With the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, public discourse on abortion is arguably at the highest level we have yet witnessed. Proponents of abortion sometimes argue that it is actually an act of compassion toward pregnant women who are in difficult circumstances and toward their unwanted infants.
Since we are talking about nothing less than the life of an as yet unborn human being, I have to ask: in what other circumstance do we, as a society, find that the compassionate and loving response to someone who could potentially encounter a non-ideal situation is to put them to death?
There are those who wish to turn Connecticut into an “abortion haven,” and have gone so far as to solicit businesses to relocate here using abortion access as a lure for their employees. And from a strictly business perspective, abortion is a less costly, less time-consuming alternative than paid maternity leave. It is indeed troubling that the dark cynicism at the core of the abortion argument is being posited by some of our political leaders as a positive and defining characteristic of our state.
In April, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a so-called “safe harbor” bill to enshrine into law certain legal protections for women who abort. However, to characterize Connecticut — or anywhere — as an abortion “safe harbor” is morally repugnant. Safe for whom? Certainly not for the unborn child.
Safe for the mother? Recently, I heard from a woman whose commitment to the “right to life” was wavering but who had the experience of counseling another woman who had had an abortion. She spoke of this mother’s grief as being so powerful and deeply felt that she experiences some of it herself at the mere thought of this woman. Dr. Theresa Burke, founder of Rachel’s Vineyard, calls this the “forbidden grief,” of women who feel compelled to hide their post-abortion trauma, perceiving it as socially taboo and inconvenient to the abortion rights narrative. Our Church reaches out to these hurting women (and men) with the “Project Rachel” program.
The Catholic Church continues to believe and teach that God has entrusted to humankind the mission to safeguard life from conception until natural death. For Connecticut to do otherwise results not in a “safe harbor,” but a harbor of death, trauma, suffering and grief.
The Most Rev. Leonard P. Blair is the Archbishop of Hartford.
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August 06, 2022 at 04:10PM
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Faith Matters: Roe v. Wade decision raises level of public discourse - New Haven Register
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