify a Catholic voting for a candidate who is known to be pro-abortion? None of the reasons commonly suggested could even begin to be proportionate enough to justify a Catholic voting for such a candidate. Reasons such as the candidate’s position on war, or taxes, or the death penalty, or immigration, or a national health plan, or social security, or aids, or homosexuality, or marriage, or any similar burning societal issues of our time are simply lacking in proportionality. There is only one thing that could be considered proportionate enough to justify a Catholic voting for a candidate who is known to be pro-abortion, and that is the protection of innocent human life. That may seem to be contradictory, but it is not. Consider the case of a Catholic voter who must choose between three candidates: Candidate A, who is completely for abortion-on-demand, Candidate B, who is in favor of very limited abortion, i.e., in favor of greatly restricting abortion, and Candidate C, a candidate who is completely against abortion but who is universally recognized as being unelectable. The Catholic voter cannot vote for Candidate A because that would be formal cooperation in the sin of abortion if that candidate were to be elected and assist in passing legislation which would remove restrictions on abortion-on-demand. The Catholic can vote for Candidate C but that will probably only help ensure the election of Candidate A. Therefore the Catholic voter has a proportionate reason to vote for Candidate B, since his vote may help to ensure the defeat of Candidate A and may result in the saving of some innocent human lives if Candidate B is elected and votes for legislation restricting abortion-on-demand. In such a case the Catholic voter would have chosen the lesser of two evils which is morally permissible under these circumstances.

Archbishop John Myers of Newark, NJ echoed that statement in his September 2004 Letter to the Faithful:

Certainly policies on welfare, national security, the war in Iraq, Social Security or taxes, taken singly or in any combination, do not provide a proportionate reason to vote for a pro-abortion candidate.

On page 16 of the November/December issue of The Catholic Answer, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver says:

The Gospel tells us to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19) and to be "leaven" in the world (Matthew 13:33). Its doesn't say "Except in our political decisions". The Church asks each of us to vote according to our conscience. But as the Second Vatican Council reminded us in Dignitatis Humanae (Declaration on Religious Freedom), conscience is never just a matter of personal preference or opinion. As Catholics (and Christians) we have an obligation to form our consciences in the light of the truth the Church teaches. Otherwise, our "conscience" is really something very different - what Cardinal John Henry Newman called an "assertion of the self".

To vote for a pro-abortion candidate because of our own needs is placing our needs above those of others, and that is selfish and shows a lack of trust in God. No one is more needy or vulnerable than an unborn child. Question 6 of the Baltimore Catechism is "Why did God make me?" and the answer is "God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven." God is not served by our selfishness.

In November 2002 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a document titled "Doctrinal Notes On Some Questions Regarding The Participation Of Catholics In Political Life". In that document it was stated

A well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.

According to Catholic Answers "Voters Guide For Serious Catholics" the fundamental contents of faith and morals are:

1. Abortion 2. Euthanasia 3. Fetal Stem Cell Research 4. Human Cloning 5. "Homosexual Marriage".

In November 1998 the American Bishops released a statement called Living the Gospel of Life. In paragraph 23 they state:

Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing, and health care. Therefore, Catholics should eagerly involve themselves as advocates for the weak and marginalized in all these areas... But being 'right' in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding attacks on innocent human life (emphasis in the orginal). Indeed, the failure to protect life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the 'rightness' of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community.

This plainly states that NO issue is more important than protecting the unborn.

In paragraph 34 the Bishops state:

We get the public officials we deserve. Their virtue -- or lack thereof -- is a judgment not only on them, but on us. Because of this, we urge our fellow citizens to see beyond party politics, to analyze campaign rhetoric critically, and to choose their political leaders according to principle, not party affiliation or mere self-interest.

In Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), paragraph 73, Pope John Paul II states:

Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection...In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law, or vote for it.

Some voters try to justify their voting for a pro-abortion candidate by saying the Bishops aren't really pro-life because they are putting so much effort into the abortion issue but they aren't putting an equal effort into other life issues such as ending capital punishment and assisted suicide. This is a weak argument for several reasons:

First, abortion has killed OVER 48 MILLION INNOCENT BABIES (as of 2008) since it was legalized in 1973. This number doesn't even come CLOSE to comparing to the number who have died from assisted suicide and capital punishment combined.

Second, abortion kills BABIES, capital punishment and assisted suicide do not.

Third, those who die of assisted suicide make their own choice to die, aborted babies have no choice.

Fourth, criminals are put to death because they have committed SERIOUS CRIMES, what crimes have aborted babies committed?

Fifth, the State has the right to put certain criminals to death, even the Bible agrees with that. Because of advances in jail security there is no reason to put criminals to death in this day and age, but the right still exists.

Is voting for a pro-abortion candidate a sin? Probably. Is it a mortal sin? Possibly. In the document Declaration on Procured Abortion (Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, November 18, 1974), paragraph 22 states:

...man can never obey a law which is in itself immoral, and such is the case of a law which would admit in principle the liceity of abortion. Nor can he take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for it.

"But", you say, "I don't vote for the law". No, but if you vote for a candidate that votes for the law then you are at least partially responsible for the law. Any politician who votes for an abortion law is clearly a formal accomplice to that law, giving formal cooperation with abortion. Any person who votes for such a candidate, knowing full well that candidate will help make public money available for abortions, and/or will continue its decriminalization, is cooperating with that candidate in the continuation of abortion, and that is a sin.

In paragraph 62C of Evangelium Vitae Pope John Paul II writes:

I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. ... No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself and proclaimed by the Church.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 1857: For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin (1) whose object is grave matter, (2) is committed with full knowledge and (3) deliberate consent." In the paragraph above Pope John Paul stated that abortion is a grave moral disorder. All Catholics should know that abortion is prohibited by the Church, and when they vote for a pro-abortion candidate they do so willingly and deliberately. As was stated earlier, when a person votes for a pro-abortion candidate they are cooperating with that candidate in the continuation of abortion, therefore, all three conditions for a mortal sin are met.

Pope John Paul II, in his speech on February 14, 2001, said:

The promotion of the culture of life should be the highest priority in our societies... If the right to life is not defended decisively as a condition for all other rights of the person, all other references to human rights remain deceitful and illusory.

In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said: "Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His Justice". God's Justice does not include abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning, or "homosexual marriage".

Let us not forget the words of St. Paul in Philippians 3:17 - 4:1:

Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is their "shame." Their minds are occupied with earthly things.

Anyone who supports abortion is an enemy of Christ. Anyone who supports a pro-abortion candidate "for other reasons" has a mind occupied with earthly things, and their end is destruction.

Morals matter. The ultimate decline of a country is always preceded by its moral decline. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, not because of environmental, economical, or tax issues, but because of their lack of morals. Will America be next? The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the recent (2008) financial crisis are wake up calls, are we listening?

This document was not paid for by any candidate or intended as an endorsement of any candidate or party.

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