From a reader:
Jonah:
I’m an ex-Jesuit, and a still-devout Catholic.
Let’s be clear about what Catholicism actually believes. John Kerry is the
second worst public spokesman for Catholicism, right behind JFK.
Catholics don’t oppose abortion because it conflicts with some uniquely
Catholic teaching, like the rules for being a godparent. No Catholic expects
the internal rules for godparenting to apply universally to everyone, just
because we say so. If we did, then Kerry has a legitimate point. But
Catholics oppose abortion, and we expect others to oppose it also, because
it violates humanity.
Now one may argue that it doesn’t violate a basic human principle, and
that’s a fair argument. But the point here is that when Catholics oppose
abortion, they aren’t imposing anything Catholic on anyone. Instead, we’re
arguing for fellow humans to oppose abortion on moral grounds which apply to
everyone.