Catholics United: Wrong to Call Us Pro-Abortion Rights

December 16, 2009 RSS Feed Print
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After posting yesterday on conservative Roman Catholic Deal Hudson's charge that Catholic organizations that are supportive of abortion rights are "fake Catholic groups," I got a note from Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United. Korzen said that his group does not consider itself to be pro-abortion rights. Catholics United was one of the organizations that Hudson attacked for supporting a healthcare reform bill even if it lacks a strict ban on federal funds for abortion coverage.

Here's Korzen's explanation of where his group stands on abortion and his response to Hudson:

Abortion is legal in the United States, and there's not much either Catholics United or Deal Hudson can do to change that. What we can do is find ways to unite Americans around common ground approaches to abortion, something Hudson and company have consistently opposed doing. Ensuring that pregnant women and children have insurance coverage should be a no-brainer for Catholics. In short, I wouldn't call us pro-abortion rights or anti-abortion rights. We're pro-common ground.

You'll note that we supported the House bill after the Stupak language was passed, much to the consternation of actual pro-abortion rights groups. . . . I'm pretty sure Deal wasn't with us in supporting final passage of the [House] health care bill. He just hates the idea of health care reform, and abortion provides an all-too-convenient excuse.

Tags:
abortion,
religion,
Catholic Church

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There is No such thing as a Pro-Abortion Catholic Christian. As a Christian I firmly agree that abortion is absolutely and morally offensive because it deals with the killing of human life. However, the problem I have is with the sincerity of all these so call "Pro-Life" Conservatives Republicans who are so passionately using the issue to capitalize from it politically, including trying to kill any form of Health Care by using the power of the bully pulpit. I wish I had seen the so called Neo-Moralist including the North American Council of Catholic Bishops be sincerely involved in the same passionate way when their Republican friends initiated and waged wars and that killed innocent people (men, women and children) around the world in the name of "American Strategic Interest", or when they have funded, trained and armed ruthless dictators so they could conduct their ruthless murderous campaign in South America and Asia. I wonder if these people are downright ignorant, lost their sense of good moral judgment, or are insidiously deceiving themselves and the world. Every form of human life, regardless of whether they be Black, Yellow or Brown are all created by God and deserve the same respect and dignity of Life. No person calling themselves Christians including those who are acting as surrogates of the Republican Party should selectively certain define human life more important than the others

John of NE 12:01AM December 21, 2009

Abortion doctors know there are many reasons why abortion is absolutely necessary for many women. They haven't read about osteopathy--bone diseases, including "Brittle Bone." Disease of the heart, kidneys, lungs, liver & other organs mean sure death if some women go full term. Ectopic conceptions fasten on organs other than the uterus and MUST be removed. Prolife propaganda tells lies with doctored photos or drawings. They show a very early conception as if it's the size of a suckling pig when it's really the size of a lima bean. There is tremendous ignorance on the part of Prolifers, but they do nothing to educate themselves; They invested in After Death Real Estate in Heaven. They want to believe they will collect, after all those years of giving ten per cent. If a woman has diabetes, going full term can put her on dialysis for life and cause amputation of her feet. No wife wants to bear the child of a wife-beating husband. When she's forced to go full term, I blame Prolifers when the man beats her to death and abuses the kid. If there were no paid preaching, Prolife would never exist. Nature is always aborting conception. Only churches prevent full access to this surgery, in violation of equal rights laws.

auradawn veirs of CA 2:54AM December 20, 2009

Its more wrong to call Catholics United - Catholics. The Catholic faith is not a democracy, we do not vote on what we believe, we do not take polls on what we believe. We believe what Jesus taught and the Church has faithfully handed down for 2000 years. If you do not belive it be honest with yourself, because you aren't fooling anyone, and stop calling yourself Catholics. There are plenty of other Christian denominations and some DO vote on what they believe. You should feel right at home.

The Catholic Church supports life from conception to natural death, always has and always will. Abortion is an intrinsic evil. It is more evil than slavery, discrimination, and oppression. Abortion is the deliberate taking of an innocent life at its most vulnerable. There will never be a million unborn march for their right to live. We have to be their voice and their feet.

Pancho of TX 4:29PM December 18, 2009

God & Country

Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

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