Caroline Kennedy: A “Catholic” Woman’s Concern for “Reproductive Health”

Caroline Kennedy addressed the Democratic National Convention last night (here) with these words:

As a Catholic woman, I take reproductive health seriously, and today, it is under attack. This year alone, more than a dozen states have passed more than 40 restrictions on women's access to reproductive health care. That's not the kind of future I want for my daughters or your daughters. Now isn't the time to roll back the rights we were winning when my father was president. Now is the time to move this country forward.

The innocuous rhetoric Kennedy chose to employ – “reproductive health” – cloaks the gruesome reality to which she refers.  It is a capacious enough term to include some things that genuinely concern the health of women – such as gynecological exams and screenings for uterine cancer.  But she does not mean this.  There is no effort by any political party to restrict women from obtaining gynecological exams!  Instead, the Democratic talking-point that Kennedy repeats – the refrain that numerous states have recently enacted numerous restrictions on “women’s access to reproductive health care” refers to restrictions on abortion (here and here). 

“Reproductive health” is the jargon employed by the people who favor abortion when they are leery about saying what they really mean, lest the barbarity of what they seek to protect is seen for what it is.  It is a term that proponents of abortion make use of to dupe those who aren’t paying attention but who might object if they were asked to support abortion on demand.

Caroline Kennedy is an intelligent woman, so it shouldn't be necessary to state the following.  But because we live in an era when even the obvious can be “fact checked” away, it makes sense to state it plainly once again.

The Church – the Catholic Church – opposes abortion.  Because an abortion – if it is successful – always results in the death of an innocent human being, the Church – the Catholic Church – sees abortion as a grave evil, a mortal sin, and a gross injustice.  Indeed, this is why the Church refers to abortion as “murder” (EV ¶ 58) an “infamy” (GS ¶ 27) and “an unspeakable crime” (GS ¶ 51).

Given this background, one cannot but be somewhat dumbfounded by Kennedy’s assertion that it is her Catholic womanhood that prompts her to oppose waiting periods, parental consent laws, and ultra-sound notice requirements -- laws that have the effect of discouraging abortion.  (I say “somewhat” because the motivation to portray the pro-abortion position as legitimate for a Catholic to adopt makes sense from a purely political perspective).  When “reproductive health” as Kennedy used it is correctly understood to mean support for abortion her statement in effect is: “As a Catholic woman, I take the freedom to murder a child developing in the womb very seriously, and today, it is under attack.”

This is bizarre.  If we didn’t live with the moral amnesia and denial that defines the age, Kennedy would be roundly mocked for making such a statement.  She would be laughed at for demonstrating a complete misunderstanding of the words used, for saying something as asinine and nonsensical as “As a Catholic woman, I take the freedom to exploit the poor seriously . . .”  or “As a Catholic woman, I take the freedom to discriminate on the basis of race seriously . . .” or “As a Catholic woman, I take the freedom to pollute the environment seriously . . .”

Here’s a bit of advice for Caroline Kennedy: Do us all a favor and drop the “Catholic woman” moniker when you’re out trolling for votes by arguing for abortion.  And do yourself a favor: Don’t wear “Catholic” as a badge on your chest until the true meaning of the word has found a place in your heart.  I can't see inside your heart, but anyone can objectively evaluate what you said in light of what the Catholic Church actually teaches, and the two do not fit together.  The Democratic Party stands for many things that are good and just, but being a "Catholic woman" is not the same as being a "Democratic woman" and it appears that you used the former when you meant to latter.  So before you again make use of your professed faith for political purposes, let me suggest that you return again to the Church’s teaching on human life and reflect on its meaning in American political life and in your life.