A Stark Contrast
Lately, the obligations of Catholic legislators with regard to the right to life have become a topic of lively public discussion.
Catholics in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives comprise about 28% of the membership: 14 Democrats and 10 Republicans in the Senate, and 71 Democrats and 53 Republicans in the House. (For comparison: In 2000, the total U.S. population was 281.4 million. The number of Catholics in 1999 was 62 million. Thus the percentage of Catholics in the U.S. is about 22%.)
Here are the voting statistics for the current 108th Congress. NRLC's scoring is based on key votes on
- the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act;
- the Human Cloning Ban;
- attempts to repeal the ban of abortions in military facilities;
- attempts to weaken the Kemp-Kasten law, which prohibits funding of organizations that support, facilitate, or participate in coercive abortions;
- the Unborn Victims of Violence Act; and
- the Medicare Modernization Act, which, as passed by the House, allows senior citizens to get insurance for unrationed, lifesaving health care and thus avoid involuntary euthanasia through denial of treatment.
Votes for pro-life legislation and against anti-life legislation were rated as "pro-life."
Thus far in the 108th Congress the results are these:
- The average pro-life score of Catholic Democrats in the Senate is a very low 16%.
- In contrast, the average pro-life score for Catholic Republicans in the Senate is a high 92%.
- Out of 14 Catholic Senate Democrats, nine have a 0% pro-life voting record, and only one has a 100% pro-life voting record. The senators with a 0% pro-life voting record are foremost John Kerry from Massachusetts (the presumptive Democratic candidate for president), Ted Kennedy (MA), Tom Harkin (IA), Christopher Dodd (CT), Dick Durbin (IL), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Patty Murray (WA), Jack Reed (RI), and Maria Cantwell (MD). Others with anemic pro-life scores are John Biden (DE) with 17%, Patrick Leahy (VT) with 18%, and Minority Leader Tom Daschle (SD) with 27%. Altogether, a depressing sight from the right-to-life standpoint.
- Of the ten Catholic Republican senators, seven have a 100% pro-life score. None has a 0% pro-life score.
- The average pro-life score for Catholic Democrats in the House is a low 26%.
- The average pro-life score for Catholics Republicans in the House is a very high 96%.
- Of the 71 Catholic Democrats in the House, no fewer than 40 have a 0% pro-life score. Among the 0%-scorers are Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA), William Clay (MO), Peter DeFazio (OR), William Delahunt (MA), Rosa DeLauro (CT), Lane Evans (IL), Charles Gonzales (TX), Edward Markey (MA), Martin Meehan (MA), George Miller (CA), James Moran (VA), Charles Rangel (NY), Loretta Sanchez (CA), and Jose Serrano (NY).
- Of the 53 Catholic Republicans in the House, 44 have a 100% pro-life score. None has a 0% pro-life score.
What stands out from this survey is this: Catholic Democrats in Congress overwhelmingly oppose pro-life legislation, and Catholic Republicans overwhelmingly support pro-life legislation. A majority of the Catholic Democrats in Congress are unwilling to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church on abortion and the right to life—but have absolutely no problem taking their marching orders from the pro-abortion lobby.
Their excuse that they are reluctant to impose Catholic teachings on the public is unconvincing, especially when they voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which enjoyed overwhelming public support. By their logic, laws against theft or murder should be repealed because the Catholic Church also teaches that one may neither steal nor murder.
In the Senate, the obstructionism by Catholic senators goes beyond opposing pro-life legislation. Many have joined the effort to subvert the Senate's role of "advise and consent" into an extra-Constitutional right of appointment for judges and justices.
The Catholic Senate Minority Leader, Tom Daschle, and the Catholic senators with 0% pro-life scores, foremost Senators Kennedy and Leahy, have been in the forefront of this unprecedented effort. These senators have made it no secret that their primary motivation is to prevent the appointment of justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Senator Kerry, of course, has said that as president he would appoint only justices who would keep Roe v. Wade, and therefore abortion on demand, as the law of the land. Since the Supreme Court is currently split 6-3 in favor of keeping Roe v. Wade in force, a Kerry presidency would make it impossible for years to get a pro-Constitution and anti-Roe majority on the Supreme Court.
Even if President Bush is re-elected, the number of senators willing to use the filibuster against his judicial appointments must drop below 41 in order to get a Supreme Court that stops legislating from the bench. Currently, the Catholic pro-abortion Democrats in the Senate constitute a sizable block in favor of the filibuster.
On the national level it has been evident for years that the Democratic Party has become the pro-abortion-rights party. And Catholic Democrats in Congress, for the most part, toe the party line—no matter what the Catholic Church teaches on the matter of abortion.
Contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church, they do not consider taking the life of an unborn child an intrinsically evil act. Catholic "pro-choice" politicians are using the concept of the "seamless garment" of social justice as an excuse for not being pro-life because they supposedly vote "right" on other issues. For them the "seamless garment" lacks the core fabric of the right to life. In fact, their version of the "seamless garment" is so flimsy that when they wrap themselves in it they resemble the emperor who has no clothes.
This item 6178 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
