Voting with Compassion
Posted on 24. May, 2018, in Christian Values, Humane Vitae1 Comment
Many people, including practising Catholics, might be motivated by compassion for women in crisis pregnancy situations to vote ‘yes’ in the upcoming abortion referendum. So says moral theologian Dr. John Murray, who lectures in DCU as is also chair of the Iona Institute. He adds that women in difficulties often feature in the media and form an important part of the repeal campaign – that their stories pull at our heart strings and seem to make voting ‘yes’ the kindest option.
However he argues that both sides are motivated by compassion for women who find themselves in a crisis pregnancy, but that they differ on their solutions. He further questions whether you can have compassion at the cost of another, arguing that a noble end cannot justify the means.
I found this the most objective of all views expressed on the referendum. Looking at what compassion really involves is most important, especially where John acknowledges that the yes side does experience compassion for these hard cases. The most valuable point though for me was the fact that an unborn child is not a body part of the mother but a human in her/his self. This was made clear by Miriam’s question which was truly exploratory.