Insights & Resources
The Secret History of Sex, Choice and Catholics
BRACING FOR THE POSSIBILITY that the Supreme Court will further weaken, or even overturn, Roe v. Wade—potentially allowing states to ban abortion entirely—legal scholars and activists are preparing for an assault on the Constitution. Similarly, people of faith see an assault on our values, teachings and faith commitments. Julianna Gonnen’s “Equal Dignity – A Way Forward If Roe Falls?” argues that constitutional protection for reproductive freedom may be found not only in Roe’s imperiled privacy sphere, but also in a holistic understanding of equal protection, indicating both a compelling legal strategy and a space that allows shared values of law and faith to intersect.
US CATHOLIC VOTERS PLAYED A pivotal role in the 2020 election, helping lift Democrat Joe Biden to a narrow victory over President Donald Trump. In so doing, they sent a powerful message about support for abortion rights and access to reproductive healthcare among US Catholics today, as well as the limited role they believe US bishops should play in our electoral system.
I was originally asked to give my personal analysis on how people of color voted and participated in this past election. I spent a few days considering one of those words most: …“how.”
WITH A VOTE OF 4-1 AGAINST, Mexico’s Supreme Court blocked the decriminalization of abortion in the state of Veracruz in late July. The Court ruled against removing sections of the legal code pertaining to abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
ON OCTOBER 22, A RULING from the Polish Constitutional Tribunal tightened preexisting abortion laws to exclude the use of the procedure in cases of severe birth defects and fetal abnormalities. With an estimated 98 percent of abortions within the country attributable to fetal abnormalities and defects, the Tribunal’s ruling drastically impacts abortion access throughout Poland.
While 1960 brought us our first Catholic president, 2020 brought us our first prochoice Catholic president—a fact about which Catholics could not be prouder. Every election with a Catholic candidate (especially an election for president) features varying degrees of braying and pearl-clutching by self-appointed arbiters on the question of choice.
Seventeen years ago, I moved to the US. In a little town in the mountains of Colorado, I found the much needed space to start the long and hard path of my healing journey. Who would have imagined that it was in my long walks through tall aspen trees, old evergreens and the sweet and grounding smell of nature that I would find within me the courage to show up for myself? To be with myself. To come back … home.
WE GREET YOU IN THE midst of a global pandemic, an economic catastrophe and a moral emergency. We are women who lead Catholic-rooted organizations and communities. Our hearts are heavy with grief over COVID-19 and its related deaths, with the sting of unemployment and fiscal uncertainty and, especially, with the weight of systemic racism and white supremacy that ensures that people of color suffer these disproportionately.
A recent statement by a Roman Catholic bishop that abortion and Roe v. Wade were the ultimate concern in this year’s presidential elect ion is beyond foolish—it is a fetishizing of the issue to the exclusion of all other moral concerns.
With a Catholic candidate headlining the Democratic ticket, the 2020 presidential election saw Catholic voters divided just almost evenly between President Donald Trump and President-Elect Joe Biden.
JULIANNA S. GONEN, PHD, JD, is the policy director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), where she works to advance legislative and regulatory policy at the federal level that ensures the well-being of LGBTQ people.
Margaret Atwood famously refuses to include anything that hasn’t happened in our world in her works of fiction. Her stories challenge the standard labels of “science fiction,” “fantasy” and “dystopian novel.” The Handmaid’s Tale (THT) and The Testaments contain common literary themes—family, hypocrisy and forgiveness—but also leave us with racing hearts and twisted stomachs as we hold a mirror up to our own nation and our own lives.
As a lifelong student of and advocate of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice, I anticipated AKA Jane Roe (FX-produced movie, premiered May 22 on FX and May 23 on Hulu) would elucidate the complexity that was Norma McCorvey's life and activism. My admiration for McCorvey’s courage in sharing her story and appreciation for the reality of her life brought a hope that filmmaker Nick Sweeney would give an overdue portrayal of this mercurial figure not just as a trophy to be won or as a symbol to be used.
These days of more time spent at home as a result of the COVID-19 public health crisis and virulent public debates about personal liberties may provide the perfect time and backdrop to watch Hulu’s buzzworthy The Handmaid’s Tale. While season one of Bruce Miller’s reimagining of Margaret Atwood’s eerily prescient 1985 book of the same name follows the novel’s familiar storyline most closely, there are plot changes and twists that make the series compelling for 21st-century viewers.
Roe v. Wade is arguably the most well-known US Supreme Court decision in modern America. Ask anyone on an American street if they’ve heard of it, and almost all will say, “Yes.” Only slightly fewer will correctly identify it as having to do with abortion, and fewer still, though still a fairly high number, will say it stands for a woman’s right to choose an abortion. But which is it?
I was moved by the testimonials of the faithful abortion providers. It is obvious that each of these individuals has done much soul searching. Abortion is not an easy decision. Every woman must decide what she is able to do in good conscience. This is indeed one of the most important decisions she will ever make.
Glenn Northern's probing reflections on “Why Faith Matters” is a great example of a religious perspective so often overlooked. When it comes to the media and public conversation, the bulk of the attention goes to religious groups that not only think they have all the answers, but also want to impose those answers into the private lives of others. It is refreshing and uplifting to turn to Mr. Northern’s writing as an example of what the conscience of a religious individual looks and sounds like, and why it should be respected.
James Carroll makes a valid point in championing the imminent collapse of the male supremacist clerical establishment of the Catholic church and its replacement with a more inclusive and democratic model.
I was moved by the testimonials of the faithful abortion providers. It is obvious that each of these individuals has done much soul searching. Abortion is not an easy decision. Every woman must decide what she is able to do in good conscience. This is indeed one of the most important decisions she will ever make.
