Fruits of the Same Evil Tree

by Fr. Roger J. Landry - August 12, 2005

In his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II called contraception and abortion "fruits of the same tree." The roots of that tree are found in a mentality, he wrote, in which "life that could result from a sexual encounter becomes an enemy to be avoided at all costs, and abortion becomes the only possible decisive response to failed contraception"(EV 13).

The roots of that tree are being exposed for all to see in the heated discussions — in Washington, on Beacon Hill, in various state legislatures, as well as in the capitals of Mexico, Spain and several other countries — concerning so-called "emergency contraception."

This "morning after pill" or "Plan B" does two things, which reveal the deep interplay between contraception and abortion. First, the pill prevents a woman from ovulating. Secondly, it hardens a woman's uterine lining, so that if she has already ovulated and has conceived a child, her child will not be able to implant — and will die through this chemically-induced abortion. Thus in this pill, not only are abortion and contraception "fruits of the same tree," but they are properties of the same evil pill-shaped fruit.

Proponents of the morning after pill are generally trying to change national and state laws in two ways. They want to compel emergency room doctors and nurses to give it to victims of rape — regardless of whether the doctor or nurse objects in conscience to distributing something that may cause an abortion. Secondly, they want to make these available in pharmacies over-the-counter, without a prescription, even to minors without their parents' permission.

In each objective, we see, in stark display, the totalitarian nature of the underlying pro-abortion position applied to new circumstances.

We are witnessing, first, that the so-called "right to abortion" is deemed so fundamental that it must trump every other right, including not just the right of an unborn child to live, but also the right of emergency room personnel not to be forced to act against their conscience. If the Massachusetts state legislature overrides Governor Romney's July 25th veto of the emergency contraception bill, people with properly formed consciences in public hospital emergency rooms in the Commonwealth will be forced to quit their job or violate their conscience and give out abortion-inducing anti-medicines. Once upon a time, pro-abortion advocates got mileage out of saying, in public debate, that pro-lifers" shouldn't impose their morality on others." We now see that they are not timid in trying to force their morality on conscientious doctors, nurses, and pharmacists and compel them to become life-enders instead of exclusively life-savers.

We see, too, that the putative right to abortion must also trump every right of parents with regard to their children's welfare. Today's young people in public and private schools generally need parental permission to be given an aspirin. Under the bill being considered on Beacon Hill, however, teenage girls (and younger) would now without any parental permission be able to receive from a pharmacist abortifacient contraceptives, the long-term health consequences of which are unknown. Why? Because the fundamental supposition of the pro-abortion movement is that there is a "right" to sex without consequences, whether that be the consequence of an undesired child, or the consequence of unwanted parental disapproval.

Governor Romney saw the evils of this legislation and deserves just praise for vetoing it. Some critics may wonder whether his action was political posturing to establish himself well with conservatives for future Republican presidential primaries, but, even if he is not as personally convinced a pro-lifer as he now says he is, at least he's behaving on this issue like a true pro-lifer should. Jesus taught that we know a tree by its fruit, and Romney has borne more pro-life fruit in the last year than many Catholic representatives presently on Beacon and Capitol Hill have in decades.

Now is the time for Catholics to produce similar fruit from their unmistakably pro-life tree. They would be acting on behalf of Christ in defending not only the unborn, but families, pharmacists and public hospital emergency room doctors and nurses as well.

Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.