News

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Following the recent Senate vote to regulate partial-birth abortions, the ‘Crusade for the Defense of our Catholic Church’, a project of American Life League, is intensifying its outreach to Catholics in public life who support abortion.  The group published a list of Catholic politicians who have defied Church teachings by voting in favor of abortion.

“These purportedly Catholic senators, who either voted against the bill or voted to re-affirm Roe v. Wade, have betrayed their faith, their country and their constituents.  They continue to bring great scandal to the Church and its faithful by their support for a court ruling that has led to the killing of millions of pre-born children and caused untold suffering for their mothers,” said Judie Brown, American Life League President.

On January 16, 2003, the Vatican released a strongly worded reminder to Catholics in public office stating, “Those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them.”

The Crusade has mounted a multi-pronged effort.  It has offered to arrange spiritual and other counseling to help correct misguided beliefs that one can be a practicing Catholic while supporting abortion.  The Crusade is also contacting offending senators’ bishops, imploring them to publicly and privately address the senators’ actions as Bishop William Weigand of Sacramento, Calif has already done with California governor Gray Davis.  The Crusade is also mounting a comprehensive effort to encourage its grassroots supporters to contact both the senators and their bishops regarding this situation.

“After 30 years of legalized abortion, we can no longer tolerate so-called leaders who consistently fail to fulfill the civic and moral obligations to their constituents, born and pre-born,” said Brown.  “Now is the time to act.” The original Deadly Dozen Senators are Sens. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Kerry (D-Mass.), Biden (D-Del.), Collins (R-Maine), Daschle (D-S.D.), Dodd (D-Conn.), Harkin (D-Iowa), Landrieu (D-La.), Leahy (D-Vt.), Mikulski (D-Md.), Murray (D-Wash.), and Reed (D-R.I.). All listed, except Biden (who was unable to vote because of an illness), plus Sens. Durbin (D-Ill.) Cantwell (D-Wash.), Murkowski (R-Alaska) supported the Roe v. Wade resolution. A list of all Catholic Senators who voted against the ban and a list of those who voted for the reaffirmation of Roe v. Wade can be found at www.CatholicCrusade.com