With some six weeks left before our national election we should be working to form our consciences rightly as the guide for our participation in that election. Last week this column reviewed a number of issues identified by the bishops of the United States and by Pope Francis that need to be part of that consideration. 

 

Of course that inevitably means confronting again the role of abortion in our country and in society. The divisive role of abortion in our national discussion and policies has been underscored once more with the recent passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. 

 

The central point of the discussions on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to succeed her have virtually all centered on how that successor will affect the Supreme Court votes on restrictions and even the future legality of abortion.

 

The question of ending our country’s slaughter of the innocent through its liberal abortion laws as part of our formation of conscience before voting is not new. Since the terrible decision of Roe v. Wade in 1973, the expansion of the sexual revolution has caused this issue to become dominant in our national and local politics. 

 

According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2017, the most recent year surveyed, there were over 860,000 abortions in the United States. As recently as 2011 there were over 1 million. Since abortion was legalized in our country, estimates are that more than 61 million babies have been aborted. Abortion continues to take a huge toll on our society and in our families and of course on the unborn.

 

Many years ago, as a young priest, I had occasion to ask one of the American cardinals how he responded to questions about where ending abortion should rank in a voter’s conscience. He said that it has to be the first consideration. He went on to say that every other right and assistance that we support and work for presumes that one has been born and is alive to receive that help. Abortion takes away that possibility.

 

As this column has noted before, the bishops of the United States have issued a document entitled “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” in preparation for the coming election. In that document the bishops call opposing abortion, “...  our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself.” In a conversation with American bishops in Rome last December, Pope Francis himself affirmed this judgment.

 

There are many facets of conscience that are connected to abortion. For example, for many women who have had abortions, perhaps even in moments of fear or abandonment, conscience does not rest. They are filled with regret, sadness and loss. They need to know of our love for them and for the forgiveness of Christ offered by the Church.

 

Tragically, however, many politicians actively promote laws and funding for abortion. Even some politicians nationally and locally who openly claim that they are Catholic in good conscience, vote in favor of abortion. We must change this. There are certain positions, like support for the direct taking of unborn life, that simply cannot be reconciled with a rightly formed conscience.

 

Every election is an opportunity to influence the direction of our city, our state, our country. It is an occasion for followers of Christ to affirm what is good but to reject what conscience cannot approve. Our votes matter. 

 

For too long the preeminent issue of abortion has been accepted as legal in our country. Our consciences and our votes must lead us to say enough. We must support God’s gift of life in every human being, including those waiting to be born.