Volume 19, Issue 2, 2009
Richard W. Miller
Pages 2-26
Pro-life Moral Principles and Pro-life Strategies
Expanding the Catholic Imagination and Response to Abortion
There has been a conflation by many Catholics of the Church's pro-life teaching with the strategy of overturning Roe v. Wade. In this paper, I argue that there are other ways for Catholics to think about and respond to the tragedy of abortion. First, I argue that there are serious limitations to the present legal strategy of overturning Roe. Second, I tum to social scientific data to describe the conditions that lead to abortions. Third, I argue that the Catholic strategy should be mindful of the limits of the present legal strategy and should be
developed in accord with what the social scientific data reveals. Finally, since the multiple factors that lead to abortions demand a complex multi-faceted response, I suggest some ways Catholics should respond to the abortion problem within the Church and the wider political sphere.