Catholic Campaign: Partial-Birth Politics

Polls show that relatively few voters cast their ballots on the abortion issue alone. Even though they vote pro-life by a margin of 2 to 1, it seems impossible that abortion could end up being the most important issue this fall. But for those familiar with partial-birth abortions, it’s not hard to imagine.

The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act was passed through the House and Senate on bipartisan votes earlier this year. The legislation would prohibit the procedure legally defined as a partial-birth abortion, where an infant is almost fully delivered from its mother before being brutally killed. A hole is punctured in the base of the child’s skull and the brain cavity is suctioned out, ending the life of the child. When the procedure is understood, it isn’t hard to see why Congress acted so decisively.

But the partial-birth abortion legislation is not simply about one procedure, and both sides of the abortion debate understand that all too well. It is about focusing attention on the act of killing an unborn child, an act that is committed about a million and a half times each year in America today. Both sides of the abortion debate are well aware of the fact that as long as the abortion debate focuses on choices, privacy, and freedom, the abortion lobby will garner more public sympathy. The partial-birth abortion issue, however, has for the first time focused the public’s attention on the abortion act, the act of taking a life. When the debate focuses on the act, Americans by and large reject abortion for what it is: brutal, inhumane, and wrong.

President Clinton ran into a buzz-saw when he vetoed the legislation, as a diverse collection of leaders roundly decried his decision, including Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, usually a liberal pro-abortion stalwart, who described the procedure as “too close to infanticide.” Even the Holy Father felt the need to denounce the president’s action.

The veto recharged the debate: The veto ceremony included “Catholic” and “Republican” women who claimed to have had partial-birth abortions to save their lives or their reproductive health and who, therefore, supported the president’s defense of the procedure. The made-for-television production sought to deflect criticism by selling partial- birth abortions as medically necessary.

These arguments collapse under scrutiny. The testimony of doctors, nurses, health professionals, and others during the course of the House hearings made it clear that this procedure is never the safest option, neither is it the only one available. The White House’s deception on this issue was further borne out by a House hearing in late July, after the Clinton veto. This hearing featured women who had elected not to have partial-birth abortions and instead gave birth to their babies, who had genetic disabilities and other problems frequently cited by defenders of the procedure. Sadly, President Clinton has refused to hear the story of these women, again showing his unwillingness to learn the real medical facts of the legislation. The public outcry, led by the American Catholic hierarchy, has been overwhelming, and Congress will be taking up an attempt to over-ride the veto as early as this month.

Why, then, the impact on the election? The answer is a simple one: Catholic voters. We have heard much about the seemingly nonexistent Catholic vote, how Catholics do not vote as a block and therefore wield little power. While it is true that Catholics have been evenly split between the major political parties in recent elections, they also make up nearly one-third of the electorate. We saw in 1992 and 1994 what a shift of a few percentage points of the Catholic electorate can do. After giving Clinton a part of their vote in 1992, Catholics turned around to vote for Republicans in 1994, securing one of the most important political realignments in this century.

Catholics swing back and forth between the Republican and Democratic parties. Polls show that they are uncertain this year which party and which candidate speaks to their values and to the principles on which their faith is based. Those who are familiar with the partial-birth abortion issue are deeply disturbed that a sitting president and a minority in Congress could advocate this procedure. But as the partial-birth abortion issue becomes recharged and revisited, you can bet that more Catholics (as well as the broader general public) will become better informed, and vote accordingly.

Author

  • Michael A. Ferguson

    Michael A. "Mike" Ferguson (born 1970) is an American Republican Party politician who served as member of the United States House of Representatives representing New Jersey's 7th congressional district from 2001 to 2009.

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