Colo. bishops refute claims regarding personhood ballot measure

Denver, Colo., Oct 26, 2014 / 15:28 pm

The Colorado Catholic bishops responded last week to a recent media campaign sponsored by Catholics for Choice against Amendment 67, saying the campaign was "riddled with inaccurate facts and statistics."

"Before responding to the claims made by Catholics for Choice, it should be noted that this group does not speak for the Catholic Church," read an Oct. 23 statement from the Colorado Catholic Conference.

Catholics for Choice is a pro-abortion organization which launched a campaign against Amendment 67, a ballot measure that would include unborn human beings under the definition of person and child in the Colorado criminal code.

The proposed amendment would be made to the Colorado constitution, and is being voted on in the upcoming November election.

This amendment has been nicknamed the Brady Project, recognizing the death of unborn child Brady Surovik, who was killed in a car accident a month before his due date. The driver who was responsible was found guilty only of vehicular assault, and was not prosecuted for the child's death.

According to the conference, Catholics for Choice has made false statements in reference to the amendment and Catholics in general, which are not only untrue but are also contrary to Church teaching.

The conference responded to these claims, saying the agenda of Catholics for Choice was "quickly revealed by the group's assumption that the Church in Colorado supports Amendment 67, when in fact it has maintained a neutral stance," neither supporting nor opposing it.

"This distance is further demonstrated by the claim that there are five bishops in Colorado, when there are only three active bishops," the Colorado Catholic Conference retorted.

"When it comes to statistics, Catholics for Choice only chooses those findings that agree with their dissent from Church teaching," the statement said, pointing to data indicating that over half of all Catholics in America believe that abortion is morally wrong.

Catholics for Choice claimed that only 14 percent of Catholics opposed abortion, a statistic which the Catholic Conference refuted with statistics from the Pew Research Center.

Catholics for Choice also asserted that the stance of the Catholic bishops in Colorado "is anathema to our Catholic traditions."

"Nothing could be further from the truth. Colorado's bishops, like all Catholic bishops for 2,000 years, have steadfastly proclaimed that respect for all human life at every stage is foundational to the Catholic faith," the statement declared, noting that abortion had always been considered immoral among Christians.

In addition, Catholics for Choice declared that 98 percent of Catholic women use birth control.

The Washington Post's fact checker, Glenn Kessler, directly refuted this claim, saying that the data shown in the report does not actually back up the claims, and even undermines the statistics.

"The journalistic shorthand has been that '98 percent of American Catholic women have used contraception in their lifetimes.' But that is incorrect, according to the research," Kessler stated in an article released by the Washington Post.

The statement from the Colorado Catholic Conference stressed that despite the claims of Catholics for Choice, it is every person's obligation to protect the sanctity of life.

"It is our hope that one day Catholics for Choice will take the time to acquaint themselves with basic Catholic teachings, and acknowledge the truth of the Catholic faith, and not choose to undermine her teachings with false and inaccurate information, and ads that work only to mislead the public," the conference stated.

"Upholding the sacred dignity of all human life is the duty of every member of society and this duty must be taken seriously in order to ensure that we are a part of a culture that affirms the right to life, especially for the most vulnerable among us."