{"id":1326,"date":"2012-10-12T20:07:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-12T20:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/analysts-say-bidens-abortion-stance-leaves-reality-behind\/"},"modified":"2012-10-12T20:07:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-12T20:07:00","slug":"analysts-say-bidens-abortion-stance-leaves-reality-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/analysts-say-bidens-abortion-stance-leaves-reality-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysts say Biden’s abortion stance leaves reality behind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Oct 12, 2012 \/ 02:07 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden\u2019s profession that he is personally opposed to abortion while supporting its legalization fails to acknowledge the life-taking reality of abortion, said critics including a prominent Notre Dame law professor.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is a matter of yes, or no, and there is no \u2018personal\u2019 as opposed to \u2018public\u2019 about it,\u201d said Professor Gerard V. Bradley. \u201cThe question is intrinsically, and entirely, public.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tBradley told CNA on Oct. 12 that an analysis of the positions expressed by Biden and other \u201cpro-choice Catholics\u201d suggests that they \u201csimply do not believe what the Church believes, namely, that abortion is the unjustified killing of a human person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe connection between Catholicism and one\u2019s stance on abortion was discussed at the Oct. 11 vice presidential debate in Danville, Ky.<\/p>\n

\tThe 2012 presidential campaign marks the first time that Catholic candidates have run for vice president in both major parties. Moderator Martha Raddatz asked the candidates about their Catholic faith and the role it has played in shaping their contrasting views on abortion.<\/p>\n

\tRepublican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said that his pro-life stance is the result of faith, reason and science.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI don\u2019t see how a person can separate their public life from their private life or from their faith,\u201d he said. \u201cOur faith informs us in everything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn contrast, Biden argued that his support for legalized abortion is compatible with his lifelong Catholic faith, which he said \u201cdefines\u201d his identity.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\t\u201cLife begins at conception, that\u2019s the Church\u2019s judgment. I accept it in my personal life,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n

\tBradley said that this line of thought can be traced back to a small gathering of Catholic moral theologians in 1964 who met with the Kennedy family to discuss how one could \u201csupport liberalized abortion laws without overtly abandoning \u2018Catholic teaching\u2019 on the matter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tThe \u201cpersonally opposed, but\u201d view on abortion became well-known largely through Catholic politician Mario Cuomo, the former New York governor and presidential candidate who laid out his beliefs in a 1984 speech at Notre Dame, he said.<\/p>\n

\tBut Bradley said that \u201cefforts such as those of Cuomo and the Kennedys and of Joseph Biden last night utterly fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tTheir \u201ccentral flaw,\u201d he explained, is a failure to acknowledge \u201cwhat it is that one is actually opposing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tHe observed that \u201cif one judges \u2013 as everyone should and as the Church does \u2013 that the reason to oppose abortion is the reason to oppose killing any other innocent human person, then the \u2018personally opposed, but\u2019 position sounds ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe reason is that such killing is objectively, and gravely, wrong, a great injustice,\u201d he said, noting that no one says they \u201cpersonally oppose\u201d killing those with Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease but think the state should refrain from passing laws against such killing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tWhen the question is examined clearly, Bradley said, \u201cthe issue before public authority when it comes to abortion is the equal protection of the laws against killing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe question is not one\u2019s \u2018personal opposition\u2019 to anything,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe question is about public justice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tMaureen Ferguson, senior policy advisor for the Catholic Association, told CNA that the vice president\u2019s comments show a \u201cremarkable disconnect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"Vice President Biden said that he accepts that life begins at conception, but that he wouldn't impose that belief on others,\u201d she said. But the \u201cvery purpose of laws in a civil society are to impose limits and to protect the powerless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tFerguson compared the vice president\u2019s position to saying that one is personally opposed to robbing someone at gunpoint but that \u201cI won't impose my belief on others by supporting laws that protect people against robbery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cHis position is in direct conflict with the teaching of the Church on the foundational issue of respect for life,\" she added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Oct 12, 2012 \/ 02:07 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s profession that he is personally opposed to abortion while supporting its legalization fails to acknowledge the life-taking reality of abortion, said criti…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nAnalysts say Biden's abortion stance leaves reality behind<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Oct 12, 2012 \/ 02:07 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s profession that he is personally opposed to abortion while supporting its legalization fails to acknowledge the life-taking reality of abortion, said criti...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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