Worth repeating

Jeff Mirus has assembled a most excellent summary:

John McCain:“I have stated time after time after time that Roe v. Wade was a bad decision, that I support…the rights of the unborn. I have fought for human rights and human dignity throughout my entire political career. To me it is an issue of human rights and human dignity.” (Source: National Right to Life)

Sarah Palin:“I am pro-life and have never wavered in my belief in the sanctity of every human life.” (Source: National Right to Life)

Barack Obama:“I have constantly advocated for reproductive choice and will make preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade [the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion] a priority as President.” (Source: National Right to Life)

Joseph Biden:“I strongly support Roe v. Wade…. That’s why I led the fight to defeat Bork. Thank God he is not in the Court or Roe v. Wade would be gone by now.” (Source: National Right to Life)

John Paul II: “Disregard for the right to life, precisely because it leads to the killing of the person whom society exists to serve, is what most directly conflicts with the possibility of achieving the common good... It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop... ” (Evangelium Vitae, Nos. 72 and 101, 1995)

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:“There are some things we must never do, as individuals or as a society, because they are always incompatible with love of God and neighbor. Such actions are so deeply flawed that they are always opposed to the authentic good of persons. These are called `intrinsically evil’ actions. They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned. A prime example is the intentional taking of innocent human life, as in abortion and euthanasia. In our nation, `abortion and euthanasia have become preeminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself, the most fundamental human good and the condition for all others’ (Living the Gospel of Life, no. 5). It is a mistake with grave moral consequences to treat the destruction of innocent human life merely as a matter of individual choice. A legal system that violates the basic right to life on the grounds of choice is fundamentally flawed…. The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed.” (Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, Nos. 22 and 28, 2007)

TWO EXAMPLES (OUT OF MANY) OF HOW CHURCH TEACHING IS TO BE APPLIED:
Bishops Kevin Farrell and Kevin Vann of Dallas:“There are no ‘truly grave moral’ or ‘proportionate’ reasons, singularly or combined, that could outweigh the millions of innocent human lives that are directly killed by legal abortion each year.” (Joint Letter to the Faithful, October 2007)

Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton:“Being “right” on taxes, education, health care, immigration, and the economy fails to make up for the error of disregarding the value of a human life. Consider this: the finest health and education systems, the fairest immigration laws, and the soundest economy do nothing for the child who never sees the light of day. It is a tragic irony that “pro-choice” candidates have come to support homicide – the gravest injustice a society can tolerate – in the name of “social justice.
“Even the Church’s just war theory has moral force because it is grounded in the principle that innocent human life must be protected and defended. Now, a person may, in good faith, misapply just war criteria leading him to mistakenly believe that an unjust war is just, but he or she still knows that innocent human life may not be harmed on purpose. A person who supports permissive abortion laws, however, rejects the truth that innocent human life may never be destroyed. This profound moral failure runs deeper and is more corrupting of the individual, and of the society, than any error in applying just war criteria to particular cases.
“Furthermore, National Right to Life reports that 48.5 million abortions have been performed since 1973. One would be too many. No war, no natural disaster, no illness or disability has claimed so great a price.” (Pastoral Letter, October 2008)