CAA is unambiguously pro-life from conception to natural death. "It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop. A society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized. Only respect for life can be the foundation and guarantee of the most precious and essential goods of society, such as democracy and peace. Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (1995), no. 101

My friend (who supports abortion) said if we criminalized abortion we would
have to prosecute the women who procure them. How do I respond?
by Steven O'Keefe, CAA Staff Apologist
The first thing I would do is acknowledge the logic behind his statement. The Pro-Life position centers on the assertion that a child in the womb is fully human and deserves the protections and considerations ordinarily given to human beings. Well, suppose a parent hired a hitman to kill his/her own newborn child. That parent would be prosecuted and go to jail for a very long time and no one would feel a shred of sympathy. But that is the essence of what is happening in abortion. So it follows that any law against abortion must seek justice against the woman who procures it.

With that acknowledged, we can move to a crucial distinction. Laws do not need to punish every person who has done wrong. The law can be discretionary. Sometimes it can be inherently impractical to attempt to prosecute a person for a crime. Other times, laws can grant amnesty to people whose cooperation is needed to pursue justice against bigger, badder people. Both of those principles are at play in the case of abortion. First, it would be extremely difficult to track down every woman who is potentially guilty of getting an abortion and prove her child did not die by natural causes. Second, the people whom we really want the law to go after are the “doctors” performing these acts. Granting amnesty to the women involved would serve that larger goal by making it safe for them to come forward. In fact, this is how many laws criminalizing abortion worked prior to 1970.

So while it may make sense on a purely logical level to prosecute the women who hire people to eliminate their pre-born children, outlawing abortion doesn’t necessarily mean we have to do it.