Thursday, July 30, 2015

An Essential Distinction: Tellin' It Like It Is


“I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”--Sister Joan Chittester, OSB 

5 comments:

  1. I don't think she is the first person to make that point, but I don't think it has been more succinctly and also eloquently stated by anyone else.

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  2. She is of course completely correct. To be clear, the seeming lack of decent, I might even say godly provision for childrearing does not justify an abortion, right?

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  3. Here is a link to an article in which this is found: http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/30/1407166/-Catholic-Nun-Explains-Pro-Life-In-A-Way-That-May-Stun-The-Masses

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  4. Here is an article in which this quote is found:

    http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/30/1407166/-Catholic-Nun-Explains-Pro-Life-In-A-Way-That-May-Stun-The-Masses

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  5. Chittester's comment is a good corrective to an inconsistent and approach to pro-life issues that is not comprehensive. However, the target of her comments is primarily politicians, it seems to me. Many efforts in the pro-life movement are comprehensive, where people "get it." It may be that those who don't either refuse to accept the seamless garment logic or haven't quite got there in their own conversion process. Don't we see something similar in death penalty opponents who don't see the connection with the question of abortion? Or animal rights advocates who also fail to make the same connection?
    Sometimes it's stubbornness; sometimes it reflects the gradualism of the conversion process.

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