I am disappointed by the lack of response to my post asking Catholic Democrats how they justify the Democratic party’s position on abortion. Perhaps it’s because they feel it is none of my business how they believe. And that’s true, it is none of my business. I merely want to understand how someone resolves a seeming conflict in values.

In Catholicism, we have a label called “Cafeteria Catholics.” These are Catholic Christians who, seemingly, pick and choose which tenet of the Catholic faith they believe. Is the Catholic position on abortion one of those tenets?

Democrats, unlike Republicans, have what some reporters call a “herd mentality.” What one decides to do, all will do. This has been amply demonstrated during recent confirmation hearings and committee votes where no Democrat shows up to vote. As they say in the Three Musketeers, they are “one for all and all for one.”

It would seem then, that to be a Democrat, one votes and behaves according to the party line regardless of personal belief.

There are famous Catholics who are staunch Democrats. Think of President John Kennedy and his family. Or, think of the famous priest/author Andrew Greely. He, too, was a staunch Democrat. What did they think of Roe Versus Wade?

Roe versus Wade could not have passed Congress without the Catholic vote.

So, our Catholic congressmen and women approved of abortion in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Will they tell me that they were not voting in favor of abortion? Or, will they tell me that they voted for a woman having the right to choose what happens to her own body?

If the second is their answer, do they realize the woman is making a choice to kill her baby? That when she chooses an abortion she is killing her unborn child who is as much her child whether it is born or unborn?  And that those who perform abortions are deliberately killing a human child with the same lack of concern they would show in drowning a sack of kittens?

The Roman Catholic teaching is that all human life is sacred and to be protected from conception to natural death. Abortion is in direct contradiction to that teaching.

Or do Catholic Democrats see the human fetus as an “it” or a “thing” or a “growth?” This is how atheists view an unborn child. They say it is not a “person” therefore it has no rights. For centuries, Canadian and American women were not considered “persons,” which was why they were deprived of their right to vote. American slaves were not considered “persons” and so could be bought, sold or killed at their owner’s command. But if a human fetus is not a “person,” what is it? It is not the fetus of a cat or dog.

A human fetus is a human being in development just as all living beings develop.

I am aware of the issues surrounding an unwanted pregnancy. Who can deny them? But aren’t there other solutions besides abortion? It seems abortion is the easy way out without having to develop more humane solutions to an unwanted pregnancy.

The question in my mind remains – how do Democrat Catholic Christians resolve this issue for themselves? Is it a question of being a cafeteria Catholic or a cafeteria Democrat?