A renewed need for pro-life subsidiarity

A renewed need for pro-life subsidiarity

The Dobbs decision reminds us that winning hearts and minds is local.

https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2023/06/26/a-renewed-need-for-pro-life-subsidiarity/

June 26, 2023 Father Jerry J. Pokorsky The Dispatch 0Print

Pro-life demonstrators in Washington celebrate outside the Supreme Court June 24, 2022, as the court overruled the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision. (CNS photo/Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters)

Former President Trump recently got in hot water with the pro-life movement by criticizing Governor Ron DeSantis’ six-week abortion legislation as “too harsh.”

After the Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Trump picked an unnecessary fight that damaged his reputation among pro-lifers. The Court overturned Roe, but like the failure of the President, many of us have not redirected our focus to local politics.

In the Roe vs. Wade decision, the Supreme Court famously found the alleged “right” to an abortion in the “emanation of the penumbra” of the Constitution, overturning every pro-life state law. Since then, abortuaries have killed between 50 and 60 million unborn babies. The laity – mostly lay Catholics – organized the hugely successful annual March for Life on the anniversary of the decision clogging the streets of Washington, D.C., every year during frigid January weather. Justice Antonin Scalia – among the minority of originalists on the Court — lamented that the protest spectacle would continue until the Court overturned Roe and declared the alleged right to abortion unconstitutional.

President Trump’s policies defended the lives of the unborn more effectively than every Republican President–including President Reagan–since 1973. As Donald Trump took office, he reinstated Reagan’s much-heralded and despised Mexico City Policy, which bans U.S. aid to groups abroad that make referrals for abortion or discuss abortion as an option. Trump consulted the Federalist Society–a group of conservative and libertarian lawyers–to identify potential Supreme Court nominees. As President, he nominated (and received Senate confirmation for) three originalist jurists to the Court.

Thanks to Trump, the Court—with its majority of originalists—overturned Roe in its Dobbs decision in June 2022. As a result of the decision, state legislators and governors scrambled to revisit their abortion laws. Public support in response to vigorous leadership determines legislative success. Dobbs didn’t magically end abortion, but state laws regulating abortion would presumably favor popular pro-life sentiment on the local level.

Trump was the best friend unborn babies had in the White House. Pro-life political appointees and staffers comprised much of the Executive Branch during his Administration. After defeating Trump in 2020, Joseph Biden reinstated every pro-abortion policy possible on the Executive level. Even his top military executive, who professes the Catholic faith–Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin—cooperated in Biden’s radical abortion agenda.

In October 2020, Austin issued a memo entitled “Ensuring Access to Reproductive Health Care.” In the wake of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe, Austin wrote that the ruling “has impacted access to reproductive health care, with readiness, recruiting and retention implications for the force.” He added, “The department is examining this decision closely and evaluating our policies to ensure we continue to provide seamless access to reproductive health care [abortion] as permitted by federal law.”

In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II stated that Catholics who procure abortions suffer an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication and “it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil.” However, the Holy Father recognizes the political difficulties in establishing a just moral order. He writes:

The Church well knows that it is difficult to mount an effective legal defense of life in pluralistic democracies, because of the presence of strong cultural currents with differing outlooks. At the same time, certain that moral truth cannot fail to make its presence deeply felt in every conscience, the Church encourages political leaders, starting with those who are Christians, not to give in, but to make those choices which, taking into account what is realistically attainable, will lead to the re-establishment of a just order in the defense and promotion of the value of life. Here it must be noted that it is not enough to remove unjust laws. The underlying causes of attacks on life have to be eliminated, especially by ensuring proper support for families and motherhood.

Politics is the art of the possible. President Trump–and other pro-life Presidential candidates—should remind voters that the states are responsible for abortion laws, not the Federal Government. A political advisor might provide this script to their candidate concerning the right to life:

I follow the science and know that life begins at conception. The deliberate attack on an unborn baby is always wrong. In my Administration, I will abide by the laws, but I will also ensure my Executive Branch—to the extent possible—will protect the unborn by policy and Executive Orders. Politics is the art of the possible. I encourage state legislators and governors to relentlessly promote legislation that increasingly protects the lives of unborn babies. The states need to pay special attention to the needs of the poor, who are easily frightened by Planned Parenthood, politicians, and the medical profession. I’m not a clergyman. I’m a politician. So, I also call on religious leaders to do their part in preaching the Fifth Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not murder.’

Pro-life organizations should indeed declare victory after the Dobbs decision. Nobody can claim the Constitution supports the right to abortion. Most of us know more about national politics than the makeup of our school boards; that must change. The efficiencies of high-profile national displays must give way to the hard work of local community organizing. The liberals knew that for years and have morally undermined the nation. The Dobbs decision reminds us that winning hearts and minds is local.

There is always a question of emphasis. Roe is a dead letter. If a national witness remains prudent, the “National Celebrate Life Day” is a good approach: a Washington, DC, march heralding the Dobbs decision, honoring the Court, and emphasizing the need for a focus on the local and state levels. Also, let’s celebrate “Unborn Baby Pride!” in our communities–and churches.

Finally, many solid Internet platforms report on national political topics that include informative daily or weekly emails. But every diocese could use a daily email platform–under lay control—to monitor local politics and spark pro-life activism where it counts. Oremus.