More – much more – is needed from America's bishops on abortion
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Election Day is fast-approaching, and unless something changes, it will herald a series of yawning defeats for America's unborn.
Abortion referendums are on the ballot in at least 10 states, and if recent history is any indicator (pro-lifers have lost every state-level abortion vote since 2022) the right to life movement is set to suffer major setbacks at the ballot box on Nov. 5.
This is especially galling, considering that self-identified Catholics, were they to vote in accord with Church teaching, would singlehandedly turn back the abortion onslaught at the state level.
Tragically, millions won't.
According to a 2022 Gallup survey, just 24% of US Catholics – fewer than one in four – believe abortion should be banned nationwide. And they will vote accordingly.
This should incite America's prelates to sustained collective action. But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is failing to act on the issue; instead, it is languishing in lethargy, as it has since its founding decades ago.
'ROTTEN BECAUSE OF SILENCE'
Incensed by the moral dissolution and political dysfunction plaguing 14th century Europe, Catholic mystic and lay Dominican St. Catherine of Siena hounded the hierarchy of her day with demands that they use their power to restore order.
"Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues," the future Doctor of the Church exhorted one prelate. "I see that the world is rotten because of silence."
Were she alive today, St. Catherine – a patroness of the United States – would undoubtedly have much to say about the silence of America's hierarchy in the face of the abortion threat.
Indeed, the USCCB's track record on the killing of the unborn is dismal.
Each year, the organization conducts myriad fundraising drives – "second collections" for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe; for the Church in Latin America; for the Church in Africa; for migrants (through Catholic Relief Services); for the Pope's scandal-ridden charity, Peter's Pence (exposed funneling hundreds of millions of dollars into a fraudulent real estate deal in London, as well as a celebratory biopic of homosexual pop star Elton John); and for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, a social-justice money pit repeatedly caught financing leftist groups that promote contraception, population control and the LGBT agenda.
And yet, despite the bishops' obvious fervor for fundraising, the abortion epidemic has remained conspicuously absent from their agenda; not once in its decades-long history has the USCCB taken up a national collection to fight the satanic assault on America's unborn. While individual bishops and various state-level Catholic conferences have spoken out against the onslaught over the years, collective action – a unified, nationwide response – has failed to materialize.
To be sure, a handful of bishops have stepped up and acted against individual pro-abortion politicians.
In May 2022, for example, Abp. Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco publicly barred Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, then-Speaker of the House, from receiving Communion in his archdiocese, owing to her rabid, unflinching support of abortion. A handful of other prelates quickly followed suit, including Bp. Robert Vasa, head of the neighboring Diocese of Santa Rosa; Bp. Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, just across the Potomac from Washington, DC; and Bp. Joseph Strickland, then-head of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.
Before Abp. Cordileone's ban on Communion for Pelosi, a few other prelates barred pro-abortion politicians from the Eucharist, including Bp. Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, who in 2018 prohibited Democratic Rep. Dick Durban from receiving Communion in his home diocese; Bp. Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, who in 2009 refused to admit Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy to the Eucharist in his home diocese; Bp. Joseph Martino of Scranton, Pennsylvania, who in 2008 barred Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden from receiving Communion in the diocese of his birth; and Cdl. Raymond Burke of St. Louis, who banned both Republican Rudolph Giuliani (2007) and Democrat John Kerry (2004) from the Eucharist during their respective presidential campaigns.
These actions sparked furor across the country, and served as powerful reminders to Catholics of their duty to defend the unborn. But the smattering of periodic, individual sanctions has not been enough to turn back the assault on the sanctity of human life. Again, sustained collective action is required.
Why the inaction, then?
Are the bishops incapacitated by political cowardice? The Democrat-Republican divide on abortion is indeed pronounced, but there are plenty of self-identified Catholic GOP luminaries who openly flout Church teaching on the sanctity of human life.
Do they feel hobbled by the ongoing fallout from the clerical sex abuse crisis? Undoubtedly, the scandal did undermine their moral authority – it will take generations for the Church in America to recover from the fact that its bishops allowed untold thousands of mostly male minors to be sexually assaulted by their own priests. But this does not excuse inaction in the face of a scourge that kills hundreds of thousands of American unborn every year.
Whatever the reason for the bishops' dormancy up to now, there is still time to begin correcting this record by banding together to loudly, publicly reinforce Catholic teaching on abortion – not just in words, but through action. America's bishops should, for the first time, launch a national collection to bolster the pro-life cause in the United States. They should bar from Communion every pro-abortion, self-identified Catholic politician – Democrat, Republican and Independent – at both the national and state levels; better yet, they should publicly excommunicate such leaders until they publicly repent of their sin of facilitating child-murder. They should do the same with any self-identified Catholic journalist, pundit, policymaker or other public figure who agitates against such moves.
Without question, action such as this would demand that bishops exercise fortitude and perseverance – key virtues that have been in short supply among prelates in recent decades. But the alternative – continued inaction – will condemn generations of Americans to death. Considering that more than 65 million of their countrymen have been murdered in the womb since 1973, it is difficult to imagine a blacker mark on the US hierarchy.
WARRING AGAINST OUR WEAKEST
Once, Americans could fault Roe v. Wade's top-down judicial tyranny for imposing the abortion genocide upon us. Today, that excuse no longer holds.
Since the overturning of Roe on June 24, 2022 – the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, no less – we have betrayed our children at the ballot box, voting again and again in favor of killing the most vulnerable among us.
From 2022-2023, pro-lifers were trounced in seven out of seven state-level abortion-related referendums. Again, in every major state-level ballot, the pro-life camp was thrashed – not by activist judges, but by voters themselves:
The Kansas electorate, by a margin of 59.16%, rejected an amendment to their state constitution to protect the unborn. (Aug. 2, 2022)
The Michigan electorate, by a margin of 56.66%, enshrined abortion in their state constitution. (Nov. 8, 2022)
The California electorate, by a margin of 66.88%, enshrined abortion in their state constitution. (Nov. 8, 2022)
The Vermont electorate, by a margin of 76.77%, enshrined abortion in their state constitution. (Nov. 8, 2022)
The Kentucky electorate, by a margin of 52.35%, rejected an amendment to their state constitution to protect the unborn. (Nov. 8, 2022)
The Montana electorate, by a margin of 52.55%, rejected a "born-alive" proposal to recognize babies who survive abortion as persons under the law. (Nov. 8, 2022)
The Ohio electorate, by a margin of 56.78%, enshrined abortion in their state constitution. (Nov. 7, 2023)
Clearly, for America's unborn, the death of Roe v. Wade was not the lifeline that it seemed.
Ominously, it appears that worse is yet to come.
NEW KILLING FIELDS?
After laboring feverishly for their cause over the past two-and-a-half years, abortion activists – amply-funded and exceptionally well-organized – have succeeded in the past few months in placing abortion-related referendums on the ballot in 10 states.
Arizona
On Nov. 5, voters in the Grand Canyon State will consider Proposition 139 – the Right to Abortion Initiative. If approved, the measure will enshrine a "fundamental right to abortion" in the state constitution. Under the Proposition 139 regime, "The State will not be able to interfere with this fundamental right before fetal viability unless it has a compelling reason and does so in the least restrictive way possible."
Colorado
Centennial State voters will decide on Amendment 79 – the Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage Initiative. The proposal aims to codify abortion in the state constitution, and would allow taxpayer funds to be used for termination.
Florida
Residents of the Sunshine State will vote on Amendment 4 – the Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion. If approved, the measure will alter the state constitution to declare that no law "shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health." Ultimately, it would dramatically curtail lawmakers' ability to defend the unborn, open the door to late-term abortions, and eliminate parental consent laws.
Maryland
In the Old Line State, voters will decide Question 1 – the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment. If passed, the proposal will establish a "right to reproductive freedom," codifying in the state constitution "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy."
Missouri
Voters in the Show Me State – the first state to outlaw abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned – will consider Amendment 3 – the Right to Reproductive Initiative. If approved, the measure will enshrine in the state constitution the "right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions."
Montana
Residents of Big Sky Country will vote on Constitutional Initiative 128 – the Right to Abortion Initiative. The proposal aims to amend the state constitution to "expressly provide a right to make and carry out decisions about one's own pregnancy, including the right to abortion," and "prohibit the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability."
Nebraska
Voters in the Cornhusker State, where abortion is currently legal during the first trimester, will consider two abortion-related proposals.
Initiative 434, the Prohibit Abortions After the First Trimester Amendment, would alter the state constitution to declare that "unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters" except "when a woman seeks an abortion necessitated by a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest."
Initiative 439, the Right to Abortion Initiative, would go further, amending the state constitution to establish that "All persons shall have a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions."
Nevada
Silver State voters will decide Question 6 – the Right to Abortion Initiative. If passed, the proposal will amend the state constitution "to create an individual's fundamental right to an abortion, without interference by state or local governments, whenever the abortion is performed by a qualified healthcare professional until fetal viability or when necessary to protect the health or life of the pregnant individual at any point during the pregnancy."
New York
Voters in the Empire State will consider Proposal 1 – the Equal Protection of Law Amendment. The measure aims to codify the right to abortion by establishing in the state constitution new protected classes that include "pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health care and autonomy," thereby raising new hurdles to the enactment of protections for the unborn.
South Dakota
Residents of the Mount Rushmore State will vote on Constitutional Amendment G – the Right to Abortion Initiative. If approved, the proposal will amend the state constitution to establish "a constitutional right to an abortion" and provide "a legal framework for the regulation of abortion" that would "override existing laws and regulations concerning abortion."
Less than three weeks from today, citizens of these 10 states – some red, some blue – will head to the ballot box to decide the fate of their future generations, and as recent history has demonstrated, a state's political hue is no guarantor of life.
California and Vermont could be expected to choose death for their unborn, as they did in 2022. But Kansas? Kentucky? Montana? Those are reliably Republican domains. Yet, they chose to sacrifice their children on the altar of sexual expediency; in doing so, they exposed the extent of the depravity that has overtaken 21st century America.
THE CLOCK IS TICKING
There is no escaping it: 'We the People' are guilty of murder.
A corrective is needed. And it is coming.
America needs a Jonah to rouse us to repentance. We need an Elijah to battle the prophets of Baal among us. If the nation's bishops choose to commit themselves to collective action, they could fulfill this heroic role. If they decide to act in accordance with their calling, perhaps the United States could still be saved.
But if America's shepherds persist in their inaction, America's conscience will remain unpricked, and many will pay dearly – the unborn, with their blood; many prelates, perhaps, with their souls.
The United States will suffer terribly.
Our iniquity is metastasizing, and if left unchecked, voter-approved child-murder will be our final undoing.
We are fast-depleting God's Mercy; and the American Empire, mighty as it is, even now, will not withstand His Justice. Indeed, the people of the United States would do well to remember the Old Testament, which records the ruin that befell nations choosing to drown themselves in depravity:
"The eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth ... For lo, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, 'Evil shall not overtake or meet us.'" (Amos 9: 8–10)
God destroyed Israel – His beloved Israel – for its wickedness. What makes us think He would not do the same to an unrepentant America? His nature, after all, is unchanging.
Up to now, we have been shielded from God's Wrath by the mantle of His Mercy. But this protective canopy is now fraying under the piercing weight of our depravity. Unless something changes, soon Mercy will be supplanted by Justice, and America will suffer a reckoning heretofore unimaginable to us.
Writer, editor and producer Stephen Wynne has spent the past seven years covering, from a Catholic perspective, the latest developments in the Church, the nation and the world. Prior to his work in journalism, he spent eight years co-authoring “Repairing the Breach,” a book examining the war of worldviews between Christianity and Darwinism. A Show-Me State native, he holds a BA in Creative Writing from Pepperdine University and an Executive MBA from the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Truly shamefull and horrifying.