While the right of the unborn to live surely needs legal protection, and we must insist on this, have we stepped back from the legal debate enough so that we can really hear the issues, the struggles and the anguish of women who face life issues? I wonder whether we have inspired the community to help carry the burdens of our sisters in faith.

Sadly, many women make a decision about an unwanted pregnancy in relative isolation from those who should help and support them - their family, their husband or boyfriend, close friends, their pastor. Conception does not take place in isolation, and pregnancy should not be experienced in isolation. We must teach, insist on and live out the reality that sexual activity carries with it significant and unavoidable social and moral responsibilities for men and women alike. Abortion harms both the mother and her unborn child. It erodes respect for human life. These are all reasons why the Church must address the issue.

The Church's pastoral response to abortion is basically twofold: working for legal protection for the unborn and striving for economic justice for women and children. When some accuse us of forcing a Catholic point of view in regard to abortion on others, I reply that the defense of innocent life is, indeed, a cornerstone of Catholic social teaching. But it is not a specifically sectarian concern. Abortion is a human problem, not a narrowly Catholic one. While not all moral values and principles need be legalized, certain key values, principles and practices must be protected and promoted by law and public policy. Protection for unborn children cannot rely only upon moral persuasion; their lives must be protected, as our lives are, by the civil law.

Because of its advocacy on their behalf, the Church can be proud of the many maternity-related services which we offer to women, such as free or low-cost prenatal and maternity care, adoption services, emotional and spiritual support, housing and continuing education.

The Church's consistent ethic and the sacredness of all human life is not a fully articulated political platform or an attempt to form a new voting bloc or political party. Still less is it a comprehensive system for rating candidates for public office.

Our consistent ethic does not downplay abortion and should not discourage an emphasis on abortion in the political activity and electoral decisions of an individual Catholic when such an emphasis seems necessary. As the U.S. bishops said in their reaffirmation of the Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities:

Precisely because all issues involving human life are inter-dependent, a society which destroys human life by abortion under the mantle of law unavoidably undermines respect for life in all other contexts. Likewise, protection in law and practice of unborn life will benefit all life, not only the lives of the unborn.

It follows from this that our consistent ethic should not discourage an emphasis on abortion in individual Catholic's political activity when the situation calls for such emphasis. When public officials are bound to fulfill their offices in light of a given constitutional framework, they obviously have some room for specific choices within that framework and can choose to emphasize some issues over others. Public officials who recognize the evil of abortion have a responsibility to limit its extent, to work for its prevention and to protect unborn life.

Moreover, all public officials should be held accountable for their positions. Indeed, there are times when criticism is called for. It is important, however, that we continue to engage them and not cut them off.

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