Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
An abortion advocacy organization called “Catholics for Choice” (CFC) placed deceptive full-page newspaper ads in multiple cities on September 12 calling for taxpayer funding of abortion in the name of the Catholic faith, a move that brought swift condemnation from U.S. bishops and the faithful alike.
The full-page ad is entitled, “Abortion in Good Faith” and presents women of various ages and walks of life extolling the virtues of killing the unborn. For instance, one woman who describes herself as a Catholic grandmother and former state legislator says, “I know firsthand that today’s elected officials need to hear your voice so they do the right thing, ensuring that women who are not well off are not financially burdened by the choices they make.” Below her statement was a red banner proclaiming, “Public funding for abortion is a Catholic social justice value.”
The name “Catholics for Choice” is printed across the bottom of the page.
According to a statement by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, the use of the name ‘Catholic’ as a platform to promote the taking of innocent human life is offensive not only to Catholics, but to all who expect honesty and forthrightness in public discourse.
“CFC is not associated with the Catholic Church in any way. It has no membership, and clearly does not speak for the faithful. It is funded by powerful private foundations to promote abortion as a method of population control,” Cardinal Dolan said.
“CFC’s extreme ads promote abortion as if it were a social good. But abortion kills the most defenseless among us, harms women, and tears at the heart of families. Pushing for public funding would force all taxpaying Americans to be complicit in the violence of abortion and an industry that puts profit above the well-being of women and children,” the Cardinal continued.
“. . .[T]he CFC pits the needs of pregnant women against those of their unborn children. This is a false choice. Catholics and all people of good will are called to love them both.”
The only good news to report in this travesty was pointed out by Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, who called the group’s ad blitz a “monumental failure.”
“How do I know? Two days after its print advertisement blitz in several newspapers, it has been cited in less than a half-dozen papers. Even that is an exaggeration: the only place it garnered any attention is in the letters section,” Donohue writes. “More bad news: the letters-to-editor are uniformly critical of CFC. Most important, there has not been a single news story about its bigoted campaign in any newspaper in the nation.”
This shouldn’t be surprising because the blitz itself was also ill-founded, mostly because it ignores the fact that most Americans don’t want to pay for abortions, nor do American Catholics believe that killing the unborn is a legitimate Catholic social justice issue.
In other words, they published a bunch of flashy, expensive ads, and got little or nothing for it – except the condemnation they deserve.
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