abortion

At the National Press Club yesterday, the Catholic University of America hosted a discussion on “The Obama Administration and the Sanctity of Human Life: Is there a common ground on life issues? What is the right response by ‘Pro-Life’ Citizens?”

One of President Obama’s most prominent pro-life opponents, Robert P. George, engaged in a debate with one of his most prominent pro-life supporters, Douglas W. Kmiec. Public Discourse published an adapted version of George’s remarks, excerpted below. You can watch a video of the George-Kmiec debate on the C-SPAN Web site here.

Robert George:

Because the President does not believe in the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every member of the human family; because he does not believe that babies acquire human rights until after birth; because he does not see abortion as tragic because it takes the life of an innocent human being, he is utterly and intransigently unwilling to support even efforts short of prohibiting abortion that would plainly reduce the number of abortions. Moreover, he is adamantly in favor of funding abortions and abortion providers at home and abroad, and has already taken steps in that direction by revoking the Mexico City Policy and proposing a budget that would restore publicly funded abortions in Washington, D.C.—despite the well-documented and universally acknowledged fact that when you provide public funding for abortion, you get more abortions. Continue reading →

Greek Orthodox Metropoiltan Iakovos has issued a “call to action” on an Illinois bill that right-to-life advocates describe as a state level Freedom of Choice Act. The metropolitan has posted a clear and forceful letter on the Metropolis of Chicago Web site condemning the proposed HB 2354 as unjust and a violation of “the very principles of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Life of the world.”

The metropolitan said HB 2354 “would affect all health care workers by removing their right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures, forcing them to participate in or provide abortions or face legal punishments. This bill would basically make the right to an abortion a fundamental human right in the State of Illinois.”

More:

The forces that oppose religious freedom and are actually seeking to increase the number of abortions in our society are well organized, well funded, and well connected to the political process. It is high time for Christians to raise their own voices to demand their elected officials attend to the “weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” Perhaps those who want this bill believe we will be distracted by the economic crisis facing our nation and affecting many of us personally. We must resist the temptation, especially during this Lenten season, to neglect this matter as “someone else’s problem.” None of us wants the government to come between us and our doctor. We should likewise not want the government to come between health care workers and their God. If we allow one step, we will never prevent the next.

Read the full text of the letter on the Orthodoxy Today website.

Earlier this week, President Obama issued an Executive Order repealing President Bush’s August 2001 restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. This was no surprise, especially since, as Senator, he voted for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which was vetoed by President Bush.

While, the issues surrounding the creation and use of embryonic stem cells remain substantially the same, this change in political policy affords us another opportunity to reflect on how we, as Orthodox Christians, might approach this topic in the context of the public controversy.

There is no doubt that there has been a simmering resentment in the scientific community over these restrictions (spurred on in part by more general funding cuts for the National Institutes of Health). Obama gave voice to this during his campaign when he charged the Bush administration with “handcuffing” scientific progress.

There is also no doubt in my mind that researchers themselves are most competent to determine the value of this research vis à vis other methods, such as the recent breakthrough announced by Dr. Andras Nagy on March 1st about a new method to develop “pluripotent” stem cells that does not require the destruction of embryos.

This should not stop us, however, from making the case that scientific research also implies a tremendous responsibility to recognize moral boundaries, and must be held accountable.

Unfortunately, with a sustained positive spin in the media, public opinion is shifting. According to many polls, a strong majority of Americans support the lifting of President Bush’s restrictions.

We should remember that President Bush’s injunction had only prohibited the use of federal funds—tax-payer money—for research built on a fresh destruction of human life. That’s why, in 2004, California’s Proposition 71 was able to pledge $3 billion of state money for embryonic stem cell research. Privately funded research was never restricted in this way.

Federal funding is the major source of research dollars, however, and part of Bush’s strategy was to push researchers toward the kind of breakthroughs that Dr. Nagy reported. Likewise, Bush wanted to respect the conflicted consciences of millions of tax-payers who equated this type of research with murder.

While the Republican Party has a better record from this standpoint, and has for years been a more friendly place for those who oppose the destruction of nascent human life, Senator McCain still wanted to lift restrictions on using excess embryos created from In Vitro Fertilization procedures.

This is no small issue. In 2003, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) released a report estimating that more than 400,000 human embryos were sitting in freezers in the United States. We can easily imagine that there are many more today, as the popularity of IVF has grown.

And the numbers aren’t static. These aren’t the same embryos from year to year. In 2007, the London Times reported that more than 1 million embryos created for fertility treatment in British clinics have been destroyed over the past 14 years.

So where does this leave us?

First, as we are getting ready for our liturgical celebration of the Conception of Christ, the Annunciation, exactly nine months before the commemoration of his birth, we should recognize that oppositon to abortion—the destruction of human embryos—is one of the most ancient, universal, and well-established moral teachings of our faith.

As early as the first century, the Didache recognized that the practice of abortion was something that distinguished Christians from pagans, exhorting “do not murder a child by abortion.” St. Basil the Great, in the 4th century, stated clearly that “the distinction between what is formed and unformed” is inadmissible for Christians. These are only two small references to what is indeed “a great cloud of witnesses” in the Orthodox tradition.

What about the millions of “extra” embryos?

The moral principle here is simple. Immanuel Kant said it well: “Act in such a way that you treat humanity always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end.” We have made these embryos a means to an end — the promise of better health, miracle cures, and scientific knowledge.

Rather than seek to benefit from their destruction, we should strive to end the practice of In Vitro Fertilization, which causes this problem in the first place.

We should be greatly disturbed by the facts. There is a deep shadow in our country, and we cannot avoid the truth that we are witnessing a tremendous holocaust of human life.

At the very least, we need to stand firmly with those who oppose these things, even with all the negative media heaped on President Bush, Pope Benedict XVI and others. We may be unpopular, maligned and misunderstood, and it may be that we are fighting a losing battle—but that is no excuse.

I am reminded of the words of Psalm 123 (122 in the Septuagint) that we sing at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts during Great Lent: “Our eyes wait upon the Lord our God… Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.”

If nothing else, we must remain faithful as witnesses to the teaching that God has given us, as a sign of God’s love in the current age. Orthodox Christians have well learned over the centuries that the worst that can happen to us in our stand for the dignity of human life is martyrdom.

Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios announced yesterday that Bishop Savas of Troas, most recently the chancellor of the archdiocese, has been named director of the Office of Church and Society. The bishop will be charged with developing “programs and ministries that promote a creative Orthodox Christian engagement with contemporary societal and cultural realities.”

Readers of this blog will recall the effusive praise with which Bishop Savas greeted the election of Barack Obama, rejoicing that “this is the day that the Lord has made!” Yesterday, the Obama administration moved to rescind a Bush administration regulation, put in place in December, that cuts off federal funding for medical facilities that would force doctors, nurses and other health care workers to participate in practices, such as abortion, that “they feel violates their personal, moral or religious beliefs.” The move to lift the so-called “conscience rule,” which is subject to a 30 day public comment period, was applauded by pro-abortion activists and condemned by religious conservatives.

Perhaps the bishop, in his first official act, could issue a sharply worded statement and go on radio and TV to criticize the Obama administration for its attempt to overturn the health care “conscience rule” and pointing out how removing legal protections for religious belief in the workplace advances the culture of death. There’s a “contemporary societal and cultural” reality for you. Continue reading →