Published: February 12, 2009

Over half of American Catholics voted for Barack Obama. This is not surprising in and of itself: the Catholic vote usually mirrors the overall results. But in the weeks preceding the election, Catholics were busy trying to justify their choice for Obama due to his stance on abortion.

Obama is a pro-choice extremist. Well, not really. He’s actually something much worse. For him, abortion isn’t really an issue. He seems to be confused that there is even any debate over the subject. His position should not be news to anybody; it certainly is not news to me. He dismisses the arguments of pro-lifers who seek what he calls “divisive ground” and offers them no shred of compromise.

During his campaign, Obama was given a 100 percent approval rating by Planned Parenthood. He also promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would eliminate practically any restrictions on abortions nation-wide. Before being elected, he was a supporter of legalizing partial birth abortion and voted against the Babies Born Alive Act. Within the first few days in office, Obama reversed the ban on funding to international organizations that perform or promote abortions. As someone who cares about the protection of innocent life, I had hoped that Obama would not disappoint as president. He already has.

Even the liberal rhetoric of “safe, legal and rare” abortion is too conservative for Obama. When asked when human life begins, he responded that the question was “above [his] pay grade.” He thinks that young women should not be “punished with a baby.” His attitude is frighteningly blasé. His agenda is decidedly pro-death.

In justifying their decisions to vote for Obama, some Catholics claimed that it is actually acceptable to be Catholic and pro-choice. This is false. If your common sense doesn’t tell you that abortion is intrinsically evil, please check the Catechism of the Catholic Church. To be pro-choice—that is, to advocate for the right of women to have abortions—is scandalous. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, scandal is “a word or action, that is either an external act… or the omission of an external act that occasions another person’s sin or spiritual ruin.” To be pro-choice, even if you are not planning on having an abortion yourself, is to advocate grave sin in other people, and that is sinful. To remain silent while people around you have abortions is sinful.

Some Catholics who described themselves as pro-life insisted that Obama was the actual Christian candidate, in spite of his pro-choice position, because of his liberal stances on social justice issues like immigration and civil rights and his call for universal health care. Catholics are kidding themselves if they think that immigration and poverty issues have the same moral weight as abortion. They are correct to say that social justice issues are Christian concerns: Jesus was a big advocate of accepting foreign neighbors, as illustrated in the “Good Samaritan” parable, and helping the poor and sick. However, his concerns came from a broader concern for the care of the most innocent and vulnerable members of society. While immigrants, the economically disadvantaged and the sick are indeed vulnerable, there is no one more vulnerable and innocent than an unborn baby.

Even if you are pro-choice, you should realize just how unsettling Obama’s attitude is. Even though he says he wants to find common ground with pro-life advocates, he has yet to take any steps in this direction. The implications of this attitude are alarming. Every person has the right to life. When we take it upon ourselves to decide who is a person and who is not—and therefore who has that right to life—we create the occasion to commit crimes against humanity.

By taking away the rights of these unborn children who cannot speak for themselves, we also provide the opportunity to take away the rights of the sick, elderly, homeless and all others who cannot speak for themselves. This is an extreme scenario, but one that has proven to be possible in the past and is definitely foreseeable in the future. It’s called the Culture of Death, and the Catholic Church warns against it often. We already witnessed a glimpse of it in the murder of Terry Schiavo in 2005.

Obama has already started denying rights to the unborn. If he had it his way, abortions would be legal at any stage of pregnancy with no restrictions. If you are Catholic and you voted for Obama, I’m not going to judge you or condemn you; that’s really not my place. If I had voted for Obama, however, I would be sick with guilt right now. I’m already sick at the prospect of these upcoming years in the Culture of Death.