Can Catholics Vote For Pro-Choice Politicians?

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For Catholics, the default answer to the question “Can I Vote for a Pro-Choice Politician” is an emphatic “No.” This is because abortion involves the killing of an innocent human life, a human tragedy that we must never tolerate. Moreover, in America , legalized abortion has resulted in the deaths of almost fifty million individuals. No other moral issue facing America today threatens, to the same degree, as many members of its society.

Abortion strikes at the right to life – the foundation for all other rights, in much the same way that slavery opposed the dignity of the human person, and rightfully took priority, for a time, over the other injustices inflicted upon the marginalized of society. For a Catholic, being truly pro-life must include defending the right to life of all people, born and unborn. It also must include rendering assistance to women facing problem pregnancies, and include addressing the economic and social factors that cause women to seek abortion as the solution. The Catholic solution has always been “both/and” – we must both directly oppose abortion and care for those who are tempted to seek it.

Therefore, in the vast majority of cases, Catholics ought not to vote for a politician who favors the status quo, and certainly not vote for those who would allow or support the proliferation of abortion access.

In the most recent voting guide issued by the American Bishops in 2007, Faithful Citizenship ( PDF ) says: “a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support” (#42).

In the same document, the Bishops say the first question each Catholic must ask their candidates is: “[Will you] Address the preeminent requirement to protect the weakest in our midst—innocent unborn children—by restricting and bringing to an end the destruction of unborn children through abortion” (p. 29). This is the first answer any politician must answer before he can presume a vote from a Catholic.

Catholic teaching does admit the possibility of voting for a Pro-choice politician, for very grave reasons, and   specifically not to “advance narrow interests or partisan preferences or to ignore a fundamental moral evil” (#35). This exception addresses the scenario (becoming more common) where both candidates support or promote abortion.

Numerous bishops have stated that no other moral evil is as pressing in American society than abortion, for instance the bishops of New York, “The inalienable right to life of every innocent human person outweighs other concerns where Catholics may use prudential judgment, such as how best to meet the needs of the poor or to increase access to health care for all” ( source ).

If Catholics make it clear to their representatives that they will not tolerate the killing of innocent life, they will positively transform the culture and be a witness to the teachings of Christ as well as the love which Christians are called to live.