“You fail to refute my contention that these bills are immoral....”
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Abortion is immoral. Laws that prohibit abortion, even if imperfectly, are not immoral. On the other hand, opposing such laws so as to continue with the present state of law of legal abortion at any time prior to birth is immoral.
A few years ago, Father Frank Pavone (longtime head of Priests for Life) wrote about what a voter should do when faced with two imperfect candidates. In giving his advice, Father Pavone describes how choosing to limit an evil results in choosing good:
“I’m often asked what a voter can morally do if two opposing candidates both support abortion. I recommend asking a simple question: Which of the two candidates will do less harm to unborn children if elected?
For example, is either of the candidates willing at least to ban partial-birth abortion? Is either of them willing to put up some roadblocks to free and easy abortion? Will either support parental notification, or parental consent, or waiting periods? Has either of them expressed a desire to ban late-term abortion, or to support pregnancy assistance centers? How about stricter regulation of abortion facilities? Has either candidate expressed support for that idea? Nobody is saying that’s the final goal. But ask these questions just to see whether you can see any benefit of one of the candidates above the other.
One of the two of them will be elected; there is no question about that. So you are not free right now, in this race, to really choose the candidate you want. Forces beyond your control have already limited your choices. Whichever way the election goes, the one elected will not have the position we want elected officials to have on abortion.
In this case, it is morally acceptable to vote for the candidate who will do less harm. This is not “choosing the lesser of two evils.” We may never choose evil. But in the case described above, you would not be choosing evil. Why? Because in choosing to limit an evil, you are choosing a good.
You can have a clear conscience in this instance, because you know that no law can legitimize even a single abortion, ever. If the candidate thinks some abortion is justified, you don’t agree. Moreover, you are doing the most you can to advance the protection of life.
By your vote, you can keep the worse person out. And trying to do that is not only legitimate, but good. Some may think it’s not the best strategy. But it is morally permissible.
Cardinal John O’Connor, in a special booklet on abortion, once wrote about this problem, “Suppose all candidates support ‘abortion rights’? … One could try to determine whether the position of one candidate is less supportive of abortion than that of another. Other things being equal, one might then morally vote for a less supportive position.” (1990, “Abortion: Questions and Answers”).
What if there’s a third candidate who does not have a strong base of support but does have the right position? Of course, we should work like crazy to build up that person’s base of support to make him or her electable. But that is not done on Election Day. That takes years of work, which should start now.
Meanwhile, remember that your vote is not a vote for canonization. It is a transfer of power. We can vote for a less than perfect candidate because we aren’t using our vote to make a statement, but to help bring about the most acceptable results under the circumstances.”
http://priestsforlife.org/columns/columns2006/06-10-23choosingevil.htm
We can all see where Father Pavone’s excusing-making for compromise of the most important principles upon which the survival of the republic have gotten us. It’s as obvious as the nose on your face.
“And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for the second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering.”
— Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Samuel Kercheval, Monticello, July 12, 1816
“In politics the middle way is none at all. “
— John Adams
I have no problem at all compromising on insignificant things, like what we’re going to have for dinner. But on the equal protection of innocent human life, the securing of the Blessings of Liberty to our Posterity, the protection of marriage and the family, the preservation of our right to keep and bear arms, the defense of our national sovereignty, security and borders, and adherence to our constitutional form of republican, representative self-government, there can be no compromise.
If We the People continue to fail to put God, and truth, and principle before personality, party, or process, the republic cannot possibly be saved. But once we begin to do what is right, without compromise, nothing on earth can stand in our way.