There is no issue more divisive and heated in American society than abortion. While the battle plays out in our living rooms, streets and courts, if we ever hope to resolve the struggle over abortion we must first answer one central question: When does life begin?
President, Catholics for Choice
As a Catholic, I believe in transubstantiation—when the bread and wine are consecrated in the Eucharist, they cease to be bread and wine and become instead the body and blood of Christ. While as a Catholic, I strongly believe this to be true; it would be ludicrous for me to start a campaign that sought to translate this religious belief into civil law.
Similarly, it is unethical and immoral to seek to impose on society a belief that stems from religious teachings—especially religious teachings that are not accepted by the majority of adherents to one faith, let alone those of other faiths. Hard cases make bad laws. In the absence of even the possibility of any scientific certainty on this issue, to seek to legislate this would lead to totalitarianism where the views of a small minority are imposed on the majority. This would lead us to situations like those that existed in China and Romania, where women are either forced to have abortions or forced to carry all pregnancies to term.
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