Compassion to poor children hypocritical if lives of unborn are ignored
Jul 07, 2007
Compassion toward newborn and starving children in Africa is hypocritical and hollow if society ignores the needs of unborn children in the developed and developing world, said a Scottish cardinal.
EDINBURGH, Scotland (Catholic Online, 7/6/2007) – In a commentary published July 6 by the daily Scotsman based here, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, archbishop of Edinburgh and St. Andrews, said that the debate surrounding the attack on human life through abortion is clouded by red herrings and diversionary tactics, challenging new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to join “with me in support of human life.”
“The ‘abortion debate’ in the UK (United Kingdom) rarely involves any actual discussion about the realities of abortion,” he said. “Red herrings and diversionary tactics keep us from proper consideration of the value of each and every human life.”
The commentary was made five weeks after the cardinal, on the approach of the 40th anniversary of the passage of the law that made the taking of unborn human life legal, said that Catholic politicians must not cooperate in sustaining through legislation “the unspeakable crime of abortion” and to do so creates a barrier to their receiving holy Communion.
In that May 31 homily at St. Mary’s Cathedral here on the Scottish Day for Life, Cardinal O’Brien decried the killing of about millions of unborn babies and the spreading of the “culture of death” throughout society.
The Abortion Act 1967, passed by the British Parliament, made abortion legal in the United Kingdom for up to 28 weeks gestation. In 1990, the law was amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act: abortion became legal only up to 24 weeks except in cases where it was necessary to save the life of or there is grave risk of physical or mental injury to the mother or evidence of extreme fetal deformity or there was a grave risk of physical or mental injury to the woman. The act does not extend to Northern Ireland, where abortion is only legal there if the life or the mental or physical health of the woman is at serious risk.
He noted he entered the debate, which led to much response over a month ago, that has, “wrongly in my view, come to be viewed as political.”
“Abortion is neither political nor medical, though clearly it has implications in these spheres; it is about morality and the destruction of human life. It is not something our political parties tend to campaign or give manifesto commitments on; it is rightly deemed a matter of conscience,” he said.
He said that while statistics about abortion are published, they seem to have little or no effect.
“Familiarity has bred contempt. It is a contempt, which must be challenged. I believe the time has come for wide ranging and open debate in this country about abortion,” the cardinal said. “It should not be dominated by our political elites or medical professionals, by religious leaders or pressure groups, but should be open to all.”
He called for a review of existing abortion law in the United Kingdom, noting that Scottish government First Minister Alex Salmond has expressed a willingness to consider an independent commission looking at the law’s application in Scotland.
He noted that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had “appeared willing” to consider changes, but “sadly, he failed to act.”
Calling Brown “a man of principle” who has “deeply held moral convictions,” Cardinal O’Brien expressed the “hope our new prime minister will not do the same.”
Acknowledging that Brown has advocated for the cause of those suffering from poverty and malnutrition in the developing world and has “sought to persuade decision makers of the developed world … to respond to the desperate need of our fellow human beings,” the cardinal urged his “support of human life in another sphere – the defense of life as yet unborn.”
“In the case of life in the womb, it is unarguable that from conception onwards human life has begun. What exists in the womb is not ‘a potential human being,’ but rather ‘a human being with potential,’” Cardinal O’Brien said.
“With that reality in mind our compassion towards the newborn and starving child in Darfur or Eritrea is surely hypocritical and hollow if we wantonly ignore the needs of their unborn counterparts in Dunfermline or Edinburgh who through abortion face the end of their short lives just as certainly as if they were born into poverty and malnutrition on the other side of the globe,” he said.
”Yet, the cardinal asked, “isn't compassion for our fellow human beings indivisible? Doesn't it apply to all or to none? And doesn't our failure to apply it equitably leave us guilty of expediency, hypocrisy even sinful negligence?”
Compassion to poor children hypocritical if lives of unborn are ignored