Orlando, Fla., Dec 11, 2008 / 21:14 pm
Bishop Thomas Wenski of the Diocese of Orlando, Florida has written an essay reaffirming that Catholic support for legal protections for the unborn child is a “moral imperative.” His essay also warns that the proposed federal act FOCA could endanger even minor abortion restrictions.
Bishop Wenski began his essay in The Ledger by congratulating President-Elect Barack Obama, saying his election could signify a welcome “repudiation of racism.” He noted that had the nineteenth century Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision ruling, which considered if African-Americans were property and “somehow less than persons under law,” remained in effect Obama could never have been elected.
The bishop then compared Dred Scott’s denial of legal protections to the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which imposed permissive abortion law nationwide.
“A well ordered state should protect the lives of all, especially the lives of the most vulnerable. For this reason, we can never accept Roe v. Wade as a permanent fixture of constitutional law nor can we ever stop working to restore recognition for the human rights of the unborn child. Killing the unborn child is always wrong - to make it a ‘right’ is a travesty of justice.”
Reversing Roe v. Wade, he said, is a “moral imperative” for Catholics and all those who support human life.
Bishop Wenski also lamented the proposed Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), saying it would “further enshrine the bad law” of Roe v. Wade by overturning the “modest restraints and regulations” on the abortion industry.
FOCA, which Obama has pledged to sign, could endanger parental notification laws, bans on partial-birth abortion, and assistance to infants who survive an abortion.
“Taxpayers would be forced to subsidize abortions as restrictions on federal funding of abortions would be abrogated. The freedom of conscience of health-care workers not to participate in abortions would be compromised,” Bishop Wenski claimed.
Citing Obama’s promise of unity, the bishop said passing FOCA would only provide more division.
“The common good is not served by making wrongs - like abortion - into ‘rights’,” he concluded.
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