This unsigned editorial was published
online July 9 by America, a national Catholic weekly magazine run by the
Jesuits.
President Donald Trump's nomination of D.C. Circuit Court Judge
Brett Kavanaugh to fill the seat on the U.S. Supreme Court vacated by Justice
Anthony Kennedy may furnish the fifth vote needed to overrule Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that legalized
abortion in every jurisdiction of the United States. Judge Kavanaugh is a
textualist who is suspicious of the kind of judicial innovation that led to the
court's ruling in Roe. That decision removed a matter of grave moral concern —
about which there was and remains no public moral consensus — from the
democratic process.
Reversing Roe will not make
abortion illegal in every jurisdiction. It would simply affirm the right of the
people, through their legislators, to make the law, while upholding the right of
the judiciary to say what the law is. Thus, more than 40 years after the court
ushered in an era of abortion virtually on demand, voters may once again have
the right to debate the issue and determine what public policy should govern.
This should be a welcome development for the millions of people who in dozens
of public opinion polls have registered their objection to the expansive
permissibility of the Roe settlement. It should
also be welcomed by all those who believe that democracies should settle such
matters by argument and voting rather than judicial fiat. The prospect of
reversing Roe increases the stakes in this
nomination battle. That potential reversal, however, effectively returning
abortion politics to the states, offers the way to prevent the issue from
continuing to dominate future Supreme Court nominations.
Yet the possibility of a fundamental change in the abortion
debate also affords the church an opportunity to reimagine its public witness
on this and other pro-life issues. The church should not abdicate its
responsibility to bear witness to a consistent ethic of life from conception to
natural death. But the possibility that Roe might
be overturned impels us to consider how we might more effectively use our voice
in the public debate that will follow. We should begin by avoiding the
intramural argument that has consumed too many Catholics — namely, whether
other pro-life issues are as important as or more important than abortion. This
argument is itself an artifact of Roe's removal of abortion from normal
political debate, which has led to claims that opposing Roe
must override all other pro-life concerns. The truth is that there are grave
and important issues for pro-life people beyond abortion, including euthanasia,
the death penalty and sane immigration policy. These issues, however, must not
be traded off against the defense of the lives of unborn children.
If Roe is overturned, continued
Catholic advocacy for a comprehensive medical and social safety net for
expectant mothers will be crucial in order to save lives and render abortion an
even less appealing choice to the public conscience. At this juncture, anyone
who recognizes the humanity of the unborn should support the nomination of a
justice who would help return this issue to the legislative arena. Overturning Roe would save lives and undo a moral and
constitutional travesty.
The views or positions presented in this or any guest
editorial are those of the individual publication and do not necessarily
represent the views of Catholic News Service or of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
© Arlington Catholic Herald 2021